Transcription

• Speaker #0

  As I record this it's about 10 to 8 in the evening. I'm looking up out of the high window that I have in my garden office and the sky is just about still blue. There are branches from a neighbouring silver birch that come across into our garden and on one of the branches there is a lovely fat blue tit. He comes and goes and every now and then he preens himself. but mostly he seems to just be looking around and soaking up the remains of the day. It's been another beautiful blue sky sunny spring day here in the UK or at least in my corner of it and I've been feeling incredibly grateful for the weather this week. My children are and I have been outside for many many hours through the day and I just find it so much easier as the weather changes and we can be outside and things feel slower to me I feel so much more relaxed about time and the rhythm of our day and my children as well seem to ease into imaginative play or just swinging in the hammocks just taking a walk for no reason. We all seem to be coming alive again with the coming of spring. I've been doing a lot of soul searching when it comes to my business and part of that includes this podcast. I spoke last week about the transactional relationships that many of us have with our businesses and my own realizations around what I had been asking of my business, what I expect. expected my business to give me, what I expected my clients to give me, my audience to give me, the emotional gaps that I was expecting to be filled and beginning to release those expectations has been immensely freeing and I found myself quite stuck when it came to the podcast because I knew I didn't want to throw it away, although I had given myself permission to change anything and everything that I... that didn't feel right in my business. But something about the podcast really did feel right to me. I've always felt drawn to podcasts as a format. I love listening to podcasts. I love the intimacy of them. I love that someone can be in my ear as I go about my day. And often that's been it. very difficult times often at you know three in the morning when my children haven't slept uh in days or you know when i'm exhausted and just trying to find the will to make dinner um it's often at those times that i turn to a podcast and find a lot of solace in welcoming someone into into my ear and I guess, yeah, I guess that's why I was drawn to creating a podcast. No, that's not true. No, let's tell, let's tell the real story. I have always enjoyed podcasts and I always liked the idea of starting a podcast. But when I started this specific podcast, it was for strategic reasons. It was because I felt that A podcast would be a good way of growing my business and because there were a lot of practitioners out there who told me that having a podcast would be a great way to grow my business, to grow an audience and to sell and to convert and that I could do all of that in a podcast without having to bother with the kind of daily grind of social media and that the podcast would just be enough to reel people in. So as you can see, right from the very beginning, there was a strong transactional motivation behind the podcast. Now don't get me wrong, I fully intended to provide as much value as I possibly could in exchange for this transaction and that's really where I started with the podcast, wanting to give advice, wanting to help people, wanting to share insights so that people could take action. And I don't think that there's anything fundamentally wrong with that, but there was something fundamentally wrong with this energetic exchange between me giving value, I give you value, therefore I expect something from you in return. I expect you to sign up to my newsletter, I expect you to come on a discovery call, I expect you to sign up for a coaching session, maybe even to sign up. for my full six-month transformational program. And then if that didn't happen consistently, if that didn't happen in the numbers that I expected, I felt resentful. And that's when I really knew that something wasn't sitting right. Something had... fallen out some heart of why I should be doing a podcast just wasn't there the heart was missing the soul of my podcast was missing and so I've reflected on this reflected I've worked I've struggled I felt the uncomfortable emotions around it and I've really asked myself why. Not just one why, but another why, and another why, and another why. And I'm going to talk you through them right now. So I have them written down here. Why do I want to host a podcast? I enjoy the intimacy of the relationship it can build. And why does that matter? Because there's so much noise in social media and short form content that this feels real. And why does that matter? Podcasts are vulnerable. It's just your voice, your words, and the possibility to say something that may just stay with someone forever. And why does that matter? Because we were all lonely ships passing in the night and any flicker of light for another vessel is the hope and comfort that you are not alone. And why does that matter? Because I want people to know that they are not alone. I want to be there just in case a passing ship should need my light. And that is my lasting, authentic, heartfelt and regenerative motivation for this podcast. To be a light in the dark for any passing ship that may need one. Because these are dark times and we are travelling in stormy weather. Without a map, without a compass, we're lost on the high seas. And I believe many of us simply need a light to know that we are not alone. To know that there is someone else out there feeling the same things, asking the same questions, making the same compromises, facing the same struggles. And... Then I thought about, on the next page of my notes, what this why means for the podcast. It means that what I say is much less important than simply being there to be heard. It means that I don't need anyone else to be there to know why I'm doing this. It means that I will show up again and again, not because I'm supposed to, not because I'm building an audience or trying to sell or shh, any of those bullshit business strategic reasons. It means that I show up consistently so that I am there if I am needed, so that no ship passes without my light. It means that it doesn't matter whether my light is needed in my lifetime. It may be needed by my grandchildren's generation, and it can reach across time. It means that if there is ever a passing ship, my light may be all that they need. I know I can offer a warm bed, food and drink, safe passage, but that is not for me to decide. And finally, on the podcast, I also wanted to consider why this topic of regenerative entrepreneurship, because if I'm just there to be heard, I could talk about conceivably anything. So why my journey as a regenerative entrepreneur? Because... There's actually just one why here because this was the first thing I wrote down and it felt so true to me. Because my business is where I can connect to strangers, to the passing ships who may need my light. Now what does this mean in practical terms? I really don't know at this stage. I'm sure that those wonderful few of you who have listened to the podcast from the beginning, you will notice that this is quite different from my earlier episodes. I think that I want to talk much more simply about my challenges as a regenerative entrepreneur, the thorny questions that I'm facing and the wonderful, joyful moments and the difficult darkness. And I hope that that will be meaningful to you. Okay, from a very personal topic to one that I think has much wider significance and very different energy behind it. I had a conversation this week about potential compromises that... may need to be made in the business landscape. I'm being vague, I realise I will talk about this, I'm sure, in a lot more detail in future episodes, but it's just too live at the moment. But in fact, I had two conversations around this topic of How do we respond to what is happening to the zeitgeist? How do we reconcile where the money is? What we can talk about, what we can't talk about, the way that people are thinking, how priorities are changing, what's going to be happening on the global economic stage. And the... topic that we were talking about was one that I, it was about a sort of a series of potential or anticipated compromises ahead. And it left me feeling so frightened for the soul of business. And depending what your experience of business has been, you may be wondering if business has ever really had a soul. But I believe that there are many, many businesses out there that were founded from a genuine place of Wanting to make a difference, of believing in better possibilities, that was my experience as a founder and that was something that I felt deeply in the, well, hundreds, hundreds of founders that I worked with in my time working in the climate tech sector. And that's not to say that, you know, those businesses are perfect. I think there are all kinds of... deep systemic issues that were there all along but the intention was always there it was always about something more than just making as much money as possible because the reality was that those people who were creating passion-led businesses there is always another way to make more money and yes there have always been compromises as well. Or there's always been the expectation of compromise. There have always been difficult choices. But I think those difficult choices are about to get far more profound. I think those difficult choices are about to really, really question who we are, what we believe in, and the kind of world we are willing to be part of. And this topic is really new for me, but it is one that I want to be active in. I want to have more of these conversations. I want to hear people talking about the soul of business. And I want people to know that there are other people out there feeling the same fears and there are spaces where people can have these conversations in safety and I hope to be part of creating those spaces and facilitating those conversations and I suppose for now if I come back to my light in the dark motivation I just want to say that if you are one of those businesses of whatever size, even if it's just you, if it's a company that you've poured your heart into for years and years, that has a personality of its own and a moral integrity that really matters to you, you're not alone. There are many, many of us. seeing what is happening and feeling horror and desperately trying to figure out how we move forward without completely losing ourselves to evil. Okay, I'm looking back out my window and The sky is now a very dark blue. The branches are just a shadow outline and the blue tit has gone somewhere warmer and cosier for the night. I'm going to finish today by talking about something more, far, far more joyful. Because in the last week I have spent far more time in nature than I have in many, many months. And it is a big part of when I talk about, when I say euphemistic things like I've been reflecting on my business or the motivation behind my podcast. What I mean is I have been immersing myself in nature. I have been reconnecting to nature. And that is, I believe, the source for all of the insights and understanding and shifts that happen in my business and in myself. And it's so easy to forget that source. It's so easy to neglect that source. Yes, of course, it's winter, it's cold, it's raining, it gets harder. But it's something that those of us who understand the power of nature, maybe understand is not the right word, who sense the power of nature, who are drawn to bringing lives and businesses closer to nature, we have to actively remember and pursue that experience of being in nature. And what that has looked like for me in the past week is last weekend. I went to my sibling's house. They're currently living deep, deep in the Suffolk countryside. And my sibling took me to a woodland I'd never been to before and oriented me a little bit and left me there to just be in nature. And I did a little mini medicine walk. And a medicine walk I actually don't know if this is a defined thing or but to speak from my siblings experience and what I am practicing doing is about being in nature without a purpose without a phone absolutely without a phone without a plan um not trying to get anywhere not following any kind of route just being just to try to kind of paint a picture of what that can look like when my sibling left me In the woods there was a path leading head and a path leading to the right and to the left and my siblings passing words were take your time and you'll know where to go. So I stood there and I thought yes okay take my time take my time uh you know like I was about to run a race or something and I looked at the path and I thought okay don't don't overthink it your body is going to just know which of these paths to choose and then sure enough my body veered right off of any of the paths and followed a barely there deer track into the pine plantation and I was fascinated by the forest floor. I just, I could not take my eyes off the forest floor, although every now and then I would look right up into the canopy and I think I took about 30 minutes to cover about 30 meters and that gives you an idea of what these kind of experiences can look like. I'm planning to do a full medicine walk in the summer. Again, if that term is something that's been borrowed or appropriated, I apologise. I'm not aware of that and I will look into it. But what I mean by that is to spend an entire day from sunrise to sunset in nature again. no phone, no contact, no plan, just being in nature, probably with a lot of naps. As my sibling has done it in the past, that would also be while fasting. I'm quite afraid of that part, but we will see. We will see. I'm taking a little bit of time and building into it. If this idea, this concept of medicine walks is something that you're interested in, send me a message because quite a few people have said to me, I would love to do that. I've never been out without a phone before. It blows my mind how many people have said to me that they have never been for a walk without their phone before. So I'm setting up a little WhatsApp group for anyone who wants to experience this so that we can support each other, perhaps even go at the same time and kind of share that energy, share practical tips, you know, working around. Oh, what's it like to fast? What do you need to bring? Any safety concerns? Whatever it might be. So if you like the idea of practicing this immersion in nature, even if you've never done anything like that before, even if you're really terrified at the thought, especially if those things are true, send me a message and I'd love to add you to our WhatsApp group. I also this week finally, finally went wild swimming. This is something I wanted to do for years and so much about it I love the connection with nature yes but also just the challenge and the the discomfort I think that's the part that I really connect to I believe that a big part of personal rewilding is about being willing to get uncomfortable um that was something I practiced in the winter with early morning walks in the dark and the cold um and wild swimming is my next adventure and I really was I've just messed around so long thinking I want to do it, thinking there must be a way or approach or I somehow needed to research how to do it. And then I just realised on Friday that I was going to an appointment and I was going to be right next to the beach. So I took my dry robe. I took my wetsuit and I got in the sea and it felt amazing. And the final thing I want to say about returning to nature is that I, a client and I took our coaching session into nature. She, she's a client that lives near to me. So we were able to actually go for a walk and be in nature together. And this is something that I've done in the past, but I've done it. And I was in a very sort of playful experimental stage and I tried all different things and I did these sort of coaching play dates or coaching in the wild and I loved it. But for some reason, when I sort of officially launched Regenerative Work Life and, you know, started taking myself seriously as a business, I stopped doing those sessions in nature. Even though I've done them remotely with people before, I've had one incredible, unforgettable. coaching experience with a client in Sweden who was on a kayak, a sea kayak, while we did their coaching session. Amazing. So my client and I went for this walk and we did our coaching session in nature and my goodness, it's just incredible to me that we have this source of healing and wisdom and guidance that is so accessible, not for everyone of course, But actually, I don't think it has to be perfect. I think, you know, weeds growing out of the pavement have this ability to have this impact on us. It just brought a depth and a richness to our coaching that I want so much more of. So I also this week relaunched Coaching in the Wild sessions where simply... You take a walk where you are and I take a walk where I am and we are connected via the wonders of modern technology and we coach in the wild. You talk about whatever you want to talk about and I will listen or I will guide, I will offer you tools, advice, whatever it is that you need and we will do it all surrounded by the source of nature. We will do it slowly, we will take our time, we will share our experiences, we will stop to tell each other what we can see and smell and touch, we might even climb the occasional tree. So again, if you want to come and take a walk with me, right now I am in such a playful, joyful stage for this, I'm offering two hour walks for £150. So again, message me, if that is something that you would like to experience. If you want to get in touch, easiest way is email alissa, A-L-I-S-A, at regenerativeworklife.com, but I'm also on LinkedIn, and I'm also on Instagram, and wherever you want to reach me is fine by me. Now, the sky is now completely dark, I can no longer see the tree, so it's time to bring this episode to a close. Thank you for, for listening. Thank you for allowing me to explore and have that special place in your ear. And if maybe, just maybe, you needed a light in the dark, it was my pleasure to offer that to you today. We are the