[00:00:00] Maartje: You're allowed to ask for more. You're allowed to want more, but that's something that is rooted way deeper than just in career decisions that are rooted in your innate worthiness. Do you feel worthy of having a life that feels deliciously good? Do you feel worthy of that? Or is that something that's only out there for other people?
People who are not like you, who don't look like you, who don't behave like you, who don't have a life like you. Those are some of the things that I work on with my clients because the surface level is just not going to cut it. If you just look at the career, that's why your life has to come into play.
You're not going to get to the bottom of some of these things that are stopping you from taking bold action in your career.
[00:00:41] Aneta: We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life, but what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead, it's the breadth depth, and purpose of each day that matters most? Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian Kuzma and join me weekly as I interview guests who made changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention. Gratitude and joy. Be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.
Welcome back to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My guest this week is Maartje Bakker, and she's a career coach for newbie entrepreneurs and business-curious professionals who want to pivot their careers. She is a former tech leader and she bridges the gap between the corporate world, the startup scene, and entrepreneurship.
And she helps her clients pivot their careers and start businesses with clarity, confidence, and a lot of joy. We had such an interesting conversation because you never know where on these podcast discussions the conversation will go. And I discovered this beautiful story of how Maartje found her way to the United States, through COVID afterwards, how she was able to just build a life here after growing up in Europe for all of her life.
And also how she made the shift from the corporate world into basically being a digital nomad for a couple of years. She's so interesting and delightful. Our conversation was fascinating and I just found myself so curious about all of the things that she's done at such a young age. I loved our conversation and I hope you do too. Take a listen.
Maartje, it's so nice to meet you. Thank you so much for joining me today.
[00:02:30] Maartje: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to get to chatting.
[00:02:35] Aneta: I'm so excited too. I love that you are a coach and that you work with newbie entrepreneurs. But the other thing I wanted to maybe start with is one you shared before we even hit record that you are new to the States.
So, I'm really curious a little bit about your background, how you came to do what you're doing today, and also why you chose to move to the States.
[00:03:05] Maartje: Yes. I love talking about this because it's a love story. So I am Dutch born and raised and I went on this phenomenal train trip in Europe. Five years ago, I had a friend in Portugal and we hadn't seen each other in a while.
The irony of this will become clear in a minute. At the time I didn't want to fly. I was very conscious about the environment and I wanted to limit my flights as much as possible. So I wanted to see my friend in Portugal without flying. And I thought, okay. I can do this. I can do this by train.
So I took this long trip from Amsterdam, down into France, down into Spain, all the way to Portugal. And on my way to see my friend, I'm in Lyon, I'm staying in this hostel and I'm sitting with a girl from my dorm. As it happens in hostels, you get to talking and we see this group of people playing cards and we're like, oh, let's see if we want to play cards with them.
And there's this one guy. Who's so loud and I'm like, of course, he's an American, of course, loud, obnoxious American, pardon me. But that's like my view of America at that time, having never been there, having seen the movies and we have a great night, we play carts, we talk, we talk all night, and the next day, both me and this fantastic guy we go our separate ways cause he's on a bike trip, he's riding his bicycle around Europe, I'm going to the next train and we exchange numbers and we talk as we're traveling through Europe.
We text we call and we get to know each other over the phone. And obviously, I'm with my friend in Portugal. And I'm like, I met this guy. I don't know what's going on. He's from America. What am I doing? And he finishes his bike trip in the North of Europe. And I'm back in Amsterdam and he says, I'm going to Germany.
And I was on a very long vacation. So I had nothing going on. And as the oldest daughter in my family, I've always been the one to do the smart thing. The well thought, the responsible. And I remember I was sitting with another friend in Amsterdam on a terrace, we're eating apple pie.
And I'm texting him and I tell her, I say, I think I'm gonna book a night bus, for tomorrow. It's just like, okay, And I'd never done something like that because I would think about it for a month before doing it and not going to go see this man that I met one night and then talk to you on the phone but I decided to do it.
So I get on this 15-hour night bus to go to Germany. I meet up with him. We travel around Germany for a week. He comes back to the Netherlands. We travel and he goes back home. And from there on, we stay in touch, we go back and forth, we go back and forth for a long time, four years of just trying to spend as much time as we can.
Yes. Through COVID needed to do a whole thing. For him to get into the Netherlands, we had to prove that we were in a relationship. Like we had to show our text messages. And for me to come into the States, I had to go to Dubai for two weeks so that I could get out of Europe for two weeks and then come into the States, all this crazy stuff.
And then this past April we got married and now I've been here in South Carolina for a year. And it's been nice. It's been a big shift, but yeah, I was just saying before we started, if I could call myself five years ago. And tell her, hey girl, there's something about to happen before you know it. You live in South Carolina. I would not have believed it. I would not have believed it.
[00:06:55] Aneta: I love the story and I'm so glad that I asked the question because first of all, four years and the perseverance, it was so hard to travel during COVID and it was so difficult and so challenging in so many ways.
But what was it about your husband now that made you think, am I crazy? Or is there something here that I can see turning into a commitment, a marriage? Because it's amazing to think that you met him for one night and there's such a connection. And then you continue that for so many years afterward from a long distance.
[00:07:32] Maartje: Yes. I think two things that immediately come to mind. And the first one is that we always said, if we want to call each other tomorrow, we'll call each other tomorrow. If we want to call each other again, the next day we'll keep talking. And we never really took it further than that in our minds.
And I think that was what allowed us to keep going. Because when you think of the longer term, there are so many questions. How are we going to make this work? At that time I was employed in Amsterdam. How was I going to go move to the States? We both knew that was hard with visas and stuff like that.
So he is a nurse. So how was he going to work in a Dutch hospital? There were just so many questions. So to keep focusing on if I, from the love in my heart, want to call you tomorrow, I call you tomorrow. And that was what kept us going. And the second thing that comes to mind is as the oldest daughter, and as a very ambitious woman, I've always felt like my worth was in my capabilities, my smarts, my intellect, and the things I was able to do.
And this was the first time where I felt that someone loved me without all those things. It didn't matter. He didn't care that I was pitching our startup to investors and speaking in front of audiences of over 500 people on his stage. He didn't care. He didn't even ask sometimes because he was like, I like you for who you are and all the shenanigans around that and all the bedazzlements and all the pizzazz.
Yeah. That's fine. But I like you just for you. And that was something I felt, I think, very seen, more seen than I had ever felt. And when I think about it, that's what I felt when I met him in Lyon. The conversations we had that night, I felt so seen, crazy when you think about it, this stranger in a hostel.
[00:09:28] Aneta: Yeah, well, and it's so true. What you said resonates with me too, being the oldest daughter. And also just sometimes as women, we feel like we need to accomplish things and improve ourselves and we get comfortable and used to the accolades or external validation and it becomes part of our identity.
So how have you changed now that you are in this relationship with someone who saw you for you, outside of all those labels outside of the titles? And it was just like a one-to-one connection, like at the most soulful level.
[00:10:03] Maartje: I honestly wish I could say it has changed so much and I love myself for who I am.
And I wish I could say that honestly, but it's something that I'm still working through presently, this is such a present thing for me still. And I do believe that being with a partner who sees me for who I am helps me, to appreciate myself just for breathing, just for being, but I have some very strong conditioning in me that tells me if it isn't hard it is invaluable.
You always have to grow. The only way to success is to work your ass off. Those are things that are ingrained in me and I am constantly trying to shift those to more supportive ways of being because it is not supportive at all. So currently what I'm trying to focus on is I can grow by doing less.
I can grow by tending to my nervous system. So when I am stressed, I don't have to work more because that would be my normal go-to, but I can go to yoga and I can go to a yoga studio and I can stay as long as I want. And there's not this urgency of, all right, things aren't going so well or I'm stressed, I should work, double down on everything.
No, maybe I should go for a bike ride. And it's so hard because I'm on this bike ride and I'm thinking I should be working. I should be fixing this thing, but I don't even know how to fix it. But what am I doing on this bike? So it's a constant conversation in my brain and it helps tremendously to have a husband who says, hey, you look kind of stressed out, you've been behind your computer for two hours. It doesn't seem to get better, maybe we should go for a bike ride.
Who then doesn't bring up work once because he truly doesn't care? Who says, I don't like to be with someone who is constantly stressed? Why don't you go to yoga? Why don't you go live your life or sit on the couch and I'll cook for you or something like that?
It's just so helpful because just me and my brain, sometimes we go head to head.
[00:12:20] Aneta: Yeah. And that's such a universal challenge. And I know a lot of people suffer from that woman, especially as well. So you've mentioned yoga, you've mentioned breathing. What are some of the other things that do help you with your nervous system regulation? And I would love then for us to talk about how you're able to apply these things when you're working with entrepreneurs who struggle probably with very similar tendencies.
[00:12:44] Maartje: Yes, absolutely. So yoga is a big one for me because it's still very challenging for me to sit down and like do like a 10-minute meditation or something like that is something that just doesn't come very naturally to me.
So one of the things that I talk about with my clients continuously is how can make it easier for them. How can you make it more convenient, easy, and pleasant, to do the thing that you're struggling to do, whether that is marketing or whether that's taken a break? So I applied this to my own life, which now is a heavy focus on regulating my nervous system.
So how can I make that easier for myself going to a physical place to do yoga by going out for a bike ride always helps me. The Dutch ride their bikes always. So I live on a bike trail here in South Carolina, which is great, and very intentionally picked this spot so that I could ride my bike.
And something that I've been exploring more recently, because what we haven't talked about is that I've been a digital nomad for the past two years.
[00:13:49] Aneta: Yeah. Tell me more.
[00:13:50] Maartje: Yeah. So I've been moving around the States. We just settled in our place three months ago. So before that we have been traveling, my husband's a travel nurse.
My business is all online. So we were at a place like. Two to three months at a time and then switched again. What I didn't notice in all this travel was how powerful it is to be in a community with other people. Because when you're traveling, it's very easy to become isolated. You go somewhere. Maybe you do an online yoga class because.
You're just there for like maybe three or four weeks or six weeks. And where's the yoga studio or how am I going to set it up? Slowly but surely, I think I got very isolated and it was not good for my nervous system. Being around other people is so regulating. So part of what I do now is being around people.
So I will go read a book at the little cafe that's around the corner here. I'll just read a book just to sit around with people or I go to the yoga studio, so I'm around people. I am trying to make friends as I move into this new city. So yesterday I went out and played trivia with a waitress that I met at a bar I thought she was great, so I gave her my phone number.
I said, hey, do you want to hang out sometime? So I'm very intentionally putting myself. Outside of nature with people, places where they help me focus on my breath, all those kinds of things because that's how it works for me. So for my clients, that looks very different because they're different people. So maybe going on a bike ride is highly stressful. Then definitely don't do that.
[00:15:41] Aneta: I love that. What are some of the places that? You lived in the States as you guys were traveling.
[00:15:47] Maartje: I have lived in Atlanta for a while in Georgia. I have lived in Wilmington, North Carolina by the beach, which was fantastic to wake up and see dolphins. Or to take your lunch break and be able to see the fins just going out of the water. It was just magical. We have lived where else? Brevard, North Carolina, Asheville, North Carolina. I was always around the East Coast because my family's around here. So we always wanted to be within driving distance.
But yeah, lots of different places from beaches to mountains, to big cities, to all these different flavors of the South. And I haven't been more North than Virginia or more South than Florida. And I haven't been more West than Tennessee. So I have a lot of exploring to do.
[00:16:34] Aneta: Yes. So your experience with Americans and American culture was through film before. And we know your first impression of your husband, the loud guy. What has changed in terms of like, what have you noticed about Americans or American culture, or has anything changed in terms of your initial impressions?
[00:16:53] Maartje: It had changed so much. And I had the most unexpected culture shock because I thought, well, I speak perfect English.
We speak the same language. We wear the same clothes. We also have Coca-Cola, like we watched the same movie. I grew up listening to Taylor Swift when I was 13. So like, I know this culture. That was what I thought. But when I came here for the first time, I noticed that I did not know the American culture.
And I still, can't say I know the American culture because I haven't seen the majority of this country. And it's such a huge country. There are so many different flavors of it in the different states but what I had first noticed Is that all the stereotypes that I had been fed through media, through the news in the Netherlands were confirmed and a lot of them were not very positive.
So the first two times I went to the States, I didn't quite feel at home and I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the country in and of itself, like I came out of the airport, I saw the huge cars, big trucks, and giant pizzas, like dripping with greens, getting a bunch of plastic bags at the grocery store for every single item you buy, you get a different bag, like all these things.
I was like, what, how does this country work? I couldn't bike anywhere. I couldn't walk anywhere. Like if I wanted to go to the store next door, I had to get in my car to drive to the next parking lot. It was just mind-boggling to me. And I'm so glad that I continued to visit because I started to see the things that I didn't know yet.
So the stereotypical things were confirmed very early on and then once I got through those, I could open my eyes to the other beautiful things. And I'm so glad that I've now been able to kind of borrow from the American culture and add it to my Dutch culture in the sense of being so warm and open, being generally so joyful towards other people, allowing yourself to be excited about things.
Saying hi to people, and this is probably a very Southern thing, but like everyone, you walk by. In Amsterdam, and this is also a big city versus maybe a smaller town situation, but in the Netherlands in general, you don't say hi to each other if you don't know that person. You don't just invite someone over for dinner who you have just met.
In the Netherlands, I would not have given my number to a waitress because that would have been so strange. Like you don't know her. Why are you going to do that? But now, because I've been here for a while and been going back and forth for a while, I do those things. I'm excited openly, I say, hey, how are you doing?
Oh, that is amazing. Or, hey, do you want to have dinner? Or do you want to join me to go to Triphia? Like that is a kind of humanness and like warm humanness that I got to appreciate here in America.
[00:20:05] Aneta: That's wonderful. I'm sure your parents, might be noticing your family back home, they notice any changes in you?
[00:20:12] Maartje: That's such an interesting question because it's one I ask frequently because I worry about it sometimes. I ran through a difficult time in the fall of 2023, when I hadn't been home in quite a while, I still don't know when I'm able to go home, that's the whole green card process.
You have to wait for a travel permit. So it's been over a year now that I've been home. And I know this had nothing really to do with the reality, but it was happening inside of my subconscious. I was feeling like I was drifting on an ocean and nobody wanted to take me ashore.
Like I was drifting on an ocean and America didn't want to take me ashore because I was different. I didn't feel like I fit in. Because sometimes I didn't understand people, sometimes I wouldn't understand a word or everyone would say, do you remember when you played dodgeball in high school?
This is such a random example, but this happened and a whole crowd said, yes. And I'm like, what is dodgeball? So it's just those little things where you feel like you don't belong but then my own culture in my own country, I started to create this almost fear of what if they don't accept me anymore?
What if I come back and I have changed or I've taken on American things and the Dutch are quite judgmental and direct what if they have all those ideas that I had when I first came to America? What if they have those about me? What if they don't take me in anymore? The only evidence of a slight change I have is a friend who listened to a voice note I sent her and it was in Dutch it was a 10-minute voice note.
And she sent me a 10-second one back and all it said was. You have an American, like in between my words, I was speaking Dutch, and the Dutch is pronounced more as an, so I speak Dutch and then say in between. And it was the only thing she said, you got an American and I thought, Oh no.
They reject me, but no, my parents haven't my family, my brothers, they all haven't noticed any real differences. Although my parents got to be here in the summer, it was the first time they came to the States and they were a little stunned, or quiet whenever I was in a public setting, like in a grocery store, the way I was when I first came here, I was completely wall flowering next to my husband.
He would say like to the cashier, hey, how are you doing? I'm doing good. All right. Have a good one. Have a good one, not something that I even knew was a saying something you would say, like, have a good day was what I learned in school. And now I say those things. So my parents were watching me interacting so naturally in a way that they couldn't because that's something you learn only by being immersed in a place. So then I remember getting in the car and my mom being like, wow, you live here. Don't you? It's like, Oh yeah. You're settling in.
[00:23:13] Aneta: It's so fascinating. True. We learned so many of those behaviors by paying attention and you could see the conditioning. I know it sounds like some of the impressions you had were very wasteful and we as Americans, especially compared to Europe, people don't have the same level of consciousness around those things. Convenience seems to trump any sort of global maybe impact or awareness. But you can bring that and also just accept whatever you like here.
And allow that to evolve into whatever feels good for you. And I think that's a beautiful thing. It's beautiful for traveling, but of course, you get even more of that when you're immersed in a culture of actually living somewhere.
[00:23:52] Maartje: Yes, absolutely. It's a very different experience to live somewhere versus to visit.
And I have done both and now it's more challenging to live somewhere. But I think it's also more rewarding in the end.
[00:24:05] Aneta: And I would love to pivot to talk a little bit about what you do because it sounds like you used to have a corporate career and now you are a career coach. So tell me a little bit about your business and, maybe why did you make the shift and who do you typically work with?
[00:24:24] Maartje: Yes, absolutely. So I'm a career coach for professionals who are in a season of career confusion. And that is usually a place where you know you don't want to stay where you are. You know the expiration date has passed. But you don't quite know what's next. Maybe you have some of the puzzle pieces.
A lot of my clients are business curious, as I would say, it's like, I might want to start a business, but I don't know if it's something that fits with me, or I've had this business idea for years, but something's stopping me from going after it. And I support them in getting clear on what they want from their career in life because you cannot see those separately.
This ties in with the whole theme of this podcast, like the width of your life, your career fits in there. So we look at what kind of life you want to live and then what kind of career would fit with that so that you can feel free, joyful, and healthy. And the health aspect has been something that.
Has gotten more focus over the past months, I would say with my clients. I'm noticing so many of my clients are just perpetually in a dysregulated state where they're stressed and they can't quite seem to get to a place of calm. So how can we help these incredibly successful professionals who are doing great at their job, who on the outside look like they've got it all to be happier at work, to be able to go pick up your kids when you want to go pick up your kids in the middle of the day or go take a yoga class as I do.
And also not stress so much. So that your overall quality of life is so much better. How can we bring all that together instead of feeling like we need to pick and choose, I either choose the career path, and I neglect my family, and my health and all these things, or I choose that health aspect, family, quality time, and joy, and I have to let the career slide.
How can we bring that together? That's what I work on with my clients. And a lot of them end up starting businesses and some of them also don't. It's not that I ever tell anyone to quit their job. It's my job to guide them to the best solution for them.
[00:26:40] Aneta: Yeah. I like that philosophy and it's what I do with my clients too, is this sense of like, what is the alignment in your life, and are you making choices that are aligned with your values? Are you making choices that allow you? To live the width, to create this beautiful big life. And as you said, you don't have to just say, Oh, I have to focus just on my career for the next decade and then hopefully focus on my family, or my health.
We don't have the luxury of being able to do that. And I just don't think we have the luxury or the time anymore. And I don't think people want to compromise but to say, how do I build this life that I love? And there's a place for all of the things that are important to me, but I'd never heard someone say business curious. I love that term. And so for those that decide not to start their own business, what are some of the fears or maybe some of the challenges that hold people back from making that decision?
[00:27:40] Maartje: If you decide not to start a business, that can be the best decision you make in your life. That can be a phenomenal decision where you are very in touch with who you are, what makes you happy, how you want to design your life, your days, your weeks, and that can be the best thing ever. Now, some people decide they don't want to start the business and that usually happens then without me.
This is a decision that happens as they are going through their lives by themselves, maybe not asking for support. Some of the reasons to not do it can be, well, I have this job that I should be grateful for. It's almost this toxic gratitude where it's like, well, I should be grateful that I have a job.
Like they should. Yeah. That job is taking years off your life because you are chronically stressed and you're approaching burnout very fast. But you should be grateful to have a job. Well, yes. Yes, and. Yes, you can be grateful to have a job and you can also say, I want something more fulfilling.
[00:28:46] Aneta: I love that. I'm so sorry to interrupt you, but I was just like, I tell people that too. It's like you can be grateful for all the blessings and all of the things and it is not bad, you shouldn't judge yourself for still saying this isn't enough or something is still missing.
[00:29:05] Maartje: Yes, exactly. You're allowed to ask for more. You're allowed to want more, but that's something that is rooted way deeper than just in career decisions that are rooted in your innate worthiness. Do you feel worthy of having a life that feels deliciously good? Do you feel worthy of that? Or is that something that's only out there for other people?
People who are not like you, who don't look like you, who don't behave like you, who don't have a life like you. Those are some of the things that I work on with my clients because the surface level is just not going to cut it. If you just look at the career, that's why your life has to come into play.
You're not going to get to the bottom of some of these things that are stopping you from taking bold action in your career. Whether that's a pivot into a different industry, starting a business, maybe going part-time, whatever it is, if you feel not worthy of having a job, that is good for you. You're not going to go after it.
So there's this toxic positivity that comes into play. There's the feeling of stability that comes into play as well. What I hear a lot is, well, but I have a stable job now. And although that can be true, we all know that the layoffs are happening left and right. And one of my clients got laid off.
She is now running her business that she was doing on the side and she's now doing it full time she's gonna create her life in her unique way with beautiful part-time jobs that she loves and she's going to create it her way. But she said it so beautifully. She said I thought I had a stable job.
I was doing my job fantastically well, and here I am, I got laid off. A Zoom call, hey, can we have a quick chat? And 15 minutes later, I'm without a job. So it's not to scare anyone who's listening, not to scare you, but It's all relative. That's just the thing. Like it's all relative. Yes, you have a stable income right now, but that should not be the main reason to stay in a job that's inherently bad for you.
That should not be the main reason. There needs to be more for you to be able to stay in my books.
[00:31:24] Aneta: Yeah, I'm seeing a lot of that too. And people, they think that it's stable or that it's less risky sometimes to stay in the role. And maybe it is true for some people it's true, but what I want, or I wish that everybody would do is know the life that they want to live and create that for themselves, and even have a vision of where they want to be at every decade of their life so that if something happens, that was not their choice.
They don't have to panic because they're already working towards all those things. Or maybe every other area of their life is already feeling so good and so strong that then focusing just on the career is not that challenging or it doesn't seem so daunting. But unfortunately, what I see is so many people place a lot of significance in their careers.
In their job and sacrifice their health, or sacrifice relationships, or take time off and do things that they like or hobbies or things that used to be important. And then when they lose the career, all of those other things, the voids are there as well. So that's just something I would say if anyone's listening and you're like, okay, well, I feel good where I am, even with my career.
It's still so important to work with a coach to be able to say, well, let's just take a look at everything else. And are there areas that you want to improve and maybe then the career stuff, comes later. If it's not something that's immediate, do you agree? Do you feel like that would be a helpful exercise for everybody?
[00:32:52] Maartje: Yes. Yeah. I think it's always helpful to look at the bigger picture. It's why one of the first sessions I do with my clients is always a very broad scope and sometimes that results in a little bit of a question mark at the beginning. Wait, are we not going to talk about my career? And it's like, yes, but your career is a part of a big picture.
And if we want to create a career that fits you like a glove, where you love Monday, just as much as you love Friday, we need to look at all the other things because they're going to give you clues on what you need in your career to be happy. Like, how are you doing in the eight most important areas of your life?
And those are going to be different. That's why I'm not sharing any specific areas right now, because they're going to be different for everyone. For some people that might be religion, for some that might be volunteering, or adventure or finances, or it's different for everyone. When you have that big picture, you are able to better dial in what you want from your career.
Because that's just one of the puzzle pieces you need to make sure that it fits. So to make sure that it fits, you need to know what the rest of the puzzle looks like.
[00:33:57] Aneta: I agree with you so much and I do something similar and you're right. Sometimes people are like, well, wait a second. I wanted to focus on this and it's like, yeah, but how does that fit into everything else that you want?
How does it fit into how much time you'd like for freedoms and other things? I know one of the things that you talk about a lot is infusing joy. And people's lives and helping them do that. What is your experience when you talk about joy with some of your clients initially?
[00:34:24] Maartje: The funny thing is that joy is I just took a yoga Nidra class last week, and it was the first time I did that. And the teacher shared about five different levels that we go through in yoga Nidra.
And I think the first one is, the physical body, the energetic body, which is the breath, and we get, I think, feelings and emotions, thoughts and beliefs. And the last one is joy. And what she shared was that joy is always there. But sometimes it's more easily accessible because all the layers on top of it are calm.
It's like when the ocean is real, like rowdy, you cannot see the sand, but when it's really calm, you can see the sand. So joy is always there. And I notice with my clients, sometimes when we start working together. The joy almost seems to be non existent, like the water is so stirred up and wild that you cannot see the joy, but it's still there.
And when the thoughts and beliefs, the feelings and emotions, the physical body, when all those things are in a stressed state, the last thing you think you should look at is joy. But I need to, let's say new entrepreneurs, I need to work on my marketing. I need to go on Instagram. I need to become a TED talk speaker.
I need to work on my pricing, like all these tangible things. The physical body, the first layer. That's what we think we need to do, but joy is always there. So I'm a firm believer of infusing joy in every level so that it's easier to access it. So when you are working on your marketing, how can you make it more joyful? When you are tending to your nervous system?
Like we talked about earlier, how can you make it more joyful? And that way through the joy, you're regulating yourself. You're able to access that joy on the bottom in the sand, much more easily. You're able to see it. So yes, you might not think that joy is what you need to be working on because you feel like you need to update your LinkedIn profile, but it is the key to sustainability, I would say, to be able to do what you do for a long time.
One more yoga reference. I'm not a major Yogi, but I have been going a lot lately. You have this yoga style called Yin Yoga. And that's where you lay in one pose or sit in one pose for a long time, maybe five or seven minutes.
And I love it when teachers say it's not about how deep you go, how deep you stretch. It's about how long you can comfortably be there. So this is the same thing for your career or your business. It's not about. How fast you can get to a certain number of clients or money or how fast you can get to promotion.
It's about how long can you comfortably keep moving forward. And to do that, you need joy.
[00:37:46] Aneta: I love that. Well, I love all the yoga references because I teach yoga and I love taking yoga. So there's a lot of wisdom after, 5 000 years of wisdom and yoga philosophy. So, I would love to ask you how people can work with you, and where they can find you. Is there a channel where you're more active?
[00:38:06] Maartje: Absolutely. So I love LinkedIn. It's been my favorite platform from the beginning. So I would love to connect with you listeners on LinkedIn. I'm also on Instagram, but Instagram is on a very low simmer for me. This is also what I work with my clients on.
How do you want to market your business so that it's the best way for you? And Instagram continues to be a little bit of a tricky one for me. It's designed to take my attention. So it does take my attention. And I don't like that as much because living the width of my life to me means living my life offline as much as I can.
So the best way to connect with me is on LinkedIn. The way people can work with me is one-on-one. So on my LinkedIn profile, you can connect with me, send a few messages back and forth, can book a call with me to check out how we could work together to explore if I'm the right fit for you because it's incredibly important for me to make sure that we are the right fit because I'm not the right coach for everyone.
And I want to make sure that your investment of time energy and finances is the best one for you. So I would love to chat if you're listening and you feel like this might be a good next step for you.
[00:39:25] Aneta: Wonderful. We will include all those links in the show notes. And the final question that I ask everyone is tied to the title of the podcast. And you referenced it a little bit earlier, but what does it mean to you to live the width of your life?
[00:39:39] Maartje: So this has changed so much through the years where at first living the width of my life was to be on TED talk stages and be driven around and by show verse and be a big deal, and a big company and that has changed into a much more grounded view now.
And for me now, it means I live my life in the present moment, offline as much as I can with the people that I love, doing what I love. And truly like that for me is the epitome of life, where I get to feel joyful and calm. And go through the human experience, which has its ups and its downs, and that's okay.
But being able to hold me through that because of the way that I have designed my life, because of the way I've designed my career, to be able to move through all the waves and the stillness and the craziness and the storms and take exquisitely good care of myself.
[00:40:45] Aneta: Maartje, thank you so much. I love that response. I wish you continued success and thank you so much for joining me today.
[00:40:54] Maartje: Thank you so much. It was a joy to be here.
[00:40:56] Aneta: Thank you for listening to today's episode. If today's conversation inspired you to dream again, break out of your comfort zones, or reflect on what it means to you to live more fully, then please follow this podcast because every week you'll hear more stories from people just like you who took imperfect action towards their goals, created more joy and are living the life that they always dreamt of living.