Let’s get to the reality of what we’re all facing right now. We’ve had to contend with radical shifts in the way we manage our lives. Work, parenting, partnering, and all forms of socializing have had to shift, in dramatic ways. So many ambitious, driven women have told me they had all these big plans for this year -- they set their goals and metrics in January — but they’ve had to let them go. They’re feeling frustrated, robbed, and grief-stricken, not to mention sensing that they’re spinning their wheels and not getting anywhere. This has been especially difficult for anyone who has lost employment due to the pandemic, and for parents dealing with home schooling children.

How can you keep moving forward despite these turbulent, unpredictable times? You need to find your Emprise.

An Emprise is the adventurous, daring undertaking of choosing the biggest, best life that brings you the most fulfilment personally and professionally. The word was established in the English language during the 13th century to describe the bold and chivalrous adventures of knights. At Tide Risers we have reappropriated the word to describe a pathway forward that is supportive of and fulfilling to every aspect of your life.

Emprise is a framework that gives women the opportunity to design a pathway forward that puts us in a position of leadership of our own lives. It gives us the tools to find our next calling, be it big or small, and to use that calling to live our biggest, most fulfilling lives, personally and professionally.

No two Emprises are the same. An Emprise could be finding a new job or career path, or transitioning to new opportunities. But it can also be less obvious, more personal adjustments.

You’ll have a number of Emprises in your life. Be open to the knowledge that your life will take a variety of twists and turns and that you’ll need to be ready to find your next Emprise sometimes when you’re least expecting it.

The Three W’s

So, how do you find your Emprise?

First of all, it’s important to understand that just as no two people’s Emprises will be the same, there is no one pathway toward finding yours. But this simple guide will help you on your journey. You’ll need to work your way through the three W’s: Wander, Wonder, and Wait.

Wander

Finding your Emprise is going to require some creative thinking. Creativity, which is key to innovation, needs a varied diet just like our bodies do. One way to feed our creativity is to give our eyes and our brain something to absorb that is constantly changing. When we’re at our desks our eyes have one visual plane to absorb, and that’s it. So try this: get up from your desk and strap on your walking shoes. Give yourself two hours to go out for a walk with no itinerary. Don’t think about where you’re going. Allow yourself to get lost. When you come to a crossroads, ask yourself which way feels most appealing. And simply go that way. Let yourself mull over why that road or path calls to you.

When we’re out walking, we’re feeding ourselves with an ever-changing landscape and a depth of field that shifts from the cracks in the pavement to the skyscraper looming above us. Many of us do our best thinking when we're in motion. There are plenty of studies that link movement to learning; the same applies to working through sticky challenges, developing alternative solutions to long-standing problems, and figuring out the logistics of an increasingly complex set of life circumstances.

Other studies have shown that walking boosts divergent thinking, which generates creativity through the exploration of multiple possible solutions to a problem. This is good practice for the intellectual wandering that is our next W: Wonder

Wonder

Adopt a curiosity about your future potential. Try to look at your prospects with an unbiased eye. Ask yourself: ‘if anything at all were possible; if there were no barriers, no limitations, no compromises I had to make, what could be possible for me?’. This may mean you might have to take a step back and visualize your life as someone else’s life. Ask yourself: what questions would I ask a friend who was evaluating their future next steps?

Reach out to trusted colleagues, friends, and if you’re a member of Tide Risers, reach out to your StickWithHer group. If you don’t have a StickWithHer group, consider creating a “committee” of the very few people you trust enough to go to with Big Life Questions. Your committee should be made up of people who have demonstrated an ability to allow you to explore ideas without judgement. It should be people who have known you for years and have seen you through various life stages. If this is two people, that’s enough. Just make sure they’re really there for you.

Wait

Finding your Emprise can take time. Don’t allow yourself to obsess over what your next step will be. Spend an allotted amount of time actively wandering and wondering and then walk away from it for a while. You’ll want to give yourself the opportunity to take a break from looking for your Emprise, and not think about it for a stretch of time. This requires a period of expectant waiting that can feel sometimes like you’re not making any forward progress at all. It means you have to be ok with not having a solution for a period of time. You have to let the effort go, and allow yourself to just be in a place of uncertainty for an unspecified period of time.

Ultimately, a vision for Emprise will begin to emerge. Reflect on it with an attitude of engaged curiosity, and ask yourself if it meets the following criteria.

Your Emprise should fulfil the following criteria:

My Emprise will be fully supportive of my personal and professional intentions. 
My Emprise will enable me to better integrate the personal with the professional. 
My Emprise will enable me to meet my financial needs. 
My Emprise will make me feel proud of the way I spend most of my time. 
My Emprise will be something I want people to remember me by. 
My Emprise will enhance relationships with my friends and family. 
My Emprise will be a source of joy.

If you’re ready to find and pursue your Emprise, consider applying for our March - June 2021 Tide Risers cohort, during which I’ll lead a journey to do exactly that.

I want to leave you with this thought. Recent events have offered us unprecedented opportunities for change. The societal structures we grew up with don’t have to be the blueprint for our lives. Right now we have the opportunity to shape the future. Let’s not let that opportunity drift past us. No one is going to create your Emprise for you. This is your life, and if you don’t take the reins, someone else will. So go find your Emprise.

Lara Holliday is the Founder + CEO of Tide Risers.
Find your way with Lara at laraholliday.com

Find Your Emprise