Challenge Can Make You Happy
The Story Behind Pave Your Way
Written By: Nina Cashman
Learnings from M.A. in Happiness Studies (Article # 3)
November 3, 2023
This week, I was given one of those fortunate opportunities to re-evaluate my life.
I know that may sound a little dramatic, although not for those familiar with my propensity toward intensity. Nevertheless, a seemingly unassuming assignment from my Happiness Studies master’s program has helped me realize something that makes me immensely proud.
What I’m about to write here comes to me after reading several articles about the late and remarkable Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, who grew her “consciousness-raising” business from a small shop in Brighton, England, into an unforgettable and international brand.
While I find many qualities of Anita Roddick inspiring, the most admirable is her courage to stand by her vision, mission, and values, regardless of how much the world provoked her to waver. Nobody could steer her from her mission to “create a new business paradigm, simply showing that business can have a human face and social conscience” (Roy & Ghosh, 2008).
November 1st, 2023, marks the 9th anniversary of my coaching practice, Pave Your Way. While I was tempted this week to respond to my assignment of “describing a vision for a viable business” with a brilliant new business concept that could “make the world a better place,” a voice inside me tugged with these words – “appreciate where you are.”
To understand what I mean, let me take you back to April of 2014, two weeks before I was about to get promoted to the most prominent role of my 17-year career. My stomach churned with nervousness as I contemplated the conversation I planned to have with my incredible boss and mentor. I was about to give my notice and say goodbye to a great company, not to mention the only career I ever knew in marketing.
Rewind almost a full year earlier to June of 2013, when our second son was born, making me the proud mother of two boys under two – Irish twins, as they say. While I had often been described with words like industrious, creative, entrepreneurial, and driven before this point in my life, I found myself in this new role of motherhood, which was tugging at my values like you wouldn’t believe.
I’ve always been somewhat of a workaholic who feels right at home juggling several projects. Some of us are just wired to work. I’ll speak for myself when I say that I’ve met some of the most interesting people, traveled to great places, and had some of the most incredible experiences through my work.
The beautiful words of the famous Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran in his timeless piece The Profit have always resonated with me – “work is love made visible” (Gibran, 1927).
Work opportunities have always provided an excellent arena to channel my energy and excitement for life. For this reason, I refer to it as “my work” and not simply “work.” I’ve always viewed work as an avenue to “fulfill a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born” (Gibran, 1927).
So, imagine my surprise in 2013 when I suddenly dreaded going to work for the first time.
I started seeing my work as a job (code for a chore) getting in the way of my time with our two boys. I was frustrated by the pressure I felt of putting more emphasis on “building a brand” or “developing a team” than on the two tiny humans I had brought into the world. This internal tension was so strong that I knew I had to do something about it. I could either sit and struggle with the situation or allow the challenge to help me find a new solution.
I began to recognize that my favorite aspect of work was to support the success of the people and organizations around me. By now, I also knew that my two sons were my number one priority, and I wanted to support them to thrive, first and foremost. At this point, I told myself these two kiddos would always be my “number one clients.”
I was attracted to coaching because it builds on possibilities and human potential. It is a modality that helps us move forward.
Coaching is “business with a human face” (Roy & Ghosh, 2008), as Anita Roddick also valued in her own endeavors. In my quarter century working within or alongside companies of all sizes, I’ve found that a human heartbeat can easily get lost in numbers and spreadsheets when businesses fail to recognize, support, and honor all of life’s facets. Nobody is just a title – they are also a wife, husband, mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son, and friend. And all these areas of a person’s life feed into their leadership capabilities and potential.
I built Pave Your Way to give people the space to talk about what’s most important to them, not just view the world through the lens of their job titles, steely job descriptions, goals, and KPIs.
I want our clients to feel unrestrained in reconnecting with their unique gifts and passions while exploring their inner motivations, hidden fears, and the deepest aspects of who they are (and are not). This leads to their courageous expression – creatively turning extraordinary visions and goals into reality – either at work or home. Pave Your Way excels at 1:1 coaching, team building, group coaching, and, most recently, we’ve built an online coaching program, the Pave Challenge.
I developed the Pave Challenge during the Covid pandemic in 2020 to support people in embracing the beautiful challenge of career or life transitions.
Since these periods can often come with financial pressure, I wanted to offer an inspiring resource to people for under $100. The best part? This program is loaded with the life-changing material I learned from Dr. Tal Ben Shahar during my Happiness Studies Academy certification. People walk away with the tools and motivation to tap into the infinite possibilities in their blank transitional spaces.
I’ve often thought I could (or should) do more. I’ve hired large groups of contractors and fallen prey to the idea that scalability needs to be the ultimate name of my game.
This week, though, in reading about Anita Roddick, I’m reminded of the importance of small impacts. In her video about the story of the Body Shop, Anita said, “The biggest mistake we ever made was going public” (Marshall, 2016). She elaborated on how different her work felt as it redirected itself from passion and causes, to mere profit and loss. She confirmed, “To be a small giant is fantastic” (Marshall, 2016).
It’s usually in those moments of “pushing for more” when I forget to appreciate and enjoy what I already have. Anita Roddick also said, “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito” (Entrepreneur, 2008). These words are like a funny, warm hug to me! So, instead of pushing myself to develop another business idea, I’m going to take this moment to celebrate, appreciate, and ENJOY the business vision I’ve already realized.
We are Pave Your Way, a small team of awesomeness who work intimately with our incredible clients to pave their unique pathways to success. We stand with people as they explore their spaces of truth and find lights of possibility. We work with our clients to trust their intuition, and we fuel their spirit, courage, and determination to guide them. We champion our clients as they put forth effort and believe in themselves. We celebrate our clients as they realize they are the power they’ve always sought.
William Shakespeare is attributed to saying, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away” (Goodreads.com, 2023).
I believe our small team contributes our greatest gifts with every client interaction. PAVE is the manifestation of a vision born from my beautiful challenge nine years ago. It challenged me to find a way to bring “my work” into the world and fully embrace my “love made visible” as a “mom” to the two most incredible creatures who gave me that honorable title ; ).
Works Cited
Entrepreneur. “Anita Roddick’s Biography.” Entrepreneur, 10 Oct. 2008, www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/anita-roddicks-biography/197688. Accessed 7 Sept. 2022.
Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. 1927. Pocket Edition ed., New York, Alfred A. Knopf, July 1968.
Goodreads.com. “A Quote by William Shakespeare.” Www.goodreads.com, www.goodreads.com/quotes/3193658-the-meaning-of-life-is-to-find-your-gift-the. Accessed 31 Oct. 2023.
Marshall, Peter. “PSONA Films - Anita Roddick - My Story (the Body Shop) (30 Mins. 30 Secs.).” YouTube, 15 Mar. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpq4SyNbUbY.
Roy, Subhadip, and Lopamudra Ghosh. Teaching Case " BUSINESS as UNUSUAL:” A CASE STUDY on the BODY SHOP. 2009.