Alana Beittel: Aligning Belief with Action, Finding Balance Between Work and Life | Ep23

Christian
What’s up, beautiful people. This is Christian from the Successful Spurtrepreneur podcast. And today I’m super excited because I have a very special guest for you. Her name is Alana Beittel, and she is a certified NICU nurse and a master certified life and performance coach. She’s a motivational speaker and a powerful leader who works with purpose driven nurses and ambitious solopreneurs to cultivate their true life and work balance so that they don’t have to choose between their passions and their family.

She does many sessions, group coaching programs, or personalized life coaching sessions. And she uses an established three part formula that will help you leverage your career, coach, and coach you to discover your full potential and not at the expense of your own values or your family. You will no longer feel like a prisoner who’s playing defense to the stresses of everyday life, and she will leave you inspired and energized to live a life you desire.

Welcome to the podcast, Alana. 

Alana Beittel
Hi, thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here. 

Christian
You’re so welcome. So let’s start with What are your favorite questions? As you’ve told me in the intro of the podcast already, why do you do what you do? 

Alana Beittel
Yeah, I did. I said, one of my questions is not to ask what people do.

It’s the why behind it. And for me, so I guess I’ll just kind of jump into a little bit of my story because that’s really the why behind what I do. So being a nurse was the only thing I ever. grew up wanting to be like, that was the dream and goal of mine. Um, but at some point in my nursing journey, I had hit this What we like to call now is burnout.

We hear that so much in health care now. Burnout right at the time. I didn’t know that it was burnout, though. I just know that I was exhausted. I was tired. I no longer even recognized who I was in the mirror and not from a physical standpoint, like just genuinely. Almost like a shell of a human being. And that sounds so bad to say, because I was working in a job.

I had all always dreamt of working in. Um, and so that for me started my endeavor with my own, just like personal health and personal growth and development and realizing that like, I couldn’t keep. Working the way that I was working, um, through that I got married. Um, and this is where my, my journey and my trajectory of my life drastically changes, um, but put me on this path and, and why I’m here today.

So, um, when I was two months pregnant, my youngest brother had, um, And then six months later, I had another brother, um, Ultimately lose his battle with addiction. And my family was faced with the decision to remove him from life support. And then a month later, I delivered my first child and I share this moment through light and dark, because the dark was now that I delivered my child, my body actually allowed myself to grieve.

And it, and it hit me and it hit me hard of like, What had just transpired in the last six months of my life. And in the same breath, the light came in because I’m holding this, you know, this newborn child in my hands. And I’m watching these nurses just zoom in and zoom out of the room. I can see the exhaustion on their face.

I can see the stress on their face. I can like, as a fellow nurse, I can vividly feel that feeling of Walking in and planting a smile on your face and trying to give your patient whatever capacity you have in that moment and then walk back out the door knowing it’s being washed away and that for me was the light and all of this is like this cannot be the only way.

Like this cannot be the only way to be a good nurse and you shouldn’t have to run yourself into the ground and make sacrifices and not see your family and miss out on all those milestones because you’re so exhausted that you can’t even be present when you’re with your family. And that for me was the moment that filled my why.

My why now and the reason that I, Maybe there’s transition into life coaching and I still work at the bedside to this day because I love being a nurse, like, that’s never going to leave me, but I became a life coach so that I could help other people live their life. And when I say that, I mean like truly live your life, not just go through the motions of every day.

You know, we just, our society now is so busy and we’re all so consumed with life. That we forget to live it in the process. And so that’s my why, like my why is now, um, to help people kind of step out of that hamster wheel, like I like to call it and genuinely remember why they’re doing what they’re doing and remember who they’re doing it for.

Christian
Beautiful. And I think a lot of people that it resonates with a lot of people, cause it’s just so easy to get caught up in the, in the hamster wheel and the, in the, in the whirlwind of living the American dream that we all are living for ourselves. So what are, what are the, you think are some habits or tips and tricks that we can just.

Like how do we, how do we fundamentally step out of this? Just like constantly running and running and running. Like what would you recommend someone or a nurse? I mean, since you were. 

Alana Beittel
Yeah, that’s, so there’s a lot to that question, but I think the first piece is taking a step back and just looking at your life for a second and like bringing that awareness to the forefront of.

Like, am I living or am I just surviving right now? And a lot of people’s answer is I’m just surviving. I hear it all the time. And so that first tip is take a step back and look at your life and ask yourself, is this how you want to live? And if the answer is no, you have the power to change it. And it starts with defining.

And I actually, you know, when I was looking at some of the questions that, you know, use. The first question that I saw was your definition of successful spiritrepreneur. My question I like to ask people is, what is your definition of living a successful life? Because until you can define that for yourself, you don’t know what your life is going to look like.

So if I could put, you know, click a fast forward button. And you were looking 20 years out and you were reflecting on the life that you had just lived. What would make that successful and meaningful to you? And the answer is going to surprise you because it’s not the hours of work and the amount of time you spend there.

And it’s not the big promotions and the fancy things. It’s I wish I would have had. more time with my family. I wish I would have spent more time being present and soaking up the small moments that you don’t get back. Right? And so those would be my first two tips to start there and just recognize that the path you’re on might not be how you want your whole life to be.

And if it’s not change it, reach out to somebody and take the next step to like, what is, how do I change this? Right? 

Christian
Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah. I think it’s so important just to taking a step down or slowing down. It’s just so hard because you constantly in this like go, go, go, go, go, go mode. That when you get a chance to.

Slow down. All you want to do is just put on Netflix and just like switch off your brain for a minute because you’ve been on all day. So I think it’s so important to somehow build into your daily life, this moment of disconnection, like whether it’s a walk in nature or just away also from electronics, like, or just, yeah, I think that is so vital and I see, I see what you saying about the moments, spending those with loved ones or people that are important in your life.

And especially with kids, like I have, I have a son that’s six year old, like six years. How did it happen? How did it happen? 

Alana Beittel
My oldest is five. Yeah. And he’s starting kindergarten. Where did it go in six years? I feel that so much right now. I’m just like, well, how are we starting school? Like you were just a baby.

Christian
Yeah. So. Like, I’m so happy that in the past few years, cause he’s, he’s a boy. He loves like also the gaming stuff because I’m a nerd too. Like, so here’s a Nintendo switch and we nerd out on the switch together, but not just like playing together, which is also important because when you get them in an electronic device, that’s what I like to switch so much because you can play together and there’s, there’s so many like co op games, like, you know, it’s just nice to do things together.

Whether it’s. Electronic or not electronic doesn’t matter. Um, and also we’ve gotten into like modding the switch and you can install your own little program. Like he’s, you know, hacking the switch. Like, I’m so happy I’ve done this with him because it’s something I am passionate and nerdy about. And he’s only like five, six years old.

Like he, like there’s this like bond that connects, like, how do you bond with your parents? Like, I remember with my dad, um, the only time we bonded was like when we worked. We worked together. We did stuff together because, you know, I’m from Germany and, you know, there was not a lot of time spent together.

Um, well, I mean, there was, but not like college spent together, right? So where we really connect was like work. I got to see his attitude and he, he taught me things. So these, yeah. How can we spend time with people in a meaningful way, I think is such an essential question. 

Alana Beittel
And those moments too, like you had mentioned is like, those are memories that he gets to keep too, like, yeah, they’re little right now.

And, but they still remember those moments. I mean, you and I, like you just said, you remember times with your parents. And so we can get so, and it’s hard, it’s hard. And that’s where that, like. That balance that I speak to a lot comes into play because we do have to work right at the end of the day, we have to work.

We have to upkeep the house. We have to, we, we do, we have to do those things, but it can be really, really easy to get lost in those things and forget about making those memories. And, you know, when I say unplugging, I mean, unplugging from work and everyday life and being able to check in. And being present with your family.

Um. Even just having that transition from work to home, like it is so powerful. And it’s such a, again, that, that repetition and that everyday motion, we don’t realize when we are driving home from work or a lot of people work in, in their houses now. Right. And so how do you make that shift from work to home?

To life. And so that’s something that I’ve, I’ve really worked with my clients on is like these transitional shifts while they’re simple and they’re easy, they are powerful because now you’re bringing that awareness to yourself of I’m choosing to make this transition. I had, I was, I was working with a teacher recently and something as simple as her transitional shift that she chose was taking her cup, taking That she drinks out of religiously every day at work, washing it at school and flipping it upside down as just like a symbolism of like, I’m putting work down for the day and now I’m shifting from home and so when I say those transitional shifts, it doesn’t have to be something big and elaborate, just something small and simple to symbolize that you’re hanging it up for the day and you’re consciously.

Making that decision to shift into the next part of your day. 

Christian
Yeah, I think that’s super important. And, um, I do have to give it to everybody who, who lives, who, who works outside of the home, which, you know, I work from home, so that switch is a lot trickier than trying to get around that company. Like,

and then, you know, especially like our generation, we just, we have, we have texts, we have Slack, we have WhatsApp, we have, you know, email. We’ll just say. Really gotta turn that one off, you know, I got a second phone for myself that I have just like text on because If I look at my other phone, I get Slack. I get like, I’ve turned all notifications except messaging apps.

Right. So I get Slack and text, but even those are just like, you sit at the dinner table at seven o’clock and then your developer writes you that like, this thing is broken and we got to fix it tomorrow on Slack. And they’re like, yeah, damn. You know, it’s like, it just gets in your mind. The minute you see it, you’re just like, you’re distracted by it.

And your mind goes, there’s like, how can I fix it? How can I resolve it? Right. So. Anything you can do to alleviate that just being still connected, right? For the digital workers, uh, among us, right? 

Alana Beittel
Yeah. So that’s a good, so there’s two parts there. We’re speaking to the ones who work from home, right? Like you and I were sitting in our houses and, um, it’s not as easy as flipping over a cup.

Now I can’t. Tell you what it is that is that what that would be for you. Sorry, lost my words there for a minute, but my advice or my tip would be trialing a couple of things and seeing what actually works for you. So is it, you know, taking five minutes when you clock off? I say that in quotes, right? When you clock off to go outside and get fresh air and let that symbolize Being the end of your work day.

Um, something for me is like having that workspace in your house, be your workspace and having the rest of your house, be your house. Sometimes we can get a little lax in that because we do work from home. It’s like, oh, I can take this meeting from the couch or, oh, I can do this call with my video off while I’m eating in the kitchen.

No, don’t let those boundaries cross. because they are symbolizing something bigger. Keep your work in your workspace and your family and your life in your family space. So that could be a tip. Um, the other one, like the other question, you had asked me about, um, unplugging and disconnecting. There are so many ways to do this, but it also takes That awareness and you creating boundaries.

This is something I really love to speak to and teach on within my programs is these boundaries, right? When you set a boundary for yourself. honoring it because you’re not just honoring it for you. You’re honoring it for your spouse and you’re honoring it for your children, but you’re also honoring it for the people that you are also working with because then when you do come back and check in, you’re refreshed.

You’ve had that moment to recharge with your family and now you’re coming back ready to tackle whatever was just thrown at you with more energy and more capacity. That’s the kicker there more capacity to handle it because you allowed yourself that time to disconnect for a little bit So I would say working to create those boundaries Honoring those boundaries and phone and you can turn you can have your apps go gray So if you have an iPhone, I don’t know about Androids, but iPhone, like you can actually set a time in the day where your app goes gray and you don’t get any notifications, nothing comes through now for our business owners, right?

Because a lot of the listeners are here, our business owners, you have those emergency, you can set that up so that if. There is an emergency and somebody really, really needs to get a hold of you. I just tell those people, look at this time, all my apps get shut off because this is when I’m shifting to my family.

But if it’s an emergency and you need to get ahold of me, if you pick up the phone and call me. It’ll go through those, those boundaries that you set. Um, and then I know that it is something that I need to answer in that moment. Right. Um, because phone calls are, are few and far between these days because we have all the apps and the gadgets to communicate in other forms.

So, um, I’d say just utilizing what you have. 

Christian
Yeah. Beautiful. So let’s dive a little bit more into your work. You have a three part formula that you teach to a lot of your clients. So do you, do you mind sharing some of your insights there or even the entire formula with us? 

Alana Beittel
Yeah. So the first piece of this formula is what I like to call, and I need to type this out for my brain, the art of awareness.

And so if you guys have heard me say a couple of times now, um, first and foremost, before you can do anything, whether it’s in business or life is bringing that awareness to you around what it is that you’re doing and exactly how we started this podcast. Why, why you’re doing it. Because until you have that awareness of the what and the why, nothing else matters.

The action is not going to be taken and that comes into the next piece of the formula, which is the science behind ambition. Okay. And so the science behind ambition is what motivates you. So these all go together if you, if you haven’t noticed. So the awareness, the what and the why actually provides you a, what I like to call a feel right.

Of. feeling. It’s that emotion, that passion, that purpose, the things that drive you. That’s the science behind ambition. Because until you know those, you’re not going to be driven. So the motivation comes after the awareness. And the next piece is action. That’s the last part of the formula, okay, is action, awareness, ambition, then action.

A lot of the times we do it backwards. We want to know what do I need to do? Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. And here’s the thing I could tell you what to do to grow a successful business. But until you know why you’re building it and who you’re building it for and the bigger mission behind it, it doesn’t matter because you won’t take action.

And if you do, it will be unaligned action. Yeah. 

Christian
Yeah. And you’ll run out of gas because your, your, your why is not strong enough to, to fuel all the actions needed to actually make it successful. 

Alana Beittel
Yeah. And then that’s when you find yourself like pounding your head against the wall. Like what am I doing wrong?

I’m doing everything everybody is telling me to do. But that really comes down to on an even deeper level beyond just awareness is belief. Until you have the belief in yourself and the belief in your purpose and the belief in your mission, the rest of it doesn’t matter either. And that’s truly what I, when I work with my one on one business clients, it is.

You know, I laugh and I say this all the time. There’s two things that nurses and entrepreneurs have in common. And it’s that they are hard working and driven with a caring heart, right? They’re working for a bigger purpose, but they have a hard time turning it off. Because we’re so hardworking and because we’re so caring, we have a hard time turning it off.

So something that I work with is having this bigger belief, this deeper rooted belief that brings that awareness, that brings that ambition, that brings that action. But then how do we turn it off, you know, circling back to the beginning so that you can live the life. that you want to be living so that you can hold and create that space and that capacity for your business to actually soar.

Because if you don’t create that space and that capacity for yourself and to live life, your business isn’t going to soar. And if it does, you reach that point in your business, but you’re too burnout and you’re too exhausted to even celebrate it. And there’s a disconnect. You made it, but you’re disconnected from it.

Christian
Yeah. Beautiful. I think that like this balance. that everybody gets to find for themselves is such an important point to reflect on for anyone who’s listening. And, uh, I really feel that, yeah, people who haven’t found their balance yet, you know, to take this as an invitation to think about that. What is your balance?

How much do you want? How much do you want? Really? You want to have, you know, 20 million and, you know, lose this or because it is a balance ultimately. And it can’t, can’t, doesn’t mean that you can’t have the 20 million. It just might take a little bit longer because you decide to invest some of the time into rest, restoration, rejuvenation, or with your family, whatever that means for you.

Alana Beittel
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. You the way you worded it, I was actually taking note of it was that everyone gets to find that balance for themselves. So that’s really important. I like the way you worded that because my definition of, you know, coming back to defining success, defining what that balance is, because my definition.

Of a work life balance is going to be different than yours and different than the person next door, you know, and so really Figuring out what that is for you and what that line is for you. Um, sometimes my really high performers go getters that want that, you know, want that 20 million we’ll say, but work is life for me.

And that’s fine for them. Yeah. And that’s fine. If work is life for you and that’s what brings you passion and that’s what brings you purpose. then fine as long as you’re not working yourself to the ground and forfeiting your health 

Christian
beautiful well said so we’re having about uh five to ten minutes left in the episode so i wanted to ask you some of your some of your daily rituals that you practice that keep you in that balance in that alignment 

Alana Beittel
yeah so you’re gonna laugh at me a little bit When I was answering this, I was like, man, they’re going to expect me to say something fancy and elaborate.

And really for me, my daily ritual that I need to kind of set that tone for the day is 10 minutes in the morning with my hot cup of tea, no noise, no sound, not being needed by anyone and not doing. anything because, you know, we definitely are in a space where we are consuming all day long. If we’re not giving, we’re consuming.

And in order for us to actually create and create in a heart aligned way, we need to allow ourselves that time and that space to just Be to just think on our own, right? Think on our own. I should add there and allow our brain to decompress, you know, and it being first thing in the morning, I wouldn’t even say decompress, but just allow my brain, the freedom to think and create and.

Sit before I am being called mom before the phone is going off before the inbox Notifications are going off before the meeting start, you know before all the things start so that would be my my daily ritual and music The other piece to that is music. I am, I cling to lyrics of words and the beat of songs for whatever reason.

I am my most creative self when I’m driving in the car and I’m listening to music and I’m allowing myself to daydream a little, um, but my morning ritual incorporates my children too. We have a playlist that we listen to. Every single morning together. And when I think about us creating those memories and that bonding time, like for us, it’s, it is going to be that those songs in the morning, like they know them now they know them by word.

And they wake up asking me, mommy, mommy play so and so song. And so it’s twofold. It’s meaningful for me. But it’s meaningful for them as well. 

Christian
Yeah. Beautiful. I love that. And I’ll have to send, I’ll have to send you some tea. Cause I have a tea brand, which is kind of like my side, side passion.

Alana Beittel
I love tea, 

Christian
especially like Japanese green teas.

Love those. 

Alana Beittel
Please do. I, I, I will say I’ve never had a Japanese sweet tea. I’m very much, um, an English breakfast, black tea, um, or an Earl gray. Those are my, those are my go to’s usually. 

Christian
Yeah. I’ll have to send you some. There’s some, there’s some great Japanese teas. 

Alana Beittel
I’d love that. 

Christian
Sweet. All right. So talking about your legacy, like what are three words you, you, you want people to know you for after you leave this physical plane?

Alana Beittel
This was hard. You know, it’s, it’s easy when that question is asked about someone else. Cause I could like, say, out about other people li it’s asked about yourself can relate that you kind But for me it would be pa driven. I have always, I You know, now that I’m getting older, I, I understand that saying a little bit more because when I was little, I didn’t get it.

I just thought that I was an emotional teenage girl. Um, but now that I’m older, I, I understand it. I’m like, I do wear my heart on my sleeve and I want people to know how much I care and genuinely love and want to see them live and thrive. Um, so those would be those words for me. 

Christian
Beautiful. Thank you for that.

And what would you say, like currently, who is your, like, who, who is your number one inspiration entrepreneurial, uh, entrepreneurially and spiritually? 

Alana Beittel
So kind of one in two, if that makes sense. So, um, Outside of music is like I said, music is that spiritual thing for me. Um, the who would be my, my life coaches and my mentors.

Josh Coates and Mark Hildebrand, um, they bring that they, this is one of the reasons why I invested with them in the first place, because they bring both of those together. They bring the spiritual, the family, the life, and they marry it with business. And I was really attracted, you know, I actually, my master’s.

Life coaching certification is through their certification program. So their PCC life coach program, um, is how I got my life coach and my masters. Um, and for me, it’s that like that drew me to them when I listened to them and heard how they did business. That’s, that’s what I wanted. I wanted. You know, when I made that shift, I never wanted to be an entrepreneur.

Like I have to put that out there. Like that was never placed on me. It wasn’t, it really wasn’t. Like I said, being a nurse was the only thing placed on me. And then when I was introduced to life coaching, um, that was like my way of. Leveling up nursing because life coaching and nursing are, are very similar in capacity of like needing that heart and that care and that passion to genuinely wanting to help someone else.

And that was their way of doing business was helping people on a deeper level. Um, and it starts with them as a person before the business. 

Christian
Beautiful. And segwaying from that into what do you see for the new earth? Like what’s your vision? What’s, what’s, what’s the future that we are creating? Like, what do you see if you extrapolate that?

Alana Beittel
Yeah, so it’s hard. That’s a hard one because I feel like we’re at a place right now where we’re, where as a society, we’re being pulled into, into directions. Right. And so, but I feel that we are making this transition to, um, Living and loving and getting back to just respecting human human beings for being human beings again.

And so for me, that is, that is my picture. Like, when I think about that, I’m like, we are headed. And my golly, I want to be a part of just bringing people together and respecting one another and linking arms and realizing that we’re all in this life together and it’s not perfect. It’s messy and it’s hard, but it’s also really, really beautiful when we allow it to be, when we’re open to it being.

Christian
Yeah, beautiful. And I think that is the biggest key to getting there is this, is this allowance is this, you know, because through the allowance, everybody will find their balance, everybody will find their alignment. And when, when everybody’s aligned, that will be the new earth. 

Alana Beittel
Yeah, I agree. 

Christian
Thank you so much for your time.

Is there any last words you would like to share with the audience? 

Alana Beittel
Um, I just, I, it would be this it’s, if you’re here and you’re listening to this podcast, It’s because you do want more and not just for yourself, right? You’re here because you want more for everyone else. And so you’re here because you’re trying to figure out or trying, not even just trying to figure out, maybe trying to strengthen what that is and what you’re doing and how you’re going to do it.

And so I say, just keep going. Keep going and don’t give up and know that the only belief that matters is your own. The only belief that matters is your own because that vision was placed on you. We don’t need our spouse or our family or our friends to see and believe that vision because it’s your vision.

It’s not theirs. Eventually with time, they’ll catch it too. 

Christian
Beautiful. Thank you for that. And thanks for being on the show, Alana. 

Alana Beittel
Yes. Thank you so much for having me. This has been so much fun. 

Christian
Let us know where people can find you. 

Alana Beittel
Yeah. So I’m super active on Instagram. I know there’s so many other platforms out there, but Instagram is my primary place of contact.

And my handle is my full name. At Alana, A L A N A K A Y B E I T T E L at alanakeybiettel on my full name. 

Christian
Beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your joy and your light with us today and uh, yeah. It was an honor to have you on. 

Alana Beittel
Appreciate it. Bye guys. 

Christian
Bye for now.