We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carrie Klewin Lawrence a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carrie Klewin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
Identifying and unpacking your fears and what is holding you back from realizing your goals. Not only do we have insecurities (mainly stemming from listening to outside sources), we are told that there are real dangers out there. You have to decide for yourself – What it will take to make a calculated risk?
In my life, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be seen as independent. My family would see me as a failure if I didn’t get a traditionally respected job with a steady salary and health benefits. I was afraid to follow the path of a creative, an entrepreneur, or an artist because these paths were too risky and maybe I wouldn’t survive. After I finished college there was pressure to get a job in the field I was “trained” for so that it wouldn’t look like I wasted my time or money.
After gathering the evidence of who I really am – from my own life – my interests, experiences, what brings me joy, and what I want to do to help others – I realized that I had taken many detours in my life that were fear-based and kept me from pursuing what I knew I was meant to do. When I was ten years old, I wrote a play called “Little Red Riding Hood Says NO to SMoking”. At a very young age I already knew who I was and what I wanted to say. But then I stopped listening to myself. I was detoured.
Detours that were probably meant to protect me – listening to advice, choosing from a list of limited majors at school, chasing money, and other people’s measures of success. They were not right for me.
So I recalibrated. I recognize that my journey has been a process of evolution. Gathering the skills and abilities I would need for what I am doing right now. I do not regret the choices I made because they have led me to where I am today. I choose to have the perspective of seeing my past for what it has prepared me for.
I am uniquely qualified for what I am presently doing and what I will be doing in the future. And so are you. Now, with my book Origin Story, I take people through a process of reconnecting with themselves to discover, craft, and communicate their own narrative in a way that will help them to achieve their future goals.
When you take the time to discover what makes you *TRULY* unique – you will also discover a secret weapon for combatting imposter syndrome and any naysayers that try to scare you back into doing what makes them feel comfortable.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
When we moved from Maryland for our final PCS (military for “permanent change of station”) to California in the summer of 2021, I was “gifted” a couple of boxes of elementary school memorabilia by my mother. I was not happy about adding more boxes to the moving pile and smirked a polite “thank you”, as my mother celebrated her reclamation of a few cubic feet of storage space in her basement.
In one of the boxes, among the traditional fingerpaint drawings, I discovered a play script. Something I wrote when I was in fifth or sixth grade titled “Little Red Riding Hood Says NO to Smoking.” I realized that I had written a social justice play when I was just around my oldest daughter’s age.
And in that moment when I read the title and recognized that I was already on this path of who I am and what I am currently doing 40 years later… At that moment, my origin story clicked into place. I gained a sudden and profound perspective on my career path over the past several decades.
I am a stage director. I’ve been doing theatre since before I can remember (apparently). And I didn’t even attend a college that had a theatre program. I lost my true north on the way to success and stability and “getting a real job” by majoring in Public Relations and working for a chemical corporation.
Eventually, I started listening to myself and now have both a Master’s in Theatre and an MFA in Directing.
Imagine if I had just gone to an arts school from the beginning. Imagine if my interests, resources, opportunities, and familial support had been in alignment?
As a result of my origin story breakthrough discovery, in my personal branding workshops I started asking people “What’s your earliest memory of your career path,” or “What can you remember about what you wanted to do when you grew up?” – or maybe to recall an early memory of recognizing their career dreams. Some things really started clicking for me.
I got really excited about helping other people to move forward and achieve their goals, so I started writing my book, Origin Story.
I have developed a whole set of exercises to help people discover, craft and communicate their own stories.
As a military spouse, and mother of three, I have been faced with some complicated challenges. Moving more than 17 times in 20 years really teaches you how to get creative with your career, and to be open to more possibilities of how to achieve your dreams. I have learned to create personalized measures of success – and to help others do the same.
If you feel like you have gone off your intended path, if you have faced obstacles, or taken detours (either willingly or unwillingly), and you still have that drive in you – that knowledge that you just can’t shake – that you should be doing something else with your life… I have developed tools to help you work through the origins of your story, conquer imposter syndrome, and make a plan to move forward toward your goals.
The truth is, I don’t regret a single step in my journey. I’ve learned to flip detours into scenic tours with a growth mindset. I wouldn’t be where I am today without ALL of the experiences – the good, the bad, and the tales of PCSs gone sideways…
I think the majority of us know the truth about who we are when we are young but then get convinced otherwise. I would like to help people get untangled and move forward with purpose.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn that anyone knew what was good for me other than myself.
People want to give you advice on what to do, how to act, what to study, and what jobs are worthy.
They are speaking from their own perspective, what makes them comfortable, and their own life experience. While I believe most people are speaking from a place of good intentions, parents, counselors, coaches, and educational systems often give us bad advice. They have absolutely no clue what drives you, and what the world will look like in the future.
I teach, direct shows, and coach virtually. I work in a hybrid manner with clients and artists around the world. How was I trained to do this? I followed my curiosity. I was motivated to take free training as an adjunct professor to see what was involved with distance learning. I taught classes online when it was first starting to be popular almost fifteen-years ago. By the time the pandemic rolled in, I had taught and directed dozens of classes and projects from a distance. I was ready.
As a second example, I am currently a professor at a bakery. You read that right. The bakery and the entrepreneurial fellowship run alongside it were developed by a Jesuit priest to support military veterans, spouses, and caregivers in career transitions. I have a degree from Loyola University (Jesuit), am a military spouse, and a theatre artist. Nowhere in my decades of career decisions has “theatre professor for a bakery” been on a list of options. I was uniquely prepared for this job.
We cannot predict the future; we can only prepare.
We prepare by following our instincts and intuition. By shutting out the noise, the bad advice, and shutting down the limiting options. We develop our own personalized measures of success.
We stop trying to be number one and recognize that we are the ONLY one.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
My perspective on a side hustle is not the standard. And employers are not going to want to hear what I have to say.
Whatever your passion is, where you find your joy – that’s your Main Hustle. No matter how much you get paid for it, or how many hours you work. Once you develop that mindset, your life will start to change.
My 9-5 job for many years was my side hustle. It allowed me the financial freedom to pursue my main passions and interests.
Just because you are good at something doesn’t mean that you like it, want to do it, or that it should be your career. But you sure can leverage those skills into helping you achieve your goals. I make a damn good Executive Assistant, and an even better Stage Manager, but you won’t find me pursuing those jobs as a career. They were stepping stones toward future goals.
Identify your Main Hustle and work your life around that activity. Making sure that your side hustle leaves you financially, emotionally, and physically available for your main pursuits. Are you drained at the end of the day? Maybe pivot to something that energizes you. Toxic boss or colleagues? That situation won’t leave you emotionally stimulated to achieve your goals. Of course, everyone has to evaluate their own circumstances. Maybe you work for the benefits or the schedule. Be realistic and look at the overall picture, making adjustments and space for you to move towards your dreams.
Flip the script on your side hustle and find more joy in achieving your full potential.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/carrieklewin
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carrieklewin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carrieklaw
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrieklewin/
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- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@carrieklewin
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