Purpose Project

S1E9: The Study of Life's Purpose with Jenn Stephens

• Leslie Pagel • Season 1 • Episode 9

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In this episode of Purpose Project, Leslie Pagel talks with guest Jenn Stephens about identifying and integrating her unique personal strengths into a fulfilling life of purpose. Jenn discusses how she balanced her creative, analytical, and empathetic abilities over time, navigating societal expectations and career challenges. Through personal and professional experiences, Jenn found her purpose in understanding and helping others, using her insights to mentor and guide others in similar journeys. Leslie also reflects on her journey towards finding her own purpose, sparked by personal reflection and advice from a close friend. The episode explores themes of self-discovery, the importance of empathy, and suggestions for how to study the topic of life’s purpose.

00:00 Introduction to Purpose Project

00:43 Meet Jenn Stephens: A Journey of Self-Discovery

01:20 Integrating Strengths: Creativity, Analytics, and Empathy

04:21 Discovering Life's Purpose

07:29 The Role of Self-Discovery in Finding Purpose

13:18 Living Out Your Purpose: Day-to-Day Insights

17:43 Mentorship and Giving Back

28:33 Leslie's Journey to Purpose

33:23 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources:

Connect with Jenn Stephens on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferstephensa/

Purpose Project is a research study on the topic of life's purpose. You can follow along in the making of Purpose Project:
Instagram: @purpose.project
LinkedIn: @purposeproject-media
TikTok: @purpose.project

Captions are auto-generated.

Welcome to Purpose Project. My name is Leslie Pagel and thank you for joining me today, On the show, we have an incredible woman. Her name is Jenn Stephens. In this show, Jenn shares with us how at an early age, she identified three strengths within herself. But they were three strengths that don't normally fit together. And she shares how throughout her life, she started to learn how these three strengths can work together and enable her to live a life of purpose. Let's take a listen.

Leslie:

Jen, thank you for being here with me today. I have been looking forward to this conversation all week.

Jenn:

Thank you, Leslie. I've been really excited to talk to you about this. I know we've. Had the pleasure of working with each other in the past and always get great energy from, talking with you. So really excited to talk to you today.

Leslie:

Well, hopefully I'll bring that today. We'll see.

Jenn:

I think we'll be great looking forward to this.

Leslie:

I know we're going to get deep into the topic of purpose, but before we go there, tell us who Jenn Stephens is.

Jenn:

So really thinking back on this and myself and who I am, I learned really early in life that I'm both creative and analytical. and I found it took me quite a while before I was able to integrate those two pieces into my life's work. So those two pieces of my personality fought with each other a little bit. they were at odds with each other. And then my parents were like, Oh, you absolutely cannot pursue an art career. We don't want you to, we don't want you to maybe starve. So I went with the analytical route for my career and, got a degree in computer science and mathematics because I really enjoyed that too. I'm also a very empathetic person when I'm in a room with people, I feel what they feel. Um, just, that's just part of my personality and the way I am. And also, the way I operate in life as well, just trying to operate with empathy.

Leslie:

Yeah, well, in the time that we've known each other, I've seen all of that creativity, analytical, and empathy as well.

Jenn:

And it's, you know, it took a while for me to get comfortable putting all of those things together and feeling comfortable with myself. And that, but once all of that sort of started to click, then I was able to understand a bit more about what my life's purpose is and how I could take all of those pieces of myself and, you know, use them to make things better in the world.

Leslie:

Yeah. Why do you think it was hard for you to put the, those three elements together?

Jenn:

If you think about creativity and you think about like analytical skills. They can seem to be very different from each other and really the way the world operates. I ended up in more of a corporate type career and some of that is a bit more highly valued, just on the surface within a corporate type environment. so I had to learn to put those pieces together. where it was a benefit for companies I was working with. and then just making those pieces fit together and it turns out that they do. Yeah, it's, it's really interesting. So we'll talk about that a little bit here as we, step through things here in this interview. and how I came to be able to connect all of those pieces. And make it work, not just for me, but for everyone around me.

Leslie:

yeah. Well, let's dive into that. Jenn, do you have a purpose in your life? Have you identified a purpose?

Jenn:

I feel like I have. So I feel like my purpose is to try to understand people and to make the world a better place for them. It's not in this huge, um, really visible way necessarily. It's just small actions every day to make life more interesting and engaging and enjoyable for people. You know, I'm here. Why not leverage? All of those parts of me to, to just make things better for everyone around me. If I can.

Leslie:

And that, that understanding people sounds like an analytical side and the helping feels very empathy and, probably leans into the creativity side as well.

Jenn:

It does. And that's what was really exciting for me. When that light bulb went off. I was like, oh my gosh, like all of these pieces actually do of me do work together Well, and I can use those to make life better

Leslie:

Love that love that. So take us through that process that you went through to discover this purpose in your life. How did you discover it?

Jenn:

luckily I feel like I stumbled across it in a little bit of a way, but I was also trying to make sure I was very aware of who I was and what my strengths were, and even my weaknesses, right? One of the things I didn't do all that, that well. So I was lucky to discover it pretty early in my career. I was a software engineer early in my career with a computer science degree. and what was interesting there is I was able to use that analytical side of me to do that software engineering. but then I got into what was called fairly early on, and it was kind of a new type of study at the time, human factors, how people interact with things, how they use things, and how things work well for them or don't work well for them. And that's when the light bulb went on, it was, oh my gosh, I'm building things for people, not just building things to build them. And I just became fascinated with the human side of what I was doing. Um, you know, how could I make things better for people? How could I make their jobs better for them every day? Because they were using what I was building to do their jobs. And how can I make things easier for them? So, That human motivation and what made things better for them and how I could help them just became Really fascinating for me and that empathy came into place too So there was that analytical side, you know developing software that creative side of it as well And then that human understanding the empathy. So everything started to click into place.

Leslie:

Well, and the other thing I heard there, Jenn, was this self discovery you talked about learning your strengths and learning your weaknesses. Did that play a role in shaping this, purpose for you or how did it play a role? How about that?

Jenn:

Um, yeah, so understanding myself, the way I feel comfortable operating, the things I feel that I do well. Did help me discover what that purpose was, and it's ended up being quite a big part of my career since I, spent a lot of time at work, being able to call on all of those pieces of myself, realizing that all of those pieces fit together. Ended up with me being able to understand my purpose of wanting to help people And then because i'm at work so much. I wanted to bring that into my career, right? Right. So from there I ended up moving into a corporate practice that's called customer experience actually early in my career before it even had a name So it was this i've you know started to get comfortable with who I was and then being able to leverage that into a lot of what I was, doing with my time, and then, continue to pursue that work, um, which has become really strategic for a lot of companies. It's the strategic area of human understanding. And how that can benefit both customers or clients and the companies themselves. So it's this really interesting area of study around human behaviors, how I can help them as part of what I can bring to the table, but also help the companies I work for. And I've been able to put all of those pieces together. I was lucky that I fell into that. Early in my career, even before it had a name, it does have a name now.

Leslie:

I was wondering if, if part of your career, cause it sounds like you've been able to discover your purpose and live it out through your professional experiences.

Jenn:

I have, I've done this both professionally and in a nonprofit way as well. So. I've been able to leverage what I've done in corporate because we all do spend so much time at work. Um, being able to do that has just been phenomenal for me. I feel really lucky. In some ways I was able to sort of fall into some of these things and they presented themselves in my career. And I had enough understanding of who I was at the time and what made me tick to be able to grab onto those opportunities. Even before it was, a well known thing within corporate.

Leslie:

Right. you're very fortunate that your purpose. is so connected to your profession. You know what I mean?

Jenn:

I made a conscious decision to do that. So there were steps I took along the way to make sure that I could keep that connection to my career. Since I spend so much of my time doing that, I didn't want to feel that my career was disjointed from what my purpose was.

Leslie:

Right.

Jenn:

They're actually very Conscious decisions I've made along the way moves in my career that I've made along the way to make sure I keep those two connected together.

Leslie:

Yeah. Yeah. I want to dig into purpose realization, but I also, I want to explore this d iscovery of fitting your kind of strengths together because I, I'm learning that understanding oneself is perhaps a first step at discovering your purpose. And I'm hearing from you, I understood I had these three things, but I fought against them or, I couldn't figure it out. How old were you when you were? Realizing this and then how did you ultimately deal with accepting that they fit together?

Jenn:

Um, I lucked into this part of my career in my early twenties. Okay. Very, very lucky that it happened early on. it's been interesting working that into corporate world because the corporate world wasn't quite ready for all of these pieces to be leveraged at the time. So it's something I've had to be patient with to, use all of those skills to also influence around me to gain understanding that all of these parts of people are very valuable and all of us are different. So it's been interesting. to learn how to also message that all of these things are valuable and they can work together, right? That's another thing I love is understanding people around me within, corporate or non profit and how we can all leverage the best parts of ourselves to bring value to whatever we're doing.

Leslie:

Right, right. I love that. Okay. So your purpose is understanding humans and using your strengths to help humans. Take us on a day by day in the life of Jenn. Okay. In terms of, living out your purpose.

Jenn:

Um, so yeah, part of what I do is reach out to customers to understand what they want and need and what will make things better for them. And I do that in a very analytical way. So surveys, interviews, studies, all of those types of things. Where I'm collecting data. So it's that analytical side. It's data, a lot of data analysis with that too. Which is fascinating. Uh huh. I think you've been in that space too, right? Where you, you gather all this data and you're like, oh my gosh, I've uncovered these really interesting insights. I wouldn't have guessed these things but we learn them from the people around us.

Leslie:

That's right. That's right.

Jenn:

And then there's that creative piece that I can then leverage. I've done the analytical part. Now you have to message those findings in a way that's engaging to executives. In a way that helps them understand what the value is. So it brings that creative piece in and then the empathy comes into place too, because I'm listening to customers to try to understand and feel what they do. And then take that into the business.

Leslie:

Yeah. I believe a version of the definition of empathy is putting yourself in the shoes of others. And you're doing that through data analytics, through listening, and then representing that, by creating communications and messages for your internal stakeholders.

Jenn:

I love the way you just put that. I'm representing our customers into. Our leadership. I love the way you put that because that's a big responsibility. That is a big responsibility. Um, now, you know, but you've like really phrased it that way. I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's, that's quite a big responsibility. And I'm happy to do that for our customers.

Leslie:

Absolutely. How does pursuing your purpose? Make you feel,

Jenn:

uh, very energized. Um, yeah, a lot of energy. and it makes me feel valued that I can, people around me. So yeah, being feeling valued is a good thing.

Leslie:

Yeah. Who doesn't wanna feel valued and energized?

Jenn:

I do feel lucky that I stumbled into this. I, made a place for myself and then just, being aware of what your own strengths are. And then, Figuring out how that fits into the world around you, I think maybe can help a lot of people find their purpose if they don't quite know what that is yet.

Leslie:

Does your purpose ever cause you any negative feelings or uncomfortable feelings?

Jenn:

It does, particularly earlier on in life because I did struggle to fit those pieces together. And then empathy, can be it sometimes because it, it requires a lot of energy. It can be a little bit tiring and overwhelming at times because I almost feel what other people feel. So, sometimes just taking a little bit of time to recharge. it doesn't take much time. I just need to recharge every once in a while and get that empathetic energy up and going. Right.

Leslie:

Yeah. Yeah. And that makes sense. When we're putting ourselves in the shoes of others. We should be feeling what they're feeling, and I suspect there's a lot of joy that your customers feel it, or the humans that you're learning about feel, but there's also other emotions as well.

Jenn:

It runs the gamut, which is a really good. part of it too. It's like, you know, this person's not feeling that great. Let's see if we can make them feel better. And sometimes it doesn't take that much energy to, to do that. It's pretty exciting. It makes me feel good when I can make someone else feel good.

Leslie:

Love that. Yeah. When you look out into the horizon, the future, And that can be whatever time horizon you put on it. What do you see that you're working towards?

Jenn:

I have been more and more mentoring, other people in this space of listening and learning from a customer and client point of view. So since I've been working in this space for a good while, I have that. On the ground experience that can take some time to really build and build all of the understanding and skill set. So I've been trying to mentor others who are interested in this human behavior and how they can help by understanding other humans. So maybe they don't have to take as much time as I did to come up to speed in this space So i've really been doing a lot of mentoring lately And you want to continue doing that and also bringing the skill into non profits as well Um, they have members typically like members that donate and that sort of thing Um, and they don't always think about the human behavior side of that So much. So I've been bringing that into nonprofits as well.

Leslie:

Wow. That's exciting. Yeah. Giving back. Yeah, absolutely. So, since you're moving towards mentorship, would you be a mentor for me in this Purpose Project?

Jenn:

Absolutely. I would love to do that. That would be so exciting. You see that energy. You just brought me all that energy because that's just an exciting thing. I would love to.

Leslie:

Purpose project is more than a podcast. It is a research study of life's purpose. And when I hear you talk about your purpose is to better understand humans. I'm like, wow, I could learn a lot from Jenn in terms of how can I study this topic, which is all about humans and, and their purpose. Are there advice that you would give to me as I think about building out this, this research study?

Jenn:

Yeah, that's a really interesting question that we could explore. So learning from people from an empathetic point of view. So understanding first, how people what they might think or how they feel when you approach them to learn from them. So thinking through that ahead of time. Okay. And then having multiple plans for multiple scenarios in the back of your pocket so you can adjust your approach on the fly, um, to make them feel comfortable. One thing I've learned with human studies is there are different ways to go about that since we all have different personalities. Where some people will feel more comfortable than others as you approach them with your project.

Leslie:

Okay. So I am planning to do what I call impromptu interviews. And I've, I've already done two, but the idea is that I would go out into communities where people are going about their business and I would walk up to them and I would ask them, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your purpose? And what I hear you saying is anticipate. Different comfort levels in doing that. Is that right?

Jenn:

Yes. You're going to come across extroverts who are like excited to speak on the fly. Right. And they'll just engage in your, you'll be able to read that pretty quickly. You're very perceptive of, you know, about people. Um, You'll come across introverts who are like, Oh, no, but so as you start to learn more, you could consider. Some of those interviews is great for probably about half the population that you might want to learn.

Leslie:

Okay.

Jenn:

Yeah You're going to come across introverts. You could think through how would you learn from introverts, about their purpose because a lot of introverts do have pretty serious um Purpose in life is just don't talk about it a lot and it could be fascinating to learn from them too.

Leslie:

Absolutely. I absolutely want to learn from them just as much as those extroverts.

Jenn:

What else fascinating? Um, also reaching out to a broad enough audience mix of cultures With what you're doing they'll all have different perspectives in how, they were raised and, what's valued and those different cultures. You can uncover some fascinating insights around that as well.

Leslie:

Yeah, yeah, I have been doing some secondary research and I know that certain cultures purpose is a part of the culture, you know, I would imagine in those instances, there's a stronger connection to purpose. Life's purpose than in cultures where it's not as much a part of it.

Jenn:

Yeah, it's, it's so different across different cultures. And it'd be fascinating to see what you uncover. I'm, I can't wait to learn what you start to find out.

Leslie:

The other thing going back through my mind is, uh, getting to the audience, we've talked about, but I've also just The topic of purpose is so big and it's so personal and it's, I've, I have. Found it a little overwhelming in terms of where do you start? Cause I know I can't boil the ocean right now, and so the, the question is like, what should I start by asking?

Jenn:

I actually like what you asked me. It made me think back through my life, right? and start to just really hone in on exactly what that was. I had to think about it a little bit. Um, but I like that you asked about, did I have a purpose? And then how did I come to realize that? I feel like the questions that you asked of me. are a really good way to start getting at that.

Leslie:

Okay. Okay. It helped me. Yeah.

Jenn:

Okay.

Leslie:

Okay. You said that it has, caused you to reflect. Can you say a little bit more about that?

Jenn:

Um, I felt like I was doing what I'm supposed to be doing and calling on a lot of my strengths, but I hadn't really taken time to reflect on it and then go, Hmm, that is really kind of cool. I'm glad I figured that out and glad it led me to where it's led me. And then glad I can use those strengths to, and what I feel my purposes to help other people. So yeah, having that time to reflect I think was important for me. So you gave me the gift of That

Leslie:

retro. Yeah. Yes. I'm glad that I did that. I hope that through this project, it will continue to give you that retrospective and also to stay connected to your purpose, yes. So okay. So we've talked about targeting a wide audience. Starting with the questions I've been asking so far. Um, you get all this information how do you start to sift through that and really understand? What it's saying and, the value that's in there for other people.

Jenn:

So I would recommend to start with is. Getting that good, uh, intimate understanding of the, data yourself before you even try to put it through something that's automated. Cause yeah. Yeah.

Leslie:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So taking the time, which I would intend to do, I I need to understand this data in my core. And I feel like to do that, I need to. Put in the effort to, to understand it in my core.

Jenn:

And you will, you'll just start to understand it as you capture it. You'll have a deep understanding of it since you're the one leading all of this and gathering all of it. You'll start to see some themes, fall out of your information pretty quickly.

Leslie:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jenn:

Also build that empathy as you read or listen back, you're going to feel what those people felt, their excitement, their, you know, maybe a little frustration of how do I connect all of these pieces of me together and make it this functioning, all of human being. and that's such a valuable part of what you're doing. I think is that feeling and understanding of other people. Yeah.

Leslie:

Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Okay, you talked earlier about how part of your job is messaging. It's communicating. How do you communicate out?

Jenn:

It's really interesting because so many people learn and comprehend and understand in different ways. I'm a very visual person. If you build me something visual, I will remember it and it will impact me greatly. Words, not as much. There are people who learn and retain audibly. There are people who learn and retain visually, I think there were like five learning methodologies that could be interesting for you to look up and see that and, and communicating back in those different ways. Rolling all of that into your messaging back out could help impact more and more people that resonate with more people that way. Yep. Yeah.

Leslie:

We're all different. Right? It's so cool. Absolutely. I love it. If I can look at speaking to all of those ways, the opportunity to impact more people is, is there. So why not? Why wouldn't you?

Jenn:

Yeah. Actually, I want to ask you a question. How did you decide to do this? What drove Leslie to?

Leslie:

Um, February 23rd. I find myself, going to dinner with my One of my great friends. And I'm at dinner with her and she says things about what she's learning in her life. And two of the things that put me down this path were one, she has learned what I've now come to know, is radical acceptance. It's stop pushing back on what life brings you. Just accept it for what it is. And when you accept it, things become easier, but when you push back it up against it, it's hard. And so. For that one, I went and made a list of all the things I'm pushing back against. And then the other one that she said in this dinner was you have to get out of your head, Leslie, you've got to get out of your head and move into action. She didn't use this language, but I'll use it just for explanation. We can manifest our dreams. Only through acting on them, not through willing them to be, you've got to take the action. And so for whatever reason, and I'll also mention the third thing, um, I turned 50 this year. And this conversation that I had with her was coming at a time where I was asking myself. Leslie, are you doing what you're meant to do with your one life? And then the other hard, hard question for me was, have you given all of yourself that you can give to do it? And the answer to both of those questions was no. And so then I'm meeting with her and I'm like, okay, I got to stop fighting and I've got to move to action and made the list. And I, in my after dinner process discovered that I've got this feeling in my body that I'm supposed to do something big and I don't know what it is. And so I'm like, you just got to move into action, Leslie, you got to move into, how can you figure out what it is? And then I start going down this path of, purpose, I don't know my purpose. How do people find their purpose? And then leaning on my strengths, which, I see myself as a researcher. I as well love data analytics. Um, and I thought, why not study this thing? Uh, people talk so much about purpose. But most people don't understand the research or purpose, so we're talking about it in a shallow way as if. It's just something that go, you know, find your purpose, you know, and it's what does that

Jenn:

mean?

Leslie:

Exactly. Yeah. I think, we've got to get underneath the surface for me. I've got to get underneath it. And that's what started this whole thing. It's evolved over time. Um, but, February 23rd of this year, It hit me in terms of what I needed to do instead of just think, but what I needed to do.

Jenn:

Thank you for telling me your story. That's, that's fascinating. So this all started from Leslie

Leslie:

trying to find her purpose, right? Yeah, so that is why I'm doing this for me so I can find it. I think, um, I will, I will discover what, my purpose is through this process. but I hope that I can share my journey so that others can, can find their purpose alongside me.

Jenn:

And thank you for, bringing me into this and interviewing me because it gave me some time to reflect on my purpose and to make me feel good about that.

Leslie:

Yeah.

Jenn:

I think it's selfless in a way that it gives people a chance to think about what their purpose is and give them a chance to, stop and think about it and feel good about it.

Leslie:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I love that you shared that and that you shared how it makes you feel good. Who doesn't want to feel good.

Jenn:

Yeah. Exactly.

Leslie:

Jen, thank you for sharing your purpose with us. Thank you for being a mentor for me. I hope that that door continues to be open as the research side of this project continues. Yeah.

Jenn:

Absolutely. Happy to do this. Happy to collaborate with you in any way that will help. And, um, I'm excited.

Leslie:

is there anything else that is been unsaid that you want to say on the topic of purpose?

Jenn:

Not that I can think of. I think we had a great conversation.

Leslie:

Awesome. Thank you so much for being here. And, thank you everyone for tuning in.

Jenn:

Thank you, Leslie.

Thank you, Jen, for being on the show and thank you all for listening. Did you hear how Jen just lit up when I asked her if she would be my mentor on purpose project? I heard it and I've been thinking about how that response, it's, it's the response that happens when we're living a life of purpose. Thank you all.

Leslie:

Purpose project is brought to you for education and for entertainment purposes. This podcast is not intended to replace the advice that you would receive from a licensed therapist or doctor or any other qualified

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