We recently had the chance to connect with Emily Schickli and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Emily, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Ever since I was in second grade, I dreamed of being a published fiction author. While I wrote a novel in middle and high school, I got too overwhelmed by the editing process and so never submitted it.
(Turns out you mature a lot as a writer from 8th to 11th grade!)
I turned to writing short stories in college and after I graduated, but once I started graduate school, I stopped. I was writing so much academically that I just ran out of the energy to write more.
After ten years of taking a break from writing fiction for fun, I’ve started a fun new project: a romantasy (romantic fantasy) novel!
It’s about a woman in her mid-twenties who, after getting laid off from her tech startup, goes through a spiritual awakening: she remembers her past life on a distant planet. Despite being a skeptic about all this “woo-woo” stuff, she accepts her enrollment in a magical school for healers who come from the stars. But when she discovers the real reason her soul incarnated as a human on this planet, she must learn to forgive herself and let love in before her awakening powers take everyone, and the one person she’s come to love, down with her.
Exciting stuff, right? I’m about 50k words in, and having a blast coming up with plot twists, a love triangle, and magical elements.
With this project, I’ve seen first-hand how having a passion project can create this flywheel of life force energy: the more I work on my creative writing, the more energy I have to do it––and the more energy I have for the rest of my interests, too.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Emily Schickli, the founder of The Compass ClubTM, and I help 9-5ers and multi-passionate entrepreneurs bring a passion project to life in 6 months or less so they can feel more fulfilled and less burned out.
Especially with the current political climate, changing job market, and online business world, I have seen how much having a passion project can help folks feel more fulfilled, lit up, and aligned even as they navigate their other responsibilities.
Whether it’s writing a novel like me, cultivating a community garden, or teaching yoga classes, a passion project gives folks a sense of purpose and a creative outlet. And the more dedication and passion a person has for their project, the bigger the positive feedback loop of life force energy they generate.
I’ve led productivity and wellbeing workshops for Google, Microsoft, Meta, and more, and I’ve seen how a passion project can even boost job performance. For example, when you know you want to have enough time and energy to go work on your handmade candles side hustle, you’re more likely to be focused on the highest priorities at work and put in guardrails that keep you working efficiently and effectively.
Plus, when you have something fulfilling like a passion project in your life, you have more excitement and energy to connect with loved ones about it, which helps deepen relationships and support systems.
Of course, it can be challenging at first to think about what you really want to create, let alone how on earth you can carve out enough time and energy to create and sustain a passion project without pissing off your family members, quitting your job or business, or sacrificing your wellbeing. That’s where I love to help.
To get started, you can snag my free guide, The Clarity Compass Journal, on my website at emilyschickli.com/clarity-compass-journal
When I work with folks one-on-one and inside The Compass ClubTM, I love blending science-backed strategies (from behavior change psychology, time management techniques, NLP, and flow state research) with spiritual practices (like Human Design, astrology, meditation, Shamanism, and more) to create a holistic approach. I do that by bringing in my background as a Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, Shamanic Practitioner, Reiki Master, and yoga and meditation teacher with a Masters in Curriculum Design and English from the University of Chicago.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
When I was little, my mom used to test out her wacky DIY projects with my brother and I. As a textile artist and teacher, she was always coming up with new craft and science project ideas from making wool felt in the bathtub, to growing flax in the backyard that we later broke and spun into thread, and raising silkworms and angora rabbits.
Through all of our experiments, the most important lesson I learned was how to experiment. We never knew if the end result was going to turn out. In fact, many times it didn’t. But the point of the experiment was always to learn, see how it goes, adjust in real time, and have fun along the way.
This approach has directly informed not only how I operate in my personal life and passion projects but also what I teach in my business. In fact, in The Compass ClubTM, I share with my clients how running bite-sized life experiments is the most easeful (and fun!) way to accomplish your goals.
For example, I have a member Hannah who was a newly minted yoga teacher but was very shy about offering classes. We created an experiment where she’d start off just teaching a couple stretches at the end of her personal trainer friend’s group classes. Soon, she was invited to teach a solo yoga class. Instead of feeling out of her depth, the doable experiment of leading stretches had given her the confidence to say yes. She rocked it.
That’s the power of creating and running bite-sized life experiments: it builds confidence over time.
And so now with my own novel-writing experiment, I know finishing a full 100k word first draft by the end of the year is ambitious, but also 100% possible because I’m approaching that massive goal just one experiment at a time.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Keep going. Even when you can’t see where the trail goes and self-doubt is creeping up the back of your neck, just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
And this is different than the old advice of “doing it scared.” That doesn’t actually work – it leads to a fried nervous system and a breakdown.
No, this is about continuing down your path with self-compassion. Growth isn’t linear. Some days it can look like you’re moving backwards, but in the zoomed out view, you’re still growing and getting closer to where and who you want to be.
Lastly, remember that mistakes are miracles by another name. While it may feel like a mistake or a misstep at the time, it’s really GOLD for your future learnings which lead to future successes.
So take a breath, shake it out, and when you’re ready, take just the next step.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Most coaches say you have to know where you’re headed and why before you begin.
But that often becomes a hiding strategy or a procrastination – perfectionism spiral in disguise that I see folks fall into again and again.
The truth is that you only need ENOUGH clarity to begin. Enough clarity on what breadcrumb to follow and enough clarity on whether it’s the right breadcrumb to follow right now and for you.
And the fastest way to figure out what those breadcrumbs are is to connect with your intuition. Your intuition is like your secret superpower to make decisions with more ease and confidence.
(I teach more on this in my free guide, The Clarity Compass Journal, where you can take a fun quiz to figure out your intuitive style and learn how to access it to find clarity.)
From there, true clarity comes FROM taking action. The more you experiment with how it feels to speak on a stage or create handmade soaps or coach your colleagues, the more information you gather about what you actually want and how to create it in a way that doesn’t wreak havoc on your nervous system, schedule, or relationships.
So here’s your permission slip: start small and doable and see where it goes.
Yes, dream a little. But don’t get stuck there. The real clarity comes when you’ve lived it and see whether it works or needs adjusting.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
Even when I was working as a sales rep in the fashion jewelry department at Nordstrom, as the art room teacher at the Boys and Girls Club, and as an email marketer in the tech industry, I was an entrepreneur.
At 19, I climbed to the top of the sales rep chart in my first couple weeks at Nordstrom, not because I was ambitious and trying to break the record but because I saw ways to be more efficient, present, and supportive with customers that my colleagues weren’t doing.
At the Boys and Girls Club, I ended up creating week-long camp programs with a full curriculum for the students because I felt like they would develop their creative skillset better than if we followed the normal format of daily, spur of the moment activities.
As an email marketer at a small tech startup, I created a whole internal campaign to showcase the value of email marketing and its ROI on the business because I felt it was being glossed over from a hiring point of view. I ended up getting headcount to hire someone to join my team of one.
In all of these instances, I saw a gap and created a solution – which I would argue is the number one skill for an entrepreneur.
And here’s the twist. After the wins in all of these jobs, I felt frustrated that I didn’t have the reach or the pay grade to make bigger and longer lasting changes. I also received push-back from team members. “Why rock the boat?” They’d ask. My drive didn’t come from being overly ambitious or competitive. I saw a need in the market, or in those cases, the customers, the students, and the team… and I had to answer the call.
If I’d only done what I was told to do – my job – I probably would have stayed on in each of those positions longer, felt more relaxed, and had better work-life balance.
But, I wouldn’t have discovered and cultivated the skillset and drive that led me to eventually start my own business and quit my day job.
And my inner rebel is so happy that I did.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://emilyschickli.com/clarity-compass-journal
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/emilyschickli
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/emilyschickli
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mindbodydharma
Image Credits
Meghan Smolka
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