This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil - Reinventing Your Career (Again and Again) with Ilana Golan | 374

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

If you grew up thinking adulthood meant “figure it out once and then coast,” this episode is your loving wake-up call. Reinvention isn’t a plot twist anymore — it is the plot. Careers shift, r...elationships change, industries get AI’d, and your dreams evolve faster than your LinkedIn headline. In this conversation, I sit down with Ilana Golan — F-16 flight instructor turned tech exec turned founder & CEO of Leap Academy, a career reinvention platform that helps driven professionals leap into leadership, entrepreneurship, and portfolio careers.  We talk about what it actually takes to reinvent yourself (again and again), build a portfolio career that doesn’t burn you out, and turn your hardest seasons into rocket fuel instead of reasons to shrink. Because staying stuck isn’t a personality trait. It’s a habit. And you’re allowed to outgrow it. In This Episode, We Cover: Reinvention as a life skill, not a crisis – why you’ll need to reinvent every 1–2 years in today’s world, and how to stop making that mean you did something wrong. IQ, EQ, and now AQ (Adaptability Quotient) – the new metric that matters Breadcrumbs & clues – how to spot your zone of genius in the patterns, feedback, and “random” skills you’ve picked up along the way. From failure to fuel – how Ilana rebuilt after being kicked out of her own company, and how to move from spiral to experiment when life blows up.  The 5 days / 5 weeks / 5 months framework – a simple, non-scary way to test new directions without burning your life to the ground. Portfolio careers 101 – what they are, why one job won’t meet all your needs, and how to add new income/impact streams without looking like a confused hot mess.  Stability and possibility – how to choose a “baseline” role or revenue stream so you feel safe enough to play, experiment, and leap. Reinvention after rejection, grief, or trauma – why you can’t tell your story from the open wound, and how to move from bleeding to scar to superpower. Because the moment you stop chasing the life you think you should want, you finally make space for the one that was meant for you all along. Thank you to our sponsors! Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show!  Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass. Connect with Ilana: Website: https://www.ilanagolan.com Leap Academy: https://www.leapacademy.com IG: https://www.instagram.com/ilanagolanleap LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilanagolan/ Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ilanagolan-leap-academy LeapCon (free gift and discount code): http://leapacademy.com/tiww (Code: TIWW) Related Podcast Episodes: Your Value Doesn’t Expire: Career Reinvention Over 40 with Loren Greiff | 344 Confidence Isn’t Born, It’s Built — Lessons from the Cockpit to Real Life with Michelle “MACE” Curran | 343 7 Keys To Unlock Your Dynamic Drive with Molly Fletcher | 229 Share the Love: If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform! 🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 If this show adds something to your life, I'm asking for your help so it finds its way to the next woman who needs it. The three best ways to do that, rate, share, and support the sponsors. like to be doing woman's work in the world today. And that reinvention part, let's face it, it can be overwhelming. It's a huge part of adulthood that no one ever warned us about when we were kids. I don't know about you, but I thought the hard work would be figuring things out in the first place, the career, the relationship, the family, the life's purpose. I figured by my 30s, I'd have a blueprint, and from there it would just be about living the life that I'd carefully mapped out. Clear plan, steady path, all systems go. But the truth is, life doesn't work that way. It turns out
Starting point is 00:01:05 life isn't about figuring it out once. It's in reinventing yourself over and over again. Because careers shift, relationships change, dreams evolve, and sometimes life blows up in ways we never expect it. I'm approaching 50 and I'm still reinventing. My mom is over 70 recently divorced after 50 years of marriage and she's reinventing too in bold and inspiring ways that fill me with pride and admiration. And my guess is your reinventing too, which doesn't necessarily mean throwing everything out and starting from scratch. We collect breadcrumbs along the way, experiences, wins and losses, joys and pain, success and failure. And those give us hints about who we're becoming and where we're headed next. But this reinvention shit, it ain't easy. It isn't for the faint
Starting point is 00:02:00 of heart. It requires us to dig deep into our intuition, our courage, our confidence. It demands boldness, bravery, determination. So today we're going to talk about it. And listen, there are countless directions we could go with today's guests and we'll probably wander into a few different things. But what I'm most excited to explore is this thing we've all done and we're likely doing right now, the work of reinventing ourselves. Because if I know anything, it's that none of us were put here to stay the same. Alana Golan has turned reinvention into a superpower from F-16 flight instructor in the Air Force and the first female commander in her squad to becoming the youngest hired Intel, to tech executive, to founder of Leap Academy, one of the
Starting point is 00:02:46 fastest growing companies in America. Leap Academy is disrupting professional education and is the only platform in the world helping individuals build portfolio careers and prepare for the future of work. Alana is also the host of her own podcast where she's interviewed leaders like Richard Branson, Gary V, the president of Starbucks, the founder of Zillow. She's a mountaineer, Iron Man Triathlete, award-winning entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and has shared the stage with some of the most powerful leaders in the world. Let's talk about reinvention and let's start with yours. Alana, how do you go from F-16 flight instructor to tech entrepreneur to founder of one of the fastest growing companies? I mean, talk about reinvention. How do we do that? Oh, Nicole, it's so great to be here. And for those listening, look, reinventing is everywhere.
Starting point is 00:03:36 Like, we do this all the time. And in fact, at this pace of change, we're going to do it every year or two. So we better get really, really good at it. Right. And you're right. Like, these are very different or these seem very different. but there's always like transferable skills. There's always a pass. Success leaves clues. And if you can start looking for those clues, you're actually going to start understanding what is your zone of genius? Where is that superpower?
Starting point is 00:04:03 What lights you up? What gets you fulfilled? And then it's about like experimenting and trying different things. And we can definitely go into that. But I think it's really about finding the patterns, figuring out what is my pattern and where do I really, really want to shine. Yeah, I'm so glad that you said that because I think sometimes when it's happening, we feel like whatever we were doing before was a waste. And in my experience, as you said, there are breadcrumbs, clues, through lines, whatever you want to call them. Could you give us an example of maybe some of the clues you picked up along the way as you've reinvented yourself, I'm sure in countless ways, but at least professionally? Yeah, yeah. So even professionally, it was fascinating. So I started at Intel and just writing code, right? And in fact, I realized that, yeah, am I an okay coder? But really what I loved is when I got to speak with clients and do things that are interacting with humans, with people, not just computers. And it's like, wow, like, can this be a job? Can I figure out a way to be more in front of people, right? And that's when I started looking for a job. It was actually
Starting point is 00:05:10 a funny story, Nicole. Maybe some people will like to hear this. So it was 2000, right? Or 1999. Like, if you had a resume that said anything about engineering, you would find a job in two seconds. And here I was wanting to find my first client-facing role. And I'm going with my resume from Intel with all the engineering lingo and algorithm. Guess how many opportunities for a customer-facing role I got? Zero. Because my story, right? Because my story was based on who I was, not who I want to become. And it's not because I didn't have a story. It was emphasizing the wrong thing.
Starting point is 00:05:50 So when you want to start telling your story, you want to start thinking of what do I want, how do I emphasize the right points? Again, it was complete integrity, but how do I emphasize the right point towards where I want to be? And at that point, I started basically experimenting with different career-facing or client-facing roles and technical sales and product management. and, you know, and I started climbing up the ladder. And if you think about it, at the end of the days,
Starting point is 00:06:15 these was all experimentation. Like, I loved every one of them, but they were different types of experimentation, trying to figure out where is my sweet spot. And I kind of moved all the way to vice president, technical operation in charge of, like, so I moved up the ladder. But what I realized is as I was leap, you know,
Starting point is 00:06:33 kind of moving between roles, if you really think about where my sweet spot was, it was really the moving, between the roles, not necessarily the specific skill. And I think this is another interesting reminder to people. The zone of genius is not necessarily the exact skill or the thing that you studied in the university or the thing that you work right now. It's sometimes in between. It's the things that, you know, kind of like in between the leaves or in between that makes you different. And one of the things that I would also say to people is really listen to what people
Starting point is 00:07:09 are intrigued by you because at some point, Nicole, this was so interesting. At some point, people were starting at that point, I think I already started a company and I sold a company and I started investing in companies. And I could see people come to me, not for the business related stuff, but they would come to me for asking me about their careers. And to me, these were two different things. Like, I would help them with their careers and then I would continue and do my work, right? And I wasn't seeing that as a, you know, there were actually telling me something that I wasn't listening to. And I think this is another thing is like, look at like sometimes our ecosystem and our people around us will already hint to us about
Starting point is 00:07:51 our zone of genius. And we're just not attentive enough to see the clues. So, and I think that's just really beautiful because that's where, you know, everything comes together. It's beautiful. Okay. So I have this thought that I'm going to try to formulate into a cohesive thought. What I heard is a lot of times we define ourselves by our history or what we've done. And that actually can be problematic in both seeing outside the box or alternative or really seeing what actually is our gifts or a genius. And also this feeling of being willing to experiment and test and be curious about because I think so many of us, especially women, feel like we're supposed to be certain. So I guess how do we take on this spirit of experimenting, of testing? Because
Starting point is 00:08:44 experimenting and testing implies potential failure, right? It implies potential it not going well. And I just find so much of the time we're so afraid of that. Right. How do we take on more of this spirit of curiosity, I guess? Yeah. And Nicole, first of all, you summarize it beautifully, right? Because I think different in the mentality of where we used to grow up as, you know, you learn a certain topic, you get a grade, and this is how good you are, right? Like, that was kind of how we grew up. And in fact, and I'll say a few things about this, the pace of change and what we want to do, we actually need to flip this around. So what we want to start thinking is, what do I want to be known for? What is it that I want to do? And
Starting point is 00:09:33 if I'm not too sure, how can I experiment to figure this out? And the interesting thing is the way I found this, it was interesting. I was mentoring in some of the biggest startup accelerators in the world, like Google and Singularity University and Carnegie Mell and a bunch of others. And it was fascinating because in the world of startups, we experiment all the time. This is what we do. We find the market fit. We find the thing. And for some reason, and I remember catching myself in the middle of one of these conversations where they needed to experiment, I was like, why are we not? doing this for careers. Like, it's actually the same. There's like this massive land of opportunities. There's so many options these days. Why in my career, I'm thinking that I need to find
Starting point is 00:10:15 the thing that will fulfill me for the rest of my life. And, you know, when I'm looking at a startup, we can experiment. We can do things. We can move fast. And that's where everything shifted. And it actually created a big, you know, a big portion of Leap Academy is how do you experiment with your career. How do you decide that Joan of Genius? How do you kind of experiment to figure out that this is it? And then how do I start creating a little more of the story around it and my brand around it so that. But Tony's will come my way. So everything shifted. But it was at that moment that was like, why are we doing this differently? Because our career will not be there for 40 years. It's just a different thing. And maybe I'll add one more thing, Nicole, was your permission?
Starting point is 00:10:59 because I think it's just really interesting and it's something that I found out kind of relatively recent and I think your listeners will enjoy it. So at least my age, I don't know, I might revealing here a little too much, but back in the days, like IQ was everything. Like, you would do like these IQ tests and if you had a high IQ, you would be successful. Right. Like there was like IQ. Right. And then a few decades ago, it was morphed into EQ. So emotional intelligence became the thing. And I think Richard, Brandt was one of the first that said emotional intelligence is actually more important than IQ. And, you know, that kind of gave a green light to a lot of leaders and a lot of entrepreneurs that
Starting point is 00:11:40 just kind of felt like, you know, I didn't tick all the IQ boxes, but hey, I'm really good. And right now, Nicole, really, really interesting, it is actually AQ. And if you look it up, it's adaptability quotient. What it means that in today's world with a pace of change, with a pace of AI, with is, you know, everything moving so, so fast, adaptability, reinventing, leaping, is actually becoming the most important skill for the future of work. So not only that, you know, we want to master it, we want to master it and do it again, again, again. So I think this is where it becomes really interesting. That is fascinating and it makes sense, right, at the pace of change,
Starting point is 00:12:23 the rate of change that we're at being comfortable with change seems like a pretty important skill and maybe not comfortable, that might not be the right word, but being willing to. And I just had the thought, and I actually oddly got a little emotional about it, is like, what would life and career look like? What would be different if we just saw it as an experiment? If we just let go of the shoulds and the supposed to's and the outcomes and then we was just like, this is just one crazy experiment. And I know I would have probably done a lot differently.
Starting point is 00:12:55 Maybe I'm a slow learner, but I have found more often than not that my biggest reinventions came out of some of my hardest, most challenging, most painful experiences. I don't think that it has to be that way, but I do find that that is true for a lot of us. How do we reinvent ourselves after rejection, failure, pain, trauma, and how do we, and I'm just, just going to put in air quotes, use it in a way to propel us forward. Any thoughts on that? Oh, it's a beautiful question. So, unfortunately, it's true. So many, many times, we, you know, like, we need to hard. Yeah, yeah, we learn the hard way. And, and, you know, you can't really tell your story, you know, when, when the wound is really bleeding, but you can tell your story
Starting point is 00:13:51 from the scars, right? And it sometimes takes a little bit of healing. So if there's something very traumatic, you know, Nicole, like it's, you know, about a decade ago, I was kicked out of my own company, right? And I can tell you, it's a devastating, like, it's one of those things that are just mind-blowing hurting, right? Like, we started a company, we raised capital, and I, you know, and within 24 hours, I lost my job, my salary, my company, my, you know, like, I I lost everything in my life. And the truth is, you know, the downwind spiral can be really, really hard. So, and I would say to people, if you're in the downness spiral, if you're, you know,
Starting point is 00:14:30 trying to breathe, first of all, yes, there is a little bit of space for grace, right? Like, sometimes you need some healing because you just can't. And for me, my healing was actually to throw spaghetti on the walls and see what sticks. Instead of being intentional and strategic, like I was doing things, but I was actually becoming a red flag. So I think sometimes it's better to just take a step back, heal for a second, and then really see it as an, you know, experimentation. And if you think about it as experimentation is not as something that you have to decide for the next 40 years, it's actually not suffocating, right? Like the whole idea of deciding on something for like for so long, like it was suffocating for me. Like I couldn't do it.
Starting point is 00:15:13 And suddenly I wasn't fulfilled about anything and I lost my sense of worth and I was failing. you know, feeling like a failure. But, you know, it's really not about that. It's really about, okay, so let me try to experiment this and let me try to experiment this. So I would say a few things. So first of all, yes, looking at as an experimentation will really, really help you. The way I look at it is five days, five weeks, five months, right? Five days, I'm just going to learn about it as much as I can, five weeks. And what's beautiful then, Nicole, is all you need to decide is, is it worth five more weeks or I want to switch to something else, right? So you just look at it in chunks. And when you just look at it in chunks, you know, it's just, sure, I'll try it
Starting point is 00:15:55 for five more weeks, you know, it's not a big deal. It's not a big commitment. Or, you know, I'll try it for a few months and see if I want to actually leap there, right? Like, it's just not as suffocating. The other thing that I would say is surround yourself with people that are willing to leap faster and higher. I think one of the biggest thing in Leap Academy is that you are surrounded with a lot of people that are forcing you to leap, honestly, right? And the beautiful thing, you know, once you master it and you do it once, the interesting thing is it is an art. And when you can do it once, you can actually start ticking the boxes
Starting point is 00:16:32 of and creating the life that you want because I'm a big believer in portfolio career. I'm a big believer in multiple streams of ventures and things that you can be involved with that will start ticking more of the boxes, right? because it's not, like, there's no way one thing will take all your boxes. But when you can start looking at it as, you know, kind of like multiple ventures and some with income and some is fulfillment and some is for fun and some is for, you know, volunteering and the impact. And some you create this incredible life that is just now I just have a list of things that I
Starting point is 00:17:07 want to achieve. And every single time, I'm like, cool. So I want to start a podcast. This is what I going to do. I want to start getting on a board. This is what I going to do. I want to write a book. This is what I'm going to do. And suddenly it becomes more of a, let me just, you know, take the boxes. I'm going to surround myself with the right people. And I will get help. So I do surround myself with a lot of help. I do believe in that shortcut. But it's something I didn't believe in for many, many years. So I learned the hard way. I don't know who else needs to hear this, but drinking coffee doesn't count as hydration. I learned this the hard way the other morning when I stood up.
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Starting point is 00:19:35 right? So maybe skip the last minute random gift and give yourself or someone you love, something that actually improves life and turns up the heat. Sign up for Beducated at Beducate.Me and use women's work to get 50% off the yearly pass, locked in for life. Plus, they offer a 14-day money-back guarantee so you can try it totally risk-free. Click the link in show notes to get Beducated. And let's make winter heat a thing. A few things that you said because I thought were so good. So first, I think we've all had that experience. experience in our lives where we've had something where we're not sure we can recover from it, whether it's losing a company or a relationship or a lot. I mean, that feeling of like,
Starting point is 00:20:19 I don't know if I can make it through this. And I'm so glad that you reminded us to give ourselves space and grace to the extent that you can because it's so important to begin the healing journey before you move right on to the next. I love the five days, five weeks, five months, great concept. And thank you for the reminder, again, of surrounding ourselves with really good people. The visual came into my head of like standing on a cliff and jumping when you talk about leaping and like having people around you where maybe somebody goes first and you like, okay, we can make it. We're not going to die, right? Or people who can cheer you on or maybe even somebody who gives you that final push. It's so, so, so important to surround ourselves with good people.
Starting point is 00:21:06 you've said a few times portfolio career. I know this is a big part of your work. Tell us what that means and how do we build one. Yeah. So Nicole, it is part of reinvention. So I think that's what's beautiful about it and part of the experimentation because I think there's one career. If you, you know, gone of the days that you'll usually land one thing,
Starting point is 00:21:29 be there for 40 years and retire was a golden watch and a party. Like these days are kind of gone. Like they exist from time of time, but they're really rare and they're going to be less and less of them. So the truth is we're going to reinvent ourselves every year or two. Like it's actually moving really fast. If you're going to look at us, you know, kind of a what happens to our skills, there's actually a fascinating graph of looking what happens to our skills.
Starting point is 00:21:52 So it used to be about 30 years ago that a skill would actually survive for 30 years. Now it's two years. It's fascinating. So we're actually losing relevant at a speed we've never seen before. So if that's the case, you're going to need to reinvent ourselves anyway. Now, the gist of it is that one career is probably not enough if you actually want more from your life. So if you want fun and travel and experiences and impact, then to do something that matters and status and generational wealth, like if you're going to start looking at all the things that we actually want from a career and from life overall,
Starting point is 00:22:28 one will probably not tick all every single one of the boxes and when you can start creating kind of multiple streams and multiple ventures and it's not all going to be about money because sometimes it's about fulfillment and sometimes it's about fun it's sometimes it's about you if you're going to look at the top one percent of the millioners billioners in the world it's actually fascinating 50 percent of them will have more than four income streams and the more you're going to go up to the billioners it's actually a big amount. So what's interesting is they already have it. The question for me was then why is nobody teaching this, right? If it's so common. But you need to do it right. So the problem with
Starting point is 00:23:12 portfolio career is done wrong. It's a disaster because you just look confused, right? So and then you throw spaghetti on the wall and nothing sticks. So in order to create a portfolio career, you do want one stream of income that is relatively stable, whether it's a job, whether it's your own business, but it needs to be relatively stable. And the best portfolio careers is when you can actually create ripple effects, right? So if you're employed right now, you know, you can have, you add, I don't know, some speaking opportunities and maybe some advisory and take some equity here and there and maybe, you know, whatever. And then now you're starting to be known as somebody that is even more at the leadership or more at the helm or more at the C-suite. And now
Starting point is 00:23:53 you're getting more promotions, better pay, da-da-da, more respect, more seat at the table like it creates ripple effect. Or if you're an entrepreneur, you add, I don't know, mentorship and startup accelerators or advisory or board seats or whatever, right? And now you're starting again to be seen in a different way. So you can raise more capital. So whatever it is that you're after, you can start creating, it's almost like a chess game. And if you can actually start looking at that as a chess game, mind blowing. Yeah. Okay. So I again feel like I figured some of this out for myself the hard way in that there is comfort or stability in having something that is consistent or something that you can count on or rely on. So in my work,
Starting point is 00:24:37 coaching has always been the thing that provides the baseline, right? It's something I love doing. It's high impact. I think I do it really well for the right people. But it just provides that stability that I need, that my business needs, that my everything needs, in order for me to go and experiment and explore and try. And I've tried and failed at many different potential revenue streams or ways, directions my business could go or work that I could do. But in that, I've narrowed down closer and closer, those few other things that I am passionate about or that I love doing and don't care about income or that generate income and things like that. So again, back to this reinvention and experimenting, but I'm so glad that you talked about
Starting point is 00:25:26 having something that provides some sort of security, stability, safety. Is that what you're saying? Or did I make that up? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. And if I'm looking at somebody, you know, I mean, again, Nicole, you already have some portfolio career, right? Like, you're doing the coaching.
Starting point is 00:25:43 You're doing a podcast. Like, that's exactly a portfolio career. You know, for people who, you know, are coaches, a consultant, you know, you can add, you know, maybe being paid to speak. Maybe you can, you know, or, you know, maybe you go to speak and you get more clients with it. And then it's more about the media and the podcast and whatever and the awards. And like, there's other things that you can start kind of creating for yourself and write a book. You could whatever. Right.
Starting point is 00:26:08 You know, I mean, there's like multiple things that you can start doing in order to create those ripple effects. And again, Nicole, you're doing them. But I think it's important for the listeners to kind of start thinking about it where in my, you know, world can I start creating ripple effects that will actually change my trajectory. And I think that's what's beautiful about it because you reinvent yourself. But you just leap again and again and again and it just becomes a norm. It becomes part of, you know, I want something new. Let's go. I wonder, too, if the same concept can be applied to so many other things.
Starting point is 00:26:41 like I think of like relationships and friendships. We want that, you know, maybe have gone the distance or that there's a high level of trust or that we're really connected with. But having those people that allows us to experiment a little bit more, meet new people, have some, you know, relationships that it's not meant for the long haul and that's okay. My last question is a doozy.
Starting point is 00:27:06 I think for many of us, reinvention can feel impossible, intimidating, scary as shit. I don't care what you call it, but the idea of it feels sometimes too big, too insurmountable. What advice do you have for people who are like, I don't know if I can do it? So first of all, I love the question, Nicole, because the truth is, at the moment when I was at the bottom on my barrel, I didn't think anything or anyone can get me out of the heck that I was in. You know what I'm saying? Like, it was like a very hard moment. So first of all, if you're, you're listening to this and you're feeling like you're drowning or you're feeling like it's hard in the middle of the night you're tossing and turning first of all i want you to know
Starting point is 00:27:48 like that it's normal right and usually that means you're also you know in the beginning of something big because it's always darkest before the dawn and so the first thing that i will say is you know a big part of it is your mental game around it and are you letting because it's never the challenges that stop us it's always our belief around the challenges and the meaning that we're giving it, right? So I think the very first thing is to understand that that's usually a hint that you're in front of a big thing. And the only question is, if you continue when all the rest stop,
Starting point is 00:28:25 that's where you get the life that, you know, the rest will only dream up, right? So it's really more about that stuff. Now, in order to continue, really some of the best steps that I can see, it's like, I'm very engineering. So I need, you know, somebody to spell it out for me. And one, do this, two, do that. So the one thing that I'll say to the listeners, the first thing is kind of really understand your must have, like what is really critical for you?
Starting point is 00:28:48 Again, we can have it all just not at the same time. So release the need of trying to have it all because, again, sometimes it's more finance, sometimes it's more growth or title or function or fame or whatever it is. Sometimes it's impact. I just need to feel like I have a seat at the table. I move the needle, whatever. Sometimes it's balanced because, you know, I need more time for family, for whatever. And again, no job will give you all of this or no career will give you all of it at the same
Starting point is 00:29:16 time. So what I would say, first of all, just be honest with yourself and think what are the two that are really, really critical for you. And when you start distilling it one by one and then, you know, and really honest about what it is that you have to have, the rest kind of piles up together. And I think the hardest thing in the goal is to let go of what society expects from us, it's cool, what other will think, what if I fail. Like the hardest thing is the emotional part of it. But once you can spell it out, you can start, you know, really figuring this out and doing some massive, you know, changes.
Starting point is 00:29:53 And it feels incredible. Yeah, I think you're dead on, especially when things are hard or haven't worked or you feel like something has just ended or you've lost something. I think that's, I'll speak for myself. Those are the times where my instinct to care. about what other people think goes way higher. It's when I am hurting where I'm like, I should or I supposed to or whatever.
Starting point is 00:30:17 And I liked what you said earlier. It's not the challenge. It's the belief around our challenge and having people who can support us by thinking about it differently can be really helpful. But something you've said over and over is that reinvention is an ongoing thing, right?
Starting point is 00:30:34 We're talking every couple of years. And maybe that's just even in your career. but I would say reinvention is no longer a detour. It's the road we're on. We are constantly reinventing. So maybe the belief around the challenges is that it is the beginning of something next or it's the path on the road you're on as opposed to thinking about it as an ending or a detour or a blockage or something like that.
Starting point is 00:31:00 I know that's hard when you're in it, but I just wonder if there's something to it. I think you're absolutely spot on. and I think I love that you said, you know, it's not a detour. It's some, this is the road. Like you will need, and I think the faster that you claim it and understand it, that like you will need to reinvent yourself every year or two. And the more you understand that this is your career. Like your career is to learn to reinvent as fast as possible to whatever it is that you want,
Starting point is 00:31:31 at will, to any direction that makes you bit. And it just creates an incredible life once you're, let go of that, oh my God, I need this one thing that will be suitable for the rest of my life. So the minute you understand that this is it, this is the new norm. This is the new thing. And it just creates a beautiful, beautiful wish list of life that you can just do whatever you want. It's the most brilliant, exhilarating thing ever. Yeah. I am, I describe myself as a realist, which is what most pessimists say about themselves. But I have a feeling when people hear that that we're going to be reinventing ourselves every couple of years,
Starting point is 00:32:09 that there are some of our listeners who are like, like it sounds scary and overwhelming. And I invite us all, myself included, to think about how exciting that is, this idea that we get to, that we can become better and better, that there is nothing that we're just locked in on or stuck on. I mean, I think that as you're saying it,
Starting point is 00:32:33 there's this excitement that comes up, like, what's possible? Yes, it's the new possible, Nicole. And I think, again, don't scare yourself in the sense of, like, reinventing doesn't mean you're going to leave a job every year or two, right? Like, you could reinvent yourself within the same corporation, but to a new function or to a little more responsibility or to a new title or to whatever. Because, again, it's about, you know, it's not enough to stay.
Starting point is 00:32:58 There is no stuck anymore. It's like stuck is actually moving backwards at a pace that we've never seen. Like, it's losing relevance. But the beautiful thing is, like you said, there's, There's a land of opportunities now. There's a new possible that is mesmerizing. And the more we can lean into that, it just creates such a beautiful, beautiful life. You just start creating that wish list and, oh, I want advisory and some equity in companies.
Starting point is 00:33:21 Great. I know how to do it. I want a board seat. Great. I know how to do it. I want a C-Suite. Great. I know how to do it.
Starting point is 00:33:25 I want to be paid to speak. Great. I know how to do it. Like it just create this like incredible life that, you know, it just, and you just followed the same steps, which is beautiful. Yeah. Yes. Amazing. Thank you, Alana. I know our listeners are going to want to learn more. So Alana's website is
Starting point is 00:33:43 alonagoland.com. We'll put the link and all the ways to find and follow Alana and as well as her socials. You can go to Leap Academy. But we'll put it all in show notes. And Alana, I know you have a gift for our listeners. So if you want to just explain that real quick. Yeah. So we love hearing from you, first of all. So if you hear this and you got some good nugget, please reach out. Like we would love it. We're in leapacademy.com or Ilana at leapacademy.com. And yes, we have a gift for you. So basically on leapacademy.com, what we'll give you is a free, a little assessment of kind of where your career can go. And, you know, it's really fun because it's really short. Do you also have a free training about, you know, how to leap your career was a lot more elaborated than what I give you now? And you can apply to a 15-minute, really strategy, career, strategy call. to have one of my experts
Starting point is 00:34:38 that was you and kind of understand where you can reinvent yourself and I just want you to feel the new possible and it's really fun. And do people go to Leap Academy for that, Leapacademy.com?
Starting point is 00:34:49 Yep. Yes. Okay. Great. Awesome. Alana, thank you on behalf of my listeners for that free gift
Starting point is 00:34:56 and for your exceptional conversation and wisdom today. Thank you, Nicole. My pleasure. Okay. Here's the deal, friend. Reinvention isn't optional. It's not a backup
Starting point is 00:35:06 plan and it sure as hell isn't a sign that you've failed. Reinvention is the work of the brave, the people who refuse to stay stuck, who collect the breadcrumbs of their lives and decide to make something bolder, truer, and worth reinventing for. So stop waiting until it feels easy because it never will. Stop buying into the lie that you only get one shot at figuring it all out. You get as many shots as you're willing to take. Reinvention is messy. It's uncomfortable and it will demand every ounce of your courage, but it's also where freedom lives, where fulfillment lives, where you live. Reinvent as many times as it takes because staying the same, well, that was never the assignment. Be more you. That is and will always be woman's work.

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