In this solo episode of the Own It Podcast, host Nicole Hollar explores why discovering personal purpose is crucial for wellbeing, citing NIH research that links purpose to reduced stress, lower cardiovascular risk, better cognition, and slower aging. She then presents an eight‑step practical framework to help listeners uncover and live their purpose: (1) develop self‑awareness and acceptance as the foundational mindset; (2) adopt an attitude of gratitude to shift focus toward the positive; (3) cultivate a growth mindset that embraces continuous learning; (4) prioritize self‑care, including physical activity, meditation, and reading nonfiction for cognitive benefits; (5) create a concise personal purpose statement that captures values and legacy; (6) stay inspired by surrounding yourself with like‑minded and diverse individuals; (7) volunteer in activities that align with your passions; and (8) pay it forward by sharing lessons and coaching others. Throughout, Nicole shares personal anecdotes (her mother’s moving, Habitat for Humanity roof‑building, Reading Pals) and offers encouraging, conversational advice, urging listeners to integrate their existential idealism with daily life for greater fulfillment and achievement. The episode concludes with a call to action to connect via her coaching platforms.
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Welcome to the Own It Podcast with me, Nicole Hollar, where we're going to talk about stuff to help you get out of your way, take charge of your life, and, well, other stuff too. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Own It Podcast with me, Nicole Hollar. Today I want to talk about finding your purpose. In the past 22 years I've worked with people in fitness and personal development, one of the things that I've come to find is there's a certain Time in people's life where they kind of want to just stop running the same old rat race and find something that has more meaning. They want to essentially find their purpose. That's that time in life where maybe you had jobs that were just killing you, but they paid you well. And now you're thinking, you know, I'm going to find a different job that maybe feels better and more in line with who I am. Gives me more time-space flexibility, allows me to do more things instead of have more things, and really just settle into who you are. So finding your purpose is sort of a natural evolution in who we are as people. In fact, people who have a sense of who their purpose is, the National Institutes of Health has actually said that they are better able to navigate stress, And they are better capable of recovering from stressful events. They have lower instances of cardiovascular risk, of depression. In fact, and I wrote this in Feeling Stuck, in the final tenet, we talk about purpose. It slows the effects of aging because people who have purpose, they've lived a much more filling, complete, whole life, and they tend to have, again, lower rates of depression. They have better cognition as well as improved memory. So today I wanna go through what I call the 8 steps of helping you find your purpose. And the first one is really what I always talk about. It's about self-awareness and acceptance because we're better able to be proud of our successes and accept our flaws if we have self-awareness and acceptance. Plus, you're more capable of settling in and connecting and rooting to the now And everything right in front of you. So that very first one, self-awareness and acceptance, it's pretty much the root of everything. And the second thing that you can do to help you find your purpose is just have what I call an attitude of gratitude. So you want to shift your mindset to gratitude rather than looking at all the negative things in our life. We have that ability to also look at the positive things. And your positive outlook is also inspiring to people. And when we inspire people, we're more generous and we feel good and happier to know that we've made a positive impact. So those are all things that help us feel good inside. I mean, I remember when my mother was moving. My mother moved to be closer to me over 5 years ago, more like 7, 8 years ago. And we got to that point in a move where I think where everybody does, we've decided I'm gonna keep it, donate it, or trash it. By the time you get to that end point, you're just like, trash everything, give it all away, whatever. She just, at this point, was giving stuff away. And she's like, it felt so good to know that I was giving people these things and they were so grateful. 'Cause she could have sold them or sent them off to a donation center, which would have sold them. But that just shows like feeling like we have this attitude of gratitude, that we have that positive outlook, that we wanna share and inspire other people. is very rewarding. On top of that, we want to have a growth mindset. And all that means is that you're always open to learning. Because if you're always open to learning, then you're more in alignment with your highest self and wanting to continuously grow. So if you have a growth mindset, that probably means that you are not just checking out your phone all day, right? Where you aren't just trying to distract yourself. Being able to grow doesn't just mean reading. It means being genuinely curious. It means Asking questions. It means taking a class, whatever that means for you, learning more about your job, how to cross-apply something about your coworker. Those are all examples of a growth mindset. And then the 4th element is to really focus on your self-care, because if you aren't taking care of yourself, then you're taking away from yourself. And a lot of times I have to remind people that just because you are taking care of yourself, it doesn't mean you're taking away from other people. In fact, by you demonstrating self-care and still being able to show up for people, you're actually being a really good role model. And that's pretty awesome. Self-care, by the way, that can mean anything from physical activity to meditation to reading to anything. As a matter of fact, did you know that studies have shown that when you read nonfiction books, it actually helps with brain cognition versus fiction books Those actually help us create more empathy because we learn how to relate to the characters in the book. So that's just a little sidebar fun fact for you. And the 5th thing I always tell people about is create a purpose statement. A purpose statement is the same thing that a company might have, their slogan, their value. That is basically saying what it is for you. What is your personal mission statement or your purpose statement? Like I said, it's similar to a mission at a company. And it's a sentence that basically sums up who you are, your values, your legacy, and how you want to leave the world. And stay inspired. That's the 6th one. You want to stay inspired. It's a little bit closer to growth mindset, I think, because you want to be around people and motivated by people who share your values and your ideas of the world. But don't stop learning about people who are different than you. I'll always remind people of that. There's 2 other things that I think are really key to helping people find their purpose. And this one is volunteering. I love volunteering. I really honestly tell you, I haven't done it for a while. I did a birthday party with Habitat for Humanity once. We did a local roof build. It was really a lot of fun. I think we were 10 people they allowed me to bring, and we all shingled a roof. And people had a really good time learning something and being contributory to it. Volunteer. It could be anything. It could be Here in Florida, we have something called Reading Pals, which is reading to younger kids, big brother, big sister. There are just so many different opportunities. Animals. What are you into? Volunteer. It's your opportunity to give back and feel fulfilled doing it. There's nothing wrong with seeking fulfillment by doing something good. It's actually, it's sort of a really nice mutual exchange. And with that said, pay it forward. Share your challenges and your experience. I always tell people that coaching is really just about Me taking the lessons I've learned from my experiences working with people, having friends, my own life, things I've learned in education, and being able to pay that forward, being able to share the strategies that have been successful and most effective for me. And, you know, you're going to really feel the benefit of being able to help another person. And I have to be honest, I'm really fortunate that I have a career that's been built on a life of purpose. And it's a lot different than other things. It has its own struggles when that is your drive, but it's rewarding. It's super rewarding. And I will tell you, the people who have this crossover between what their existential idealism is and how they live their life, they tend to be the highest achievers. So if you can somehow integrate that into your life, into your career, into everyday life, That would be amazing, because if we can have that idealism of how we, we see life and integrate it with how we live it, then you're going to feel really complete and purposeful. So I'm going to leave that for today. I hope you guys have an amazing day, and as always, you can find me on most social platforms at Nicole Hollar Coaching and my website nicoleholler.com, where you can find more information about coaching, podcasts, speaking events, workshops, and all that other good stuff. This is your time. Have a great day.
