Born and raised in South Florida, Traci Schubert Barrett is a self-described “beach girl at heart.” Nevertheless, she calls Nashville home — landlocked though it may be. After attending college at Indiana University and living in Chicago for 25 years, Traci packed up her family and traded in city life for the slower pace and beautiful scenery of the South. But that’s not the only thing she traded in.
The former HGTV executive took a chance with her career life, too, leaving her high-power position in the corporate world to embrace more time at home with her husband and kids. She also used her expertise to form a business consulting firm with her husband called Navigate the Journey, coaching clients through strategic career planning. She recently authored a book, What if There’s More? Finding Significance Beyond Success, which is due to release in January. Please welcome Traci Schubert Barrett!
You were an executive at HGTV and walked away from corporate life — what inspired you to switch gears? Was there a lightbulb moment?
HGTV was a fantastic adventure for which I will forever be grateful. I thoroughly enjoyed the unique ride of taking the company from just a fledging idea to a billion-dollar media empire. There was a shift or lightbulb moment early in my 40s. I suppose it was that midlife pivot point where you start assessing your life to date and ponder what lies ahead.
After almost two decades at my beloved company, I felt restless. Success was no longer the beacon it once was. I started to ask myself, Is there more? More for me to do, experience, and discover? I was eager to step out of the whirlwind of a high-pressure job and take a breather. I took a huge risk and walked away from an enviable position to go home, be with my young children, and answer some pretty big questions for myself. It turned out to be a risk worth taking. There was more for me out there!
What is Navigate the Journey, and how did it come about?
Navigate the Journey is a business consulting firm. We come alongside business leaders to help them scale their companies, grow their teams, and optimize their lives. It came about rather organically. After I left HGTV, many executives in the media industry reached out to me for advice and coaching. I had my master’s in psychology and 25 years of corporate business experience, so coaching came naturally. My husband is a highly skilled strategic planner, so we combined our expertise and created a new company.
My main focus is working with people to develop a strategic plan for their life. I help clients uncover their unique talents, current passions, core values, and specific purposes in life. We design long-term and short-term visions for their future. They walk away with an actionable plan to realize the life of significance they truly desire. My clients say it is a life-changing experience!
You have a new book coming out in January called What if There’s More? Finding Significance Beyond Success. Can you tell us about it?
In What If There’s More? I present a framework for quitting the search for constant success and embracing significance as a bold adventure worth pursuing. I share many of my personal stories and experiences at HGTV, as well as the lessons I learned along the way. The book offers a pathway for making peace with your past, renewing your perspective, and confidently crossing into a fulfilling and legacy-leaving future. It is filled with strategic tips to help you discover more of who you are and design the life you want.
Many of us incorrectly assume that reaching a certain level of success will fill a void. Your book tackles the idea that there’s more to life than corporate success. What are we losing sight of in our quest for success, and why is that such an epidemic?
I think it’s easy to lose ourselves in the quest for success. We live in a meritocratic society and follow the predetermined mile markers set before us. We check off all the boxes of achievement but rarely take the time to ask the right questions. We climb the ladder of success because we feel we are supposed to. By society’s standards, being a top HGTV executive is the pinnacle of success, but what I couldn’t put my finger on until years later was how I was longing for more clarity around my significance.
Knowing who I am and being completely comfortable with that person is a major step in letting go of the pursuit of success. The void so many people are trying to fill is a validation of who they are, and ultimately, as we age, we realize we are only going to fill that void with our own self-acceptance.
Many of us have fallen into the hustle culture mentality and have overfilled our plates. We suffer the consequences of strained schedules, unfulfilling jobs, or directionless days. It feels like an epidemic caused by the endless drive for success or recognition. A life driven only by success is never satisfied because there is always more to achieve and prove. The antidote is a mindset shift. It’s time to quiet the drive for success and ignite another drive instead. It’s time to embrace purer ambitions that challenge us to turn our talents into purpose and our careers into callings. We need to exchange the quest for success for a pursuit of significance.
What is the first step we can take toward finding our purpose outside of our career path? How can we restructure our view that “job success is the ultimate fulfillment?”
The first step is to stop asking “What will make me happy?” and ask, “What does a full and satisfying life look like to me?”. When you ask that question, you make space for all areas of your life and all experiences. It is a life based on more than the quest for happy circumstances or the accolades that success brings; it helps us imagine our purpose beyond just our jobs.
Work is an important facet, and we can find a lot of joy in the impact we create through our work, but that only comes when we have a correct definition of success — usually seen through the lens of our articulated purpose. Our definition of success should not be based on wealth, title, or power. It should be based on the significant impact we can have on the world around us. We can master our crafts and find financial freedom in our job, but if we do not consider our work meaningful, then we will miss the mark of a fulfilling vocation. If we don’t believe we have a purpose outside of our profession, then we will miss the mark of a fulfilling life.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs looking to continue growing their businesses without it being at the expense of their mental health?
Have a clearly articulated and executable plan. Many entrepreneurs are visionaries who enjoy flying by the seat of their pants. Without a solid strategic plan for their business and life, they can make hasty and ill-advised decisions, setting them on the wrong path. When you take the time to design a plan based on a clear purpose and vision, it frees you up to do other things like create space to rest, dream, and connect with others. Without that space, your mental health will suffer.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Each day, try to be a better version of yourself. I love this advice because it is not about perfection but about progress. It’s not about endlessly trying to be the best; it is about working to be better. It is not immediate results; it is improvements over time. This advice released me from the grip of perfectionism and pointed me toward a path of growth and progress.
Faith, family, and friends notwithstanding, what are three things you can’t live without?
Exciting travel, good food, and a fabulous book.
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Nashville women are doing inspiring work. Meet more of them over at our FACES archives!
