E27 How Find the Courage to Follow Your Dreams Even If That Means Quitting a Well Paid Job with Leigh Worsdale
Welcome to episode 1 of the “How She Did it” mini-series where I’m interviewing 8 inspiring women who have kindly agreed to share their stories about how they found their passion and purpose, started their businesses, and left their day jobs. Today I’m speaking to Leigh Worsdale and Leigh is sharing her story of how she went from feeling so lost not knowing what she wanted to do, to feeling a little bit of security working for her dad, to landing her dream job at 19, then a few years later realising this wasn’t actually her dream job at all when the pressure became too much and she was sitting outside work in the car not being able to bring herself to go inside. At this point she had a decision to make - was she going to stay where she was and be unhappy or was she going to work out what her dreams were and choose to follow them? Keep listening to hear Leigh’s story… If you want to jump to key parts of Leigh's story then you can! Timestamps 2:26: How Leigh felt she didn’t fit in with everyone else - she didn’t want to go to university and she wasn’t sure what to do 2:56: How Leigh faced rejection when she applied for hundreds of jobs and didn’t get any, how this knocked her confidence so much and how she decided not to feel sorry for herself and instead come up with some solutions 4:26: How the solution she found was the start of an amazing adventure, Leigh winning an award, and her dream career. 5:56: How Leigh was offered her dream job at just 19 years old and how different this experience was to just a few years earlier when she was applying for hundreds of jobs and being rejected. 7:01: How Leigh dealt with the pressure and challenges that came with her new job and how the pressure finally became too much for her. 8:26: Leigh describes how she reached her breaking point and couldn’t bring herself to walk into the building one morning. She admitted to her manager how unhappy she had become. 9:11: The thing Leigh realised that made her decide that this career wasn’t for her and she didn’t want to end up becoming one of the managers that she knew were so unhappy in their jobs. 10:01: The decision Leigh had to make - do I stay and sacrifice my happiness or do I follow my dreams? 10:27: How Leigh re-assessed what she wanted from her life - to travel more and see the world. She realised she had always had a fire inside her to own her own business. 11:16: How Leigh ended up juggling her day job, working for her dad again, and running her own business. 11:36: How Leigh finally found her true passion and knew if she mastered this she could have her own business and the freedom she wanted. 12:16: It was time to decide whether she would go all-in on her business or give it up. She decided to go all in. 12:41: How Leigh went from feeling so lost not knowing what she wanted to do, to feeling a little bit secure working for her dad, to landing what she thought was her dream job at 19, to realising this wasn’t actually her dream job. 13:46: How Leigh dealt with burnout and overwhelm and how she managed to work through this. And how it comes down to the decision on whether you carry on like you are or if you make a change. 15:16: How Leigh took a step back and asked herself what she really wanted from her life, and how she looked 5 years into the future and this helped her decide which path to take. 15:26: How taking responsibility for your life is terrifying, but the best thing you can do. 16:56: The mindset work that Leigh did to help her to make the transition from day job to having her own business. Starting to do some personal development helped her realise that she had a choice - she could literally choose how she wanted her life to be. 19:11: How knowing you’re not happy and knowing you can change your life is the first step - even if you don’t know how it’s all going to work out. You just have to take that first step. 19:56: How everything flows from doing what brings you joy. And how it will all work out in the right way. 21:26: How we follow the path society sets out for us and then find ourselves stuck. And how we then need to unravel it all and work out where we actually want to be. 22:26: How you don’t have to start from scratch - you have skills and life experience you can use to start your business. 23:01: How being surrounded by people with a fixed mindset can make the change you are trying to make so much more difficult. How this can send you into a serial of doubt and how you can avoid this by surrounding yourself with the right people. 24:56: Why it’s important to find out just what is possible for you and your life. 25:59: Fears! What was Leigh’s biggest fear on her journey and how did she overcome this? We discuss imposter syndrome and how she overcame this and realised that nobody else’s experiences actually matter! How we all assume that people are thinking about us and what we’re doing, but actually they’re too busy with their own lives! 31:56: How no one is going to come and hand us the things we want - we have to make them happen for ourselves! 32:39: Leigh’s biggest piece of advice for you. 34:16: How taking a step back or taking time off is when your ideas and the clarity that you need will come. Take the pressure off and give yourself permission to slow down. 35:56: How you can find out more about Leigh, her marketing business, and how she may be able to help you. Things mentioned in this episode Find out more about Leigh: Follow Leigh on Instagram Find Leigh on Facebook Resources to help you: Freebies Your Passion, Purpose & Potential mini-course