Ep. 16: Redefining Freedom: 4 Lessons I Learned After Leaving Corporate
Freedom isn’t about quitting your 9–5—it’s about how you choose to live now. Laura Dionisio gets real about what true freedom means after leaving corporate life and the surprising lessons she learned in her first month out.
In this episode of The Pivot Point, Laura challenges the myth that freedom only comes once you leave your job. With her signature bold honesty and cheeky warmth, she shares four hard-hitting lessons learned after walking away from corporate life—lessons that apply whether you’re employed, in-between, or building your own thing.
From realizing that structure can actually create more freedom, to breaking the toxic link between self-worth and productivity,
Laura pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to feel aligned in your career and life. She also dives into how to make meetings meaningful again (yes, really) and why rest isn’t a reward—it’s strategy.
Whether you’re dreaming of your next pivot or already mid-leap, this conversation will give you the inner tools to navigate the journey with more intention, courage, and calm.
What You’ll Hear:
✔️Why “no calendar” freedom can backfire—and what to do instead
✔️How to stop tying your worth to your work or deliverables
✔️Simple mindset shifts that make meetings less miserable
✔️Why rest is not lazy—it’s leadership
✔️How internal shifts always precede external success
✔️A heartfelt reminder: your value is not conditional
‘’Proceed as if success is inevitable—because it is”
Feeling stuck or craving your own freedom reset?
Grab your Heart-Aligned Career Transition Starter at
https://www.leadintact.com/freebies/heart-aligned-career or
Book 20-min consultation call:
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You are listening to the pivot point where we unpack the defining moments that shift careers and lives. I'm your host, Laura Dionisio, a founder of Lead Intact, and my mission is to spotlight the raw real stories behind career pivots, the fears, the hopes. The messy middles and the bold decisions that follow if you're feeling stuck or quietly wondering what's next?
I hope these stories help you see yourself a little more clearly and inspire you to start moving toward your own dream life. Let's begin.
Introduction: Redefining Freedom
Freedom isn't just for those who have quit their job and have decided to work for themselves. Freedom is actually a state of mind. It's a choice in how you want your experience to be. Now. Yes, I just left corporate as of this recording four weeks ago now. So you may be thinking, of course, it's easy for you to say that, Laura, you just quit your job.
Actually, I have felt this way even before. Although leaving corporate has definitely taught me a lot more about what freedom means, and I just wanted to share these four lessons I've learned so far post corporate. It's something that I believe you can implement no matter what your job situation is, even if you are in between jobs at the moment.
Lesson 1: Embracing Structure for True Freedom
So the first one is this, when I first quit my job, I was just like so excited. I was like, oh, thank God. No more meetings. I can do anything I want whenever I want, with whoever I want, however I want, you know, type of thing. And I gotta tell you, the first, let's say two weeks post corporate, I did exactly that.
I said, fuck the calendar. I ain't even looking. I'm gonna wake up when I want. I'm gonna go to the gym when I want eat, when I want work, when I want, you know? 'cause I wasn't just there for vacation, right? Like I still had my business to attend to, but I was just like, no, I'm not gonna have any rules at all because I am just so tired and I just felt so stifled.
I should have felt free, right? I was completely free. There was nothing on my calendar. Nobody was expecting me to do anything there. There weren't people pinging me on my phone or IMing me or you know, that dreaded teams like, call that comes up. Nothing I should have felt free. Right? Should have felt amazing.
And yes, it felt nice at first. Maybe for like the first. Four or five days, I felt like I was on vacation. But here's what I noticed. I wasn't on vacation. I still had things I needed to do, and what I noticed is that I actually felt more rushed. I actually felt less supported in my, in my day, I felt. Like I didn't have enough time, which is weird because all I had was time, but I just felt like I was running out of time every day.
And so by the second week I realized, okay, I understand it now. So this was lesson number one for me. I was viewing my calendar and my routine as something that stifled my freedom when in fact. It is meant to be there to feel supportive of my freedom. So like what do I mean by that? When I had nothing, no routine, nothing on my calendar, I just kind of drifted and then felt rushed because there's still things I wanted to do, but then when I actually took the time to think about, okay.
What would feel the most supportive right now? And it made me think about, so this is where structure comes into play. It made me think about like, what are my non-negotiable activities of self-care for me that's going to the gym and lifting heavy ass weights. Okay, cool. There's that. Now that the weather's a lot better, I'm not sweating as soon as I get outta my apartment, walking in the evenings, that's important.
There's things like, I don't know, grocery shopping, you know, that's important. And then there's stuff like, well, I actually. You know, have work to do. I would like to work, I would love to do this work that I love to do, and I just needed allocated time for that. So, funny enough, by the time I got into my third week or end of the second week when I sat down and thought about like, okay, what is my ideal schedule?
What would it look like? It was pretty much exactly like what I had when I was in corporate. Now part of that is conditioning because I've been doing it for years. True. So I'm not like super attached in that this is gonna be what my schedule is gonna look like forever. So keep that in mind. But the second is that it wasn't my calendar or the routine that was the problem.
Actually, it was how I felt, right? Because when I was in corporate, like I mentioned in a previous episode, I felt trapped. I had zero energy because I was doing things. I just was not like, it just was not in alignment for me anymore. That had nothing to do with my calendar and routine that had to do with my actions and what I was choosing to do at that time.
Again, no shade towards Past Me, but that was the culprit. It wasn't my calendar routine. So if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, well that's great for an entrepreneur. They get to define their calendar. I beg to differ. I believe that you have more control over your calendar and your routine.
than you think, and if your immediate thought is, no, I don't, I'm trapped. Well then. You are trapped. The first step is to say to yourself, I want my calendar and routine to feel supportive, not restrictive. The moment you decide that your brain is gonna give you ideas on how that might be, maybe it's something simple like, you know what?
I just need five minutes in between meetings because I have meeting after meeting, after meeting. So maybe the thing to do is that when you schedule the meeting. You don't do it for a full hour, you do it for 55 minutes or when you're going to somebody else's meeting, you just say, Hey, I have to drop at five minutes before 'cause I have to prep.
There are ways that you can create boundaries such that your calendar and your routine actually feel supportive to you and try it out. Try it out for a month and if it's not working, then reassess. But don't point just the calendar and the routine as the culprit for why you may be feeling trapped.
It's a very disempowering place to be if you do that. 'cause if you do that, then you can't do anything to change it.
Lesson 2: Separating Self-Worth from Performance
So the second thing I learned, well. Actually, it was a lesson I relearnt because this is something that I was aware that I kind of struggled with even before I left corporate, but it was just made more obvious.
Now that I work for myself is separating your value as a person from your performance and deliverables. What I mean by that is, let's say that you have a project you're leading. And you were supposed to have some sort of meeting for that project at a specific date, or maybe it's a series of meetings if, say for some reason nobody shows up for some reason the meeting doesn't go through.
The team didn't have enough time to do what he needed to for whatever reason. Do not see it as, oh wow, I am a failure. Me the person, I'm a failure. Right? I mean, it's not so great to also say, oh, my project is a failure. That's not exactly true either, but let's break it down.
Let's start off at least by separating, rather than saying, I am a failure. Say this project is a failure. Right, because at least there's separation there between the project and you. Now, is it true that the project is a failure? Probably not. But step one is to do that separation. So that's something that I relearned as an entrepreneur, and here's why.
Because when I worked in corporate, even when I was leading a team or a project or whatnot, there was always an external metric set for me. So, for example, the external metric could be this deliverable by this date, right? So then my job would be what are the, the supporting meetings, documentation to meet that thing.
And then I would make my own deadlines. Now, in corporate, even when I was in corporate, if I didn't meet the deadline and supporting documents that I said I needed, by that date, I would get in my head, right? I'd be like, oh no, I have failed. I'm a failure. That's not good and it's not true and it doesn't make you feel good about yourself.
Right. At least though, when I was in corporate, I was able to say, oh wait, that's not true, because this is a deadline and a deliverable that I said was needed to support this thing that's further out. We can still make it 'cause of the thing that's further out, right. So I was able to talk myself down. Now here's the thing, so if you're a listener and you are a contractor or you work for yourself, it is even more important for you to separate your identity, your value as a person.
Two, like whatever project, whatever launch you were trying to do, because this happened to me, there was a program launch, like the steps in between were going well, but then the actual launch itself, I didn't get the metrics that I desired. However, unlike in corporate, I didn't have like say, a team lead or someone I can talk to to give me the actual deliverable that it was supposed to go towards.
Does that make sense? Because working for myself, I now am creating what the necessary deliverables are, what the necessary metrics are, that kind of thing. I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be real. I fell in a funk. For a few days, I was just like, wow, I have failed. What did I do wrong? So lesson two was like, don't, don't go there.
Or if you do go there, just remember, I am valuable because I am, I have value because I am, period. Like whatever project, whatever thing you were trying to do, if it doesn't work out, that is not a reflection of your value as a person. Very important. Now, luckily, I do have support in terms of my own private coaching.
Let me tell you, if you wanna do something big, if you wanna create, if you want to make a bold decision, bold pivot, something big, I highly, highly recommend having a support of some kind, through a private coach, that kind of thing, because. It is just no matter how well trained you are, I have been a trained master life coach now for the past four years.
I have been in multiple leadership positions. But no matter how trained you are, it's really hard to see the forest for the trees when you're in it. So highly recommend you have support. So anyway, that's lesson two. Separate your value as a human from the value of whatever thing it is that you were hoping to accomplish.
Okay.
Lesson 3: Making Meetings Meaningful
Number three. When I was in corporate, I learned to hate meetings because there was just so many of them. If you looked at my calendar, it was just, it was fully booked. It got to the point that I had to block out time for work It. It literally said, block for work. So what happened was. After I left my corporate job, I was still seeing meetings that way.
This is kind of similar to what I said about number one, the meetings themselves are not the culprit, right? I mean, the first part of it is how I instinctively started to look at meetings as, ugh. Like the moment I would open my calendar, this is even like post corporate, I'd be like, Ugh, it's a full day of meetings.
Like, ugh. Immediately my energy would go down. You have more control over this than you think. If you're thinking like, oh but Laura, this is a standing meeting, it's corporate, I can't do anything. Well, again, like I said earlier, if you say you can't do anything and that your experience is forever gonna be one that sucks, then that's gonna be your experience.
However, I invite you to challenge that belief. What if you can make a meeting more meaningful, what would that look like? The moment you challenge your brain to be like, how can I make this meeting more meaningful instead of, Ugh, this meeting sucks. Before you even start it, your mind is gonna come up with ideas.
Maybe you structure a meeting a little bit differently. I remember, I will never forget this. There was a particular kind of meeting in engineering that was just, honestly, it's dry because it involves looking at a spreadsheet and going through line by line and it was a necessary process.
Now, sure, you look at that, you're like, Ugh, how can you make that have more meaning, right. I have a coworker. What he did was that at the end of every meeting, he would share a fun fact and it made it more meaningful.
So stuff like that, like how can you reframe either your mindset or if you're the one facilitating the meeting, how can you make it meaningful for you?
Lesson 4: The Importance of Rest
Okay, the fourth lesson I learned, well, again. Relearned. It's just that leaving corporate, made me learn it real hard again, is that resting and taking a break is a vital part of the process.
We live in corporate America, at least here where I'm recording and, and productivity is king. Right. Hustle mentality. Where do, do, do go, go, go. So much so that like I bet I'm not the only one who has internalized the idea that if I am not actively working, then it is time wasted. That it is time that could have been used towards being quote unquote productive.
Right? I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. It's wrong. It's wrong. Like you look at anything in nature or even anything that we've created, like this laptop I'm currently recording, right? You have to charge it at some point. I can't just be using this laptop forever. It's gonna die on me if I don't let it rest.
Right? Same is true for us. This is especially true for entrepreneurs and new entrepreneurs as I learned the hard way . When you feel, and we all know what this feels like, when you just feel your energy's low, or you're incredibly frustrated, or maybe something external in your life has happened, rather than push through, take the damn break.
Maybe it's just a five minute break. Maybe take the fucking afternoon off. Don't care. Take the break. Why? Because you push through it. And then what , let's be honest, the work is gonna be subpar compared to your usual self. It is. And it's gonna take you longer to do. Take the break. Rest. You know, it sounds easy, but.
Having just experienced this many times for like the past four weeks, there's a lot of rewiring that has to be done. So when you find yourself pushing through feelings of guilt, don't just be like, oh, it's 'cause I suck. I'm trying to, I'm trying to rest and I just can't do it. Give yourself some compassion and maybe try some reframing statements when you find yourself saying.
Oh my God. Why do I do this? I know it's part of the process. I know I'm supposed to take a break, but I just, ah, there's something wrong with me. Let's reframe that, right, because that also is not gonna help, that's gonna add to the angst. How about we say something like, wow, there I go again.
There I go again thinking that resting is not okay. Oops. And then reframe to resting, taking a break is part of the process, it's okay that I'm doing this. And if your mind goes there again, just be like, oh, there I go again. You know, you can imagine like it's a part of you that's speaking. 'cause we all are composed of these parts, right?
You ever argue with yourself about something? We are all composed of parts. So if you find yourself feeling guilty for resting, feeling like you're letting the team down, that was my biggest thing. Think of it as a part. In fact, think of it as a younger part, like a child, right? Imagine you're talking to a child and the child's like, oh no, oh no.
Like everything's gonna fail because I decided to take a five minute break. How would you talk to that child? Right? You might say, Hey, I know it seems like I have to work right now. And I have so much compassion for the angst that you're feeling. And I'm here to tell you that that's not how we're gonna operate anymore.
Because now we understand that resting is actually really important, and when we rest, we can actually do a lot more. So maybe we won't start for another five minutes, but I promise you. When we feel rested, when we do start working, it's gonna be so much faster and more efficient than if we had tried to push through.
Something like that.
Conclusion: Internal Shifts Lead to External Success
So all this to say, yes, these are four lessons that I learned, or in some cases relearned when I left corporate. But truthfully, these are lessons that you can do. You can hopefully start to implement regardless of where you are in your career, regardless if you're thinking about a pivot or you're not.
These are things that are important to keep in mind anyway, and I really believe that. Yes, the external pivot of, oh my God, I left my corporate job after 18 years. That sounds really cool. It's like, oh yeah, that's sexy. Wow, that's crazy. But honestly, the hardest part of the pivot is the internal shift that happens first.
So don't think that like, oh, I don't have any job prospects right now. Or like, oh, I do want to leave corporate, but I don't even know like what my business is gonna be. That's the external stuff, I promise you shift the internal stuff first. More ideas gonna come to you. More opportunities are gonna come to you because truthfully, the pivot starts in here.
It starts internally. The external will follow accordingly. And by the way, if you are waiting for the external pivot to happen first so that you internally feel better, I'm here to tell you I have done that. I have gotten the job that I thought was gonna make me feel better, but I hadn't made the shift on the inside and it doesn't work.
So all that to say, I hope this was really helpful for you. I would love to hear which of these four lessons you already knew. Which was new for you. Do you have any other lessons? Shoot me a DM on Instagram. My handle is @laura.m.dionisio And hey, if you really loved this, I would love if you would subscribe, comment, follow, send this to your friends.
Don't keep it to yourself. Sharing is caring. And remember, no matter where you are in your journey. Proceed as if success is inevitable because it is. I'll talk to you next time.
All right, friend. That's it for today's drop. If this episode hits something deep, don't just sit with it, act on it. Share this with a friend who needs to hear it, and then head to www.leadintact.com to grab your free heart aligned career transition starter, or book a free 20 minute call with me. I'm here when you're ready to stop feeling stuck and start moving toward what you really want.
Catch you next time.