Hey, it’s been a while since the last episode, I have actually deliberately taken some time off to be human. And I want to remind you, that that is our k should happen to know our lives. You know, we get to be humans, we’re coming back stronger, and we’re not machines. I am glad to be back and provide some more value for you. 

What is an Archetype

So in this episode, I want to talk about a concept that has been super helpful for me, in building my business. I speak about parts work a lot. And, you know, “parts” being inner sub personalities that exist within our larger personality. If you haven’t yet listened to my previous podcast episode, called “Parts Work: All of Your Energy Going in the Same Direction”, I recommend you go back and listen to that episode too. Listen to the episode on Spotify or iTunes – or any other podcast provider that you prefer. 

I call this episode Utilizing Archetypes in your Marketing and Business and archetypes is just a different way of talking about internal parts in a way. So, according to the dictionary, archetypes are a very typical example of a certain person or thing. So archetypes have been used for centuries, it’s been used in mysticism, it’s been used in psychology – and I suppose also in business too. 

We are a Conglomerate of Archetypes

We often have a default archetype that we spend most of our time in. So, the way that I see it, is that our personality could be a collection of archetypes. But it could also become an overall archetype in and of itself. So for example, if you’re a very grounded Zen person, other people might refer to you as the archetype of Zen. But, we do have access to a WIDE range of archetypes within us. And we get to choose which one that we want to bring to the forefront at any particular time or in any particular situation. We can admire other people’s energy for, for example, theie “get-shit-done-attitude”, or their groundedness, or just being such a calm, collected person, or that they’re super creative, or that they’re super spontaneous. And we get to access that on demand as well. It reminds me of the song – I think it’s Whitney Houston: “I, I’m every woman”

Archetypes in Marketing and Business

I find that to be so true, because in my own business, I’ve had, you know, entrepreneurship is up and down. We have great days, we have medium days and we have shitty days. We kind of go with the flow. And while we do have control over how we MANAGE our minds, we also get affected by things that are around us. And until we DO manage our mind, we can, experience some difficulties as well. But on particularly flat days, for example, we get to choose to lean into a more proactive, more energized, more creative archetype, for example. 

You can ask yourself, what archetype would be the most beneficial for my business right now? Who can I step into? Because, as I said, you have it in you already. And we as humans are just a conglomerate of potentiality. You know, if we have a certain mindset that is really determined and full of belief, focus, and goal oriented and also taking care of ourselves, we can achieve great things. However, we also have the potentiality of doing jack shit. Like, we can actually just sit on our ass and hate life and, you know, not get the results that we want at all. 

Sometimes, for some people, it can be hard to pick a thought that they want to focus on, for example; “I provide great value for my people” is a thought that could spark a lot of creativity and determination in some people. But sometimes, I find that it’s easier to just start with an essence, like; “what archetype would be the most beneficial for my business in relation to what I want to achieve today?” And this is not to say that, you know, if you’re really tired, that you shouldn’t rest! Take a nap, get some rest, go for a walk. We have the possibility to have both, we can BOTH take a nap, we can both nurture ourselves, and then we can come back stronger later on in the day. And we can lean into the archetype that most serves our business today for the results that we desire. 

Tuning into Your Inner CEO Archetype

So for me, sometimes I love to lean into my inner CEO, like, “how would she be?” I see her as a woman that is very self confident, she has a very straight back, her chin is high, she knows where she’s going and she knows what she’s doing. She has full belief in what she’s doing, the value that she’s giving to the world, and how she can really make a change and a difference in her people’s lives. And so, when I take all that energy on and really embody that, then the actions that need to be done, kind of just come automatically. Because as you can see, leaning into the archetype is kind of like leaning into the FEELING of something. And when I have the feeling of something, I also get access to how that person would think like that, how that archetype, that subpersonality, that already lives within me, thinks. And that combination results in the actions that I am taking, that ultimately will give me the results that I would love to have. 

Tuning into Your Inner Zen Archetype

If I have a particularly stressful day, I might want to lean into my more Zen archetype. And you know, you can call these archetypes, whatever the hell you want. I just take names and just go with it. So there’s no Jungian philosophy behind the way that I talk about it, you know. It’s not based on other more ancient traditions in my case. We can just decide what we want to call our inner archetypes, you know, there’s no right or wrong, just whatever works for you. And for me, it’s just like picking the name that comes to me, that just feels most correct. There’s no limitation to archetypes either. I mean, I’m sure I can come up with 100 different archetypes. But if you’re particularly interested in archetypes, you know, you might have five archetypes or seven or 12, or more, depending on the system you’re using.

Utilizing Archetypes to Perform Better

Coming back to what I was saying, I sometimes have things that happen that stress my nervous system. And in that case, I lean more into my Zen archetype where I’m like, How would my Zen archetype react to this? How can I really be that grounded centered self that I see in this archetype? And I just really feel into the essence of that archetype. As a result, I feel calmer and I take deep breaths, I slow down a little bit, I allow myself to have, you know, as a minutes off, or take that nap or go for that walk, or cuddle with my dog or whatever. And then I come back and do the things in a more efficient and productive way that, at the same time, is more compassionate to me. Because as we all know, stress is not great for our mind or brain. When we stress, we actually shut down certain parts of our brain because we are in sort of a fight-flight-freeze response, where we don’t actually function optimally – because we are in a sort of survival state. Our nervous system is just going crazy. So really taking that time to ask how would this archetype respond to this? 

Becoming Your Inner Creative Genius 

When I’m doing my marketing, sometimes I like to think “how would my inner creative genius do this?” And I get really creative with things and play with the thoughts and ideas. And I love to move. Because creativity for me, is a lot about movement. I get my best ideas when I move, and people can access their inner archetypes in a variety of ways. I mean, for me, as I said, the most easy way to access is, is just to sink into the essence. And when I say essence, I mean like the FEELING of it, like really embodying it. So I really love this approach. Because it’s so easy, it’s so fast. We just get to access it on demand when we are in any given situation. 

So, I just wanted to give you a little quickie today. Just a quick tip. And if you found this helpful, I would love for you to screenshot this episode and tag me in an Instagram story. And let me know what your biggest takeaway was. And I hope that this will be as helpful to you as it has for me and my clients. Let me know – and until next time, have an amazing week!