The Lost Button

WELCOME TO SEASON 2! We are so excited to be back for another season of The Lost Button. We have curated an incredible list of guests and stories to share with you - helping you figure out your future one chat at a time.

In our first episode of season 2 we talk about the catch 22 scenario of needing experience to get experience. When an entry level job description requires 3-5 years experience, how can young people compete and find meaningful work? We interviewed Ajay, founder of EntryLevel to find out.

Entry level is a startup offering virtual work experiences to learn valuable skills directly applicable to existing employment opportunities. Ajay shares his lessons from getting jobs with no experience and how he aims to empower 1 billion people to find meaningful employment.

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

We are conditioned from a young age to conform to society’s expectations. With messages from parents, teachers, pop culture and societal norms dictating what success looks like and the path to achieve it - doing your own thing can be pretty uncomfortable at first. Parents are often the first people we go to for career-related advice. But what if their expectations of your career don’t match your own? How do you navigate the tricky situation when your career plans differ from what they had decided for you? It’s hard. And here at Purposeful, we know just how daunting it can be to create your own way. That’s why in this episode we share practical advice on how to face the challenge and find the confidence to choose your own path. We also speak to Ruby, a pastry chef who has created her own path, going against society's expectations of her by trading the corporate ladder for baking delicious food.

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

Feeling deflated after job rejections? Applying to jobs and getting no response at all?

Rejection hurts. When you put in hours into applications, resumes, interviews and assessment centres - rejection can be painful. It literally feels the same as experiencing physical pain.

So in this episode we discuss how to shift your mindset on rejection and develop diverse strategies to get your next job.

This episode we interview Sienna, who has had her fair share of job rejections. Sienna is a young newly graduated barista who has incredible wisdom to share to inspire you to rethink job rejections in a new way.

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

What is a vision and why is it important?

Having a vision for your future means you know where you’re heading and why you’re going there. Having goals puts you on track to be 10 times more successful than if you don’t.

This episode we discuss how creating a vision for your life is the first step in actualising your goals. We discuss two of the best ways to create your vision and how you can implement them in your life as a strategy to achieve your dreams.

We also interview George, a 23 year old on a mission to change the way the world washes. An entrepreneur with a vision, George has an inspirational story of how he started his own business Wash Bloc, and how his vision has propelled him into a purposeful future.

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

Is luck really up to chance, or is it about creating opportunities?  

What if getting career lucky is less about the right place, right time, and more about the right mindset and right decisions? In this episode we talk about how to stop relying on chance and getting in the driver’s seat of your future. The result? You’ll be able to create your own luck. This week we interview Roger (AKA Dj Rog), who shares his epic story on how he developed his two passions into a career as a swiftie Dj and psychologist. 

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

What is the secret to really standing out? To landing your dream job? In a world where we’re encouraged to fit in, keep up with the trends, and follow the rules; the secret to success is not found in being the same as everyone else. It’s in being your authentic self! But here at Purposeful, we know that ‘be yourself’ isn’t really great advice... So in this episode we unpack helpful ways to actually uncover and show up as your authentic self. This week we hear from our very purposeful friend Jia, who’s taken a meaningful path to becoming the most authentic version of herself. 

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

Got that dreaded feeling that you’ve made the wrong career choice?

When you’ve felt certain about your path for so long (maybe even since you were a little kid), coming unstuck and realising that you might have outgrown your career choice can send you reeling.

It’s one of the most painful problems we see young people experiencing at Purposeful, and everytime we hear someone’s story, it breaks our hearts a little.

Most people form ideas about their career path in their late teens...only to try the jobs out for real in their early to mid 20s (think med, law, commerce). It’s not that crazy to think that you might change your mind during that time! So why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to make the ‘right choice’ based on the ideas of our teenage selves?

In this episode we debunk the ‘sunk cost’ myth - of the time and energy you’ve spent so far, and share strategies for developing your anti-dream job as an antidote to finding yourself lost later in life. Liz also shares her love letter to all of you struggling out there...

We share our favourite interview so far, with 24-year-old Summer, a final year med student who (after seven years of study) has just realised it’s not the path for her. Her authenticity and courage is so inspiring - this one is worth a listen.

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

Feeling burnt out? From blurred lines between work, friends, home and alone time (boundaries? what are they?), increased working hours and expectations (the 9-5 is dead), not to mention a global pandemic, it’s no wonder we’re experiencing stress at an overwhelming rate.

According to Deloitte, 84% of millennials have experienced burnout, comparatively higher than the rest of the population! So don’t worry you’re not alone.

It’s time to stop wearing ‘being tired’ like a badge of honour, and to find more sustainable ways to live and work that don’t leave us emotionally and physically exhausted. This topic slaps hard with Conor + Liz, who’ve got some stories of their own to share, and ideas for how to recover from and prevent burnout in the future.

This week we hear from Bela, 20-year-old, self-described slashie // aka she does a little bit of everything!

PS: thank you for all the love on our podcast launch! Make sure you follow to get episodes EVERY WEEK from here on.

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

How do you define success? If your definition is based on perfect grades, getting a “good” job, and doing what you’re told to do because that’s what you should do - then we need to talk.

We all have a path that’s been written for our futures. The one that our family (*cough, cough* our parents), teachers, friends, and society have mapped out for us.

So many of us chase after that written path and traditional idea of success, desperately hoping that it will make us happy. And then when it doesn’t...we’re completely lost.

Beyond getting a high ATAR, that 7.0 GPA, an amazing grad job and making lots of money...what does success look like to you?

In episode #5, it’s time to talk about success. Throw all your preconceived ideas out the window, it’s time to dig deep and find what success looks like to you. If it didn’t matter what other people thought of you, what would you do with your life then? And once you’ve worked it out...how do you challenge people’s expectations for you and follow a path that you love?

We chat about all things success, and our strategies for creating your own way in the world, and defining success on your own terms.

Plus, this week’s Lost and Found features 23 year old DJ and photographer, Dylan, who threw the traditional route out the window and created his own path and profession.

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.

Most of us spend THOUSANDS of dollars in uni and TAFE fees, only to get to the first day on the job to realise that actually...we don’t really like the path that we’ve chosen. Agh!

What if you could save yourself money and time wasted, by approaching your search for purpose like a scientist?

In this episode, we trade in finding what feels ‘right’ to you, for putting your assumptions about career + study choices under the microscope. So get out the goggles and gloves, welcome to the science lab of career exploration. But no, put the bunsen burner away - our science is a bit different to your Year 10 days.

Career experiments are a sure-fire way to methodically investigate your options, and use a data-driven approach to finding your dream life + job. We share a bunch of an examples (Conor is a pro at this!) and how you can design career experiments to help you get unstuck, fast.

And because we love a good segue, we chat to Arianne, an almost scientist, and 22 year old mechanical engineering student and ultimate frisbee champion. She’s also the most logical guest we’ve had on the show so far...for anyone with a numbers brain, this one’s for you!

Are you also a young person finding your path in life? Join the club! Get amongst our community via the website, follow us on IG for daily inspo and laughs, and DEFINITELY rate and subscribe to our poddy, on whichever platform you’re joining from. We are also always looking for new people to feature in future episodes, so if you’ve got a story to share, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.