The Power of Purpose and Why It Matters Today with Ariel Naftali

Finding a sense of purpose is important to our well-being. As you grow and live your life, your purpose also grows. Following it can lead you to fulfillment. It’s like your roadmap. Think about this: When you have a sense of purpose, you tend to experience joy, happiness, and satisfaction more often. It gives you the ability to become resilient, hopeful, and optimistic about the future.

When it comes to purposes, our guest Ariel Naftali is an expert on that matter. She is an executive coach for purpose-driven leaders. Ariel loves helping people find their purpose and perform at a high level. Let’s hear more about them today.

 

Listen to the podcast here:

The Power of Purpose and Why It Matters Today with Ariel Naftali

Welcome to Action’s Antidotes, your antidote to the mindset that keeps you settling for less. I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the problems that we’re experiencing in the world today, and, in my humble opinion, just from my observations, talking with people, reading things, it seems like what a lot of people are missing are three of the building blocks for a good life: purpose, confidence, and resilience. And what I mean by that is that the purpose to understand, get some grounding behind why you’re doing what you’re doing, making it meaningful; the confidence, of course, is the ability to really execute on it, believe in yourself; and resilience is how we respond to bad things that happen. And I see so many of the less fortunate, less happy things going on in the world today, I see a crisis where a lot of people are lacking one or all three of these particular things. My guest today, Ariel Naftali, is an executive coach for purpose-driven leaders. She helps people find their purpose and perform up to that purpose.

 

Ariel, welcome to the program.

 

Hi, Stephen. Thanks so much for having me.

 

Ariel, thank you so much for joining us today on Action’s Antidotes. First of all, what is the name of your business?

 

My business is Perform with Purpose and, I know, a very cliché title there as a purpose coach, but Perform with Purpose and we are located in Denver, Colorado.

 

And your website brings up both performance and purpose. How do you see these things intersecting with one another and which one comes first and which one’s more important?

 

Great question. I started my work mostly in the performance realm working with athletes and I didn’t realize this emphasis on purpose was important in the beginning of that work. A lot of the work that I was doing was helping athletes with their mindset to perform at a higher level, but what I realized for myself and for them as well is if they’re not clear on why they’re doing what they’re doing, if they haven’t really attached a meaningful reason behind the effort, the work, the energy, their time that they’re putting into something, when they actually reach that goal that they’re setting, that performance metric, it doesn’t end up feeling as satisfying or fulfilling as they thought it was because they didn’t attach it to something meaningful to them. That had me rethink my whole process and my whole focus and wanting to center more on this purpose lens first to figure out what’s actually important to you, what’s actually meaningful to you, and once we identify that, then let’s set goals in line with it and help you perform at the height of your potential in the pursuit of that to ensure that you’re actually setting yourself up for a career, a life that’s going to be more fulfilling and more satisfying on the other side.

 

Well, it’s interesting that this came from the world of athletics because I think a lot of us have in our minds what professions feel like they have a lot of purpose and which professions feel like they don’t, and do you see this as varying a lot? Do you see a lot of athletes that understand, say, you’re running for track, for example, understand like, “Why did I pick this sport? Why does this sport interest me and why do I wanna reach my peak performance at this particular activity?”

 

I don’t think that I’ve seen that there’s a deeper connection to purpose to certain lines of work from a topic perspective or role perspective.

I think any role can feel purposeful. Where I think that the differentiating factor is, one, on the individual level is what you’re doing in service of something that you personally care about.

That’s a really important distinction because you might be able to identify some cause that you know is important generally, like I might say that working towards helping climate change issues is an important cause and matter that’s happening in our world today but that doesn’t mean necessarily that me working in an organization that’s helping to fight climate change is what’s going to be most meaningful to me. And so we really want to get clear on an individual level what is it that really moves the needle for us? What is it that makes us tick on a macro level, putting ourselves in organizations, if you’re at the employee level, that align in the values that you have and are working towards a mission that you genuinely care about?

 

That makes sense, and I’m wondering how many people fall into this trap, because I think a lot of people have these causes that maybe you’re supposed to care about. Do you observe a lot of people who picked the cause maybe because so many people around them decided that that’s an important cause but wasn’t their specific purpose?

 

Yeah, I do have a number of clients who come in who are doing work on a volunteer basis or on the board of some organization, are part of an organization that has a really altruistic mission, because that person has identified that they want to help people, they want to help the world, they want to make a positive impact in some way, which is step one in the process. You got to get there to make effective progress towards that purpose alignment. I would say there is certainly a disconnect sometimes for some of those people if the thing that they are immersing themselves in doesn’t have a personal connection to who they are in the life experiences that they have had. Often, what it is, like the missions that we feel passionate about, we feel so passionate about them because they relate to a life experience that we’ve had, they relate to some painful experience that maybe we’ve had, like if you’re someone who spends all day in your house playing video games and never goes outside in nature, you may never realize or care that climate change is a problem that’s happening in our world. You might read about it but if you’re not viscerally experiencing that shift and really seeing it happen in front of you, there might not be that deeper connection to the mission so, yeah, I do see that play out.

 

One time, I met someone who had moved from Italy to Iceland and this person acknowledged, saying, “When I first heard about climate change, and I was living in Italy, I said, okay, the world’s gonna go up 2 degrees Celsius, it’s 25,” because they do Celsius everywhere else, “it’s 25 degrees Celsius,” which is 77 here in Fahrenheit, “and I’m wearing a t shirt. So what? It’ll be 27 and I’ll just be wearing a t shirt and that’s about it,” but then, when he moved to Iceland and saw that those 2 degrees made the difference between rain and snow and made the difference between the glacier staying where it is and the glacier starting to melt, he saw it more and is like, “This is when I decided to care about this issue.” So I think that whole makes sense that you have to have some sort of a personal relationship to it. And do you think it’s always the experience someone has or can it be sometimes a little bit more complicated, because people sometimes will think about a specific experience, the whole idea of the inner child wanting to always get what you were denied when you were younger or can sometimes involve maybe you need to dive deeper and to go into little known memories or weird connections between events?

 

I think it always relates to some experience that we’ve had, whether it’s on a conscious or subconscious level, tends to drive what it is that we feel we gravitate towards. I can say for myself in the work I’m doing is not as necessarily tangible as working to fight climate change or homelessness but it is driven from a past experience of not feeling a sense of belonging in my childhood and wanting to now help people feel like, one, they belong, and, two, they can be exactly who they are and accepted for who they are, and, three, my experience in the corporate world doing work that just didn’t let me up and didn’t fulfill me and didn’t feel like it really aligned with who I authentically was, that didn’t allow me to actually perform at the height of my potential, because of that, all those experiences coupled together have led me to become passionate about helping people and serving people in the way that I am. And so, it can be multiple experiences, different times in life that form what it is that you value, what it is you care to serve. And also that purpose, that thing that you could have served can evolve over the course of your lifetime as well.

 

Yeah, I actually have tried to tell people more and more this is what my life’s mission is, this is what my mission right now is or this is what I’m tackling at this point, because, I mean, even what this podcast is about, for example, there’s a possibility that 10, 15 years from now, for some reason based on cultural changes, society trends, might not be necessary, because maybe we’ve abandoned the 40-hour work week due to automation and people are okay that it’s 25 hours a week but it’s a terrible job but it’s only 25 hours a week and, therefore, we can deal with the fact that it’s just grunt work that doesn’t really matter. One thing I’m wondering, if you’re willing to indulge or share, is that specifically to you and your story, how did your experiences that came together line you up to decide that you wanted to start your own business, you wanted to start your own executive coaching business?

 

So many things that I’m sure many that I am not consciously aware of at the moment, but I would say I always had a sense that I was good at reading people and really getting to the heart of what drives them, what they’re feeling, what they’re experiencing, like sensing the energy of someone else. I was the friend that people came to to unload all their problems on and talk —

 

That sounds exhausting.

 

For many, it probably is. For me, I loved it and so that was a hint that I didn’t pay attention to in the beginning that I was meant to be in some sort of direct helping role with other humans on an individual level. It took me a while to fully embrace that quality in myself but when I did really embrace that, I think that is one piece of the puzzle of what led me to pursue this direction in coaching and to start my own business in it. I’d honestly say a lot of that comes from my family, from my parents who both run their own businesses and seeing that it’s possible, it can be a reality, and seeing the level of autonomy that they have in their roles compared to their peers. Of course, tons of downsides. There’s pros and cons to every direction you take it, but I think seeing that they really could design the life that they wanted, for the most part, in the way that they wanted, I wanted that for myself. That was probably the initiating factor, like the catalyst that allowed me to believe in myself enough to feel like it was possible. And then once I actually started that journey, I think it’s my mission now that carries me in wanting to continue running and growing my business because I feel so strongly aligned with the work I’m doing and the way I’m doing and the approaches I’m using, not that I think I’m right and someone else’s approach is wrong, but I really feel like the work I’m doing is meant to be out in the world in the way that I’m sharing it for those who feel supported by it. And so I want to be able to be the one to dictate how that goes. Maybe I’ve gotten stubborn with it at this point, but here we are and we’ll see how it continues to evolve.

 

Well, it reminds me of any mission I’m on and how I approach people who are also on the same mission but going about it with maybe different tactics or have different businesses and so I’ve had other podcasters with very similar themes on this podcast before and it’s been the same idea that I’ve always had, which is, okay, what I’m putting out there may resonate with some people and what they’re putting out there may resonate with different people and that’s okay, the same way I don’t think there’s any shortage of people who are lost, in a way. Reminds me of the lyric from the great rapper J. Cole, who said, “The good news is that you came a long way but the bad news is you went the wrong way.” I feel like words like that, phrases like that have resonated because there are so many people who, in one way or another, have that issue. A couple follow-up questions I had is that, first of all, were your parents your inspiration? And, if so, do you think it required, say, some other mentors or other people in your life that were encouraging you to go the route that you really felt like was the right route based on everything you’ve experienced in your life and how you figured out who you are and what you naturally do well?

 

Yeah, that’s a really great question and great point. I think that I don’t know anyone who’s been successful, at least in the way I define it, like in terms of fulfillment and satisfaction, without some sort of positive mentorship experience. And I think my parents made me believe that it was possible to design my life the way I wanted it to be and to feel confident in my abilities to do so but there were so many mentors I had in addition to that along the way that paved the road. And it’s an interesting question about mentorship, specifically, because my mom conducted research, she is a career coach, in a way, so apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She conducted research with a bunch of “successful” people in her life and made this distinction between — we’re speaking financially well off, but she made the distinction in her research between those who were successful and happy and those who were successful and unhappy and try to see like what’s the differentiating factor here between someone who does really well financially and is happy and that who does really well financially and is unhappy. And the number one factor that she found was that they had mentorship. They had a positive source of mentorship in their life. That always sat with me as such an important part of the journey.

 

If you don’t have any kind of — North Star is like a very cliché way to put it, I’ve never used that term in my life, but if you don’t have anyone, I feel like, to look up to, to say like, “I admire that, I want to be like that,” I think it’s hard to fully define for yourself how you want to be in the world.

 

So if someone listening right now feels like they don’t have a mentor of any kind, what would you suggest that someone does to find that, whether it be looking for a mentor that’s going to specifically talk to you one on one or some sort of a hero that you follow from a distance, which I’ve seen both examples and I’ve heard stories about people being positively influenced by both examples or both manners in which to find that.

 

I think a lot of times mentorship relationships can happen more organically but maybe what some might not be taking advantage of is maybe there are acquaintances in your life or people that are in your network in some capacity that you really admire, you really look up to or you really just respect the work that they’re doing, reach out to them. And it doesn’t need to be like, “Hey, can you be my mentor?” at like first conversation but spend some time doing relationship building with the people in your life who you think have some stuff figured out that you want to have figure out and see what becomes of that relationship. And if you don’t have anyone in your life, personally or professionally, that you feel like can be that guiding light, in some sense, you can ask a trusted friend or family member who do they go to for advice or guidance. I think it’s never impossible to have that as an option, to have that as a resource, it’s just about doing your homework and getting a sense of what’s around in your community. I think there’s so many opportunities for relationship building that we miss out on.

 

Starting to tune into those people and begin the relationship building process and if you’re showing up with integrity and being genuine to who you are, those relationships tend to evolve organically on their own. Click To Tweet

 

It doesn’t need to be such a regimented process of developing a source of mentorship.

 

So it doesn’t need to be, “I’m issuing a RFP, request for proposal, for mentors and I would like everyone to submit this five-page questionnaire out there and I will make a selection by noon, August 28.”

 

Hey, you know what, I’ve never seen it done, maybe you’re on to something.

 

I mean, I have no idea. And you said that there’s a lot of missed opportunities for relationship building. What do you think is the number one, if someone’s going to take away one, maybe two places where they’re missing opportunities for relationship building out there?

 

People that they meet for the first time who they enjoy getting to know, there was some sort of connection there, or they just witnessed and felt like, “Hey, that’s a cool person. I like how they’re showing up,” I think it’s those moments where it’s just so much easier to then go back to our routine, to talk to our friends, to talk to our family, to get back in conversation with those we’re already in a deeper relationship with because that’s our comfort zone, than to step a little bit outside of our comfort zone and say, “I’m gonna reach out to that person. I’m gonna see if they’re open to a conversation. I wanna learn more about who they are and their journey and how they got to where they are.” I think those are the conversations that we don’t organically lean into on the mentorship side.

People are almost always willing to have a conversation and help someone out if they can and I think sometimes fear gets in the way or we don’t even realize that there’s an opportunity there because we think that everyone else is too busy for us.

But, from my experience, most people really do want to help truly.

 

Just anywhere out there in life if you meet someone, and almost every city has some form of meetup networking group or something like that and you’re like, “Okay, this person, I think we have a lot in common, I think we have similar goals, similar vibes,” it’s just a matter of making an effort with that person and saying, “Hey, let’s hang out,” or, “Let’s meet up for coffee or meet up for lunch and discuss periodically what’s going on in our lives,” type of thing.

 

Yeah. And it could be your soccer team, it could be a networking group, it could be your work, it could be a company-wide meeting you attended that someone spoke at that you thought was really impressive and you admired how they showed up. Can be all over the place. There is something else you said that spoke to me but I lost my train of thought with it so maybe it’ll come back as we’re moving through the conversation. 

 

Well, let me know if that comes back because one thing I’ve noticed that you’ve been saying a lot is how you show up, how they show up. What’s the most important thing about how anyone shows up for whatever it is they’re attending?

 

Awareness of self and awareness of the space that you’re entering, the context that you’re entering. I think there’s this movement of being your full self at work. Why is there such a distinction between who you are at home and who you are at work? And I think that showing up fully in who you are doesn’t mean that you are unprofessional or rude or disrespectful, it means that you still carry yourself with a level of kindness and compassion and understanding and respect and awareness of the context that you’re in but you’re not filtering your language to simply say what you think people want to hear. You’re saying what you think actually matters, what will actually be impactful, will actually help the people in that space, in that meeting that you’re showing up as. So, sometimes, saying the thing that makes people uncomfortable isn’t necessarily wrong but there needs to be this distinction between like discomfort at a level of safety and discomfort at a level of, “Oh, we’re all just not great at handling hard conversations” but this hard conversation needs to happen. What I mean is trying to be as genuine and authentic to yourself as you can be while having a respect for the people who are also there in that space. And I think like the word “professionalism” can really be toyed around with and meant to mean something that it’s not.

I don’t think professionalism is what you dress like and how you look, I think it’s how you carry yourself, how you treat people, how you show up in integrity, do you follow through on what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it, and thinking about how do we show up to professional spaces, or any space, really, with a level of intentionality.

It made me think of the difference between, say, you’re in a conversation and you don’t necessarily care for the direction it’s going and, on one end, you could just be like, “This doesn’t matter. You’re all stupid for thinking this,” or just saying something like, “Well, actually, I’ve found that we need to look into this, this, and that instead because that’s what I think is the real root of the problem.” 

 

Right.

 

So something along those lines?

 

Right, right, exactly. Like have you heard of — not standup comedy, the where you need to like build on the last thing the person says?

 

Oh, you mean the improv where —

 

Improve, thank you. 

 

— yes, you’re not supposed to say no and fight the person that said something like…yeah.

 

Yes. The yes-and idea where like they say something, you’re like, “Yes,” and you build on top of it. And so I think there really is a way to incorporate that in these spaces where you’re not rejecting someone but you’re adding to their thought process. Like, “Yes, and here’s my idea and I think your idea is valid too and let’s talk about this and have an open conversation,” because everything that we have to share is valid. Everyone has input, different perspective, that can be meaningful. And that doesn’t mean they’re all the right answer to the situation that you’re trying to talk through but they have a valid place in the space to be considered and worked through.

 

What would make someone less likely to feel threatened by hearing something that differs from their perspective or differs from what their idea is?

 

Understanding what their values are and how those values are driving their beliefs and, therefore, what they think should happen in X situation, because the more we can understand our values, the more we realize that it’s not a matter of right and wrong or good and bad, but just different, different views, different perspectives. I think that can be really helpful in disarming the situation and not taking everything so personally and from the lens of the person who might be criticizing, to disarm the person who shared the view, I think it’s, first, important to show up from a place of empathy, like really trying to understand where that person is coming from and their perspective so maybe one expressing, “I completely understand how you might feel, that this would be the way to move forward because of this life experience,” or maybe even first show up from a place of curiosity and asking that person, “That’s an interesting point that you made. I’m curious to know more about how you arrived at that viewpoint,” and really trying to first like show that you care and that you care about understanding where they’re coming from before proving your point.

 

And I think once you show up from that place of curiosity and create more of that trusted, safe space, then you have more room to step in with what your thoughts are on the matter. Click To Tweet

 

And I think that would also disarm the conversation.

 

Now, is it possible to come from a place of curiosity and the most extreme example, if someone says, “Well, my opinion is you’re a piece of shit,” and literally respond and be like, “Well, I’m curious, what is it that made you believe that I am a piece of shit?” Is that possible?

 

Honestly speaking, yes, but you have to have enough emotional management on your end, of course, to not be reactive to someone calling you a piece of shit. It can be you to be the first one to step up in that conversation, to be like, “Genuinely, I’m curious, why do you feel like I’m a piece of shit? I really wanna know.” Because, I mean, one, that person will probably be like, “Oh, I was not expecting that response.”

 

No, not at all. 

 

But do it, it honestly really opens up the space to have a real honest conversation. And if you tell me that that conversation plays out in your life at some point in the future, please try entering it from a space of curiosity, though I can’t ever imagine someone calling you a piece of shit.

 

It can happen. I mean, there’s other parts of my life so, yeah.

 

But it’s — it sounds silly because it’s not how we talk in “normal, everyday life” but I really do think it could be effective.

 

I also want to go back to what you were discussing about being passionate about your specific methods for helping people find their why and use that to improve their performance because maybe people out there are curious about what it is you do and how it is that you do it.

 

There’s three pillars that I work on with people who really want to connect to that deeper sense of purpose. Typically, it’s through their work. For some, it’s through their contribution outside of work. Those three pillars are, one, your natural skill sets, your personality type, your essence, your energy. I call this the Who. There’s three Ws. I call this the Who, your purpose, really finding a way to engage with the world that speaks to your strengths and speaks to personality type.

 

Yeah, so who you are.

 

Who you really are as a person and so I’ll just, for the sake of confidentiality, I’ll use myself as an example instead of a client. I always knew I was someone who liked being around people. I liked connecting with others. And I was good at it, like I was good at building relationships. It was one of the areas that I felt strong in. That’s part one. Part two is what it is that you’re actually interested in. I call this the What pillar, and this is more at a topic- or subject-based level. What kinds of information do you like engaging with? So I might be someone who likes being around people but if I’m not interested at all at like actually understanding how the human mind works and learning about that process, I might not become a coach. I might become a manager. I mean, there’s an element of wanting to understand how people work in order to be effective in any kind of relationship, but I might not be in such a direct helping profession if I didn’t also find psychology really fascinating. So that intersection of the Who and the What really helped me get to this point. And then the third part, the third pillar of purpose, is the Why piece, the third W, so why do you actually want to do the work that you’re doing? Does it matter to you? Does the impact that it’s going to have, does the influence that it’s going to have matter to you? So me seeing the impact that I have on clients, seeing lightbulb moments go off, seeing their career transitions happen that are so powerful, seeing them step into work that makes them so happy and satisfied and fulfilled, seeing them performing and stepping into massive leadership roles in the organizations, that is my why. And if I wasn’t connected to that, I’d feel a little misaligned in the role that I was doing. So, those are the three things I would suggest people think about in finding that intersection for purposeful and meaningful work.

 

I’m assuming you have that in that particular order as well, because I think some people might be familiar with Simon Sinek with his Start with Why or find your why. And it sounds like you’re saying is that, yeah, the why is the underlying reason but to find your why, you first by examining who you are, just what makes you tick as a person, then what specifically interests you, and then why is it that it interests you.

 

Right, because you need to know yourself in order to know why you care about what you care about. And so how we spoke about earlier, often the thing we feel passionate towards or the cause we feel passionate towards is often a reflection of a previous life experience we had and something that either created a pain point for us or was an experience that made us feel like something was really important. We need to have that reflection point in order to get to the why.

 

We might understand that we care about something, but without understanding why we care about it, it’s hard to make it really applicable in the real world. Click To Tweet

 

And so, yes, exactly like you’re saying, that’s why it’s important to start with the who, with the identity piece first.

 

And so when you’re working with your clients, do you oftentimes end up going back into people’s past experience, past memories, traumas even?

 

Yeah, so we will do — we’ll look at a lot of past experiences around important moments, achievements that they’ve had, accomplishments that felt meaningful, problems they solved that felt meaningful. When it gets into the trauma work, I am not licensed to work on a trauma basis and so super important, valuable work, but if and when I have people that I come across who I feel like need to heal from some trauma first before really getting into our work together, I would refer them elsewhere.

 

To a therapist or something?

 

Yeah, to a licensed mental health professional. Sometimes, clients have already done that work and they have done a lot of the healing around a trauma and they do come to me from a place of being able to speak about that trauma and feel safe, reflect on it and think about how it serves their larger why.

 

And what is the situation of the typical clients that you tend to work with? Is it someone that’s looking for purpose, looking to find their why? Is there something else about their situation?

 

The common thread between everyone I work with is that they want to pivot into feeling like what they spend their time doing is meaningful. They want to feel like they matter, like there’s a purpose to their existence. And the very easy transference of that is through our work or through our contribution. I’d say that on a demographic level, there tends to be two buckets of people I work with. It’s often either people who are in their late 20s, early 30s who have gone through a first iteration of their career and they’re wanting to make a pivot. Or it’s someone who’s in their 40s, 50s who has had a very long career already and maybe it was something that paid the bills, there was elements of it that maybe they enjoyed or felt satisfying but it wasn’t totally the thing that lighted them up and now they’re at this point of like that midlife, I won’t say crisis, that midlife reflection point, “Well, what do I really wanna do? What really matters to me?” They’re wanting to shift to really find that thing that they’re passionate about and the thing that allows them to feel like they’re making a difference in the world. And so, interestingly, that’s the two main camps, very different sides of the spectrum in terms of where they’re at in their career but it’s always at this pivotal moment and wanting to shift towards meaning. 

 

And have you observed differences that you’ve had to use in your own techniques between working with the different generations? Because there is a significantly different experience between working with Gen Xers and millennials.

 

Is there a way that I — sorry, say that —

 

Yeah, sorry. Is there a way you need to adjust or coach a little bit differently just based on how the generations just naturally are somewhat different with different experiences?

 

It tends to be really individual. I’m very adaptable and so the way that I coach, the way that I maybe give homework, the way that I am accountable for those that I’m working with can shift depending on what that person needs. We all work differently, we all process differently, we all feel supported in different ways. I try to show up — there’s that word again — show up in a way that serves that person. From a generational standpoint, I haven’t seen too much of a distinction in how I’m serving, because I do think that, regardless of age, it’s a psychological and spiritual place in their life that this person has come to, despite their age, of wanting to focus their energy on the pursuit of meaningful contribution and feeling like there’s a purpose to what they’re doing and I think anyone who’s having that thought process, there’s that common thread there where I know that the way I’ve built out the programs that I offer and the way that I show up is going to meet those needs.

 

I think that makes sense because maybe that’s something that we placed a little bit too much emphasis on like, “Okay, this generation’s like this, this generation’s like that,” and it’s way more individual, because like I’m not just millennial, I’m me, and I’m me for all the different reasons that makes me who I am, right?

 

Exactly. And I’m sure there’s generational differences that I’m not necessarily thinking about in the moment right now so I’ll have to sit with that for a little bit but I will say, for the most part, there really isn’t a massive generational difference in what that relationship looks like.

 

Well, I hope I didn’t get inside your head for the next person — next time you’re on a client meeting, you’re like, okay, this person is a Gen Xer and I need to think about what it means to have known what the world before the internet was like and all that stuff.

 

There’s value in both ways of thinking about it or entering the conversation. My mind is programmed to think so individualistically, not as macro of like, “Oh, hmm, interesting, like there’s a theme in these types of clients that are showing up and these types of clients that are showing up,” like I know my partner, who is much more strategy, analytical, data-driven minded, like if he was going through the same process, he would 100 percent have all the information for you about how one generation differs from another generation, but my mind is very much like, “This person is just different from this person.”

 

That’s okay. After reading Remix by Lindsey Pollak, I chose to identify myself as a perennial, which is someone that, regardless of age, decides to continue to keep up with trends in the world and never really become “set in your ways” and so that would be the easiest way to describe myself in that kind of basic term. And then, finally, if anyone listening is interested in getting a hold of you, interested in your services, what will be the best way to contact you after hearing this conversation?

 

Yeah. Well, you can definitely shoot me an email at ariel@performwithpurpose.org, .org is important, the .com was taken. Or if you just want to learn more about me, you can always go on my website at www.performwithpurpose.org. I was telling you, Stephen, earlier that summer tends to be a time that is slower, more time for just reflection and building and connecting and less client work. So, with that said, I do have some more space available right now. Don’t hesitate to reach out if I feel aligned for what you’re looking for in your life right now.

 

Well, that is amazing. And I will leave everyone with a quote that I actually just pulled up from your website, performwithpurpose.org. This one resonated with me because after watching the show The Good Place a couple of years ago, I went on a philosophy kick and started reading about a lot of different philosophers and I saw you have a quote from Nietzsche that says, “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.” 

 

Yeah, it’s a good one. 

 

You know, I’ve identified my underlying purpose behind all the different pursuits I’m involved in, even though they’re a little bit scattered and all over the place, and I hope everyone out there can find theirs. Ariel, thank you so much for joining us today on Action’s Antidotes.

 

Thank you so much, Stephen. It’s been really, really a fun conversation. I appreciate it.

 

And I’d also like to thank everyone out there for listening and I hope that you had a lot of ideas about how to find your why out of this discussion. And if you liked it, continue tuning into Action’s Antidotes for all the previous and future episodes, because there’s been over 60 by now so that’s a pretty decent portfolio.

 

Awesome.

 

Excellent. Have a fantastic day.

 

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About ​​Ariel Naftali

Ariel Naftali is the CEO & Founder of Perform With Purpose (PWP), where they empower purpose-driven leaders to realize their potential by sharing their creative gifts with the world and making a positive impact. She recently served on the Innovative Advisory Board of Kula For Karma, a nonprofit organization pioneering the integration of therapeutic yoga, meditation and stress management into mainstream medicine and healthcare. She also volunteers as a student mentor with Onetruezone, a nonprofit organization that provides career coaching services to college students. Ariel has a master’s degree in sport & performance psychology from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is certified in nutrition as well as positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.