Here’s to all the parents who’ve been juggling like mad the past two weeks of Easter holiday! I see you…
… Spending the past month coordinating complex childcare arrangements on a colour-coded Excel spreadsheet…
… Project planning a full timetable of activities, entertainment and travel arrangements…
… Multitasking between Zoom meetings, sofa deep-dives for tiny lost Lego parts and fish finger prep…
We think we see the world as it is, and we can feel so certain in our convictions, but our view of the world is clouded by preconceptions, judgements and biases.
Having worked in the industry, I know Blue Monday is PR BS, AND I also know it can be a particularly depressing time of year for you if you’re in the wrong job (a fact I also discovered in my previous career!)
So what can you do if your work is making you blue?
We humans are generally pretty rubbish about predicting what’s going to happen. Psychology research has shown that our cognitive biases mean we tend to…
… be overly optimistic about what’s going to happen to us (believing bad things happen to other people)
… assume that, however much we can see we have changed in the past, the way we are now is going to stay consistent (the “end of history illusion”), AND
… underestimate how well we’ll cope if we DO face challenges ahead.
Are you happier now than you used to be?
Such a hard question to answer, right? Our memories aren’t always the most reliable source of data.
Whether we see the past through rose tinted spectacles or – in contrast – fall prey to our brain’s natural negativity bias, we probably aren’t seeing things exactly as they were.
Here’s to all the parents who’ve been juggling like mad the past two weeks of Easter holiday! I see you…
… Spending the past month coordinating complex childcare arrangements on a colour-coded Excel spreadsheet…
… Project planning a full timetable of activities, entertainment and travel arrangements…
… Multitasking between Zoom meetings, sofa deep-dives for tiny lost Lego parts and fish finger prep…
We humans are generally pretty rubbish about predicting what’s going to happen. Psychology research has shown that our cognitive biases mean we tend to…
… be overly optimistic about what’s going to happen to us (believing bad things happen to other people)
… assume that, however much we can see we have changed in the past, the way we are now is going to stay consistent (the “end of history illusion”), AND
… underestimate how well we’ll cope if we DO face challenges ahead.
Are you happier now than you used to be?
Such a hard question to answer, right? Our memories aren’t always the most reliable source of data.
Whether we see the past through rose tinted spectacles or – in contrast – fall prey to our brain’s natural negativity bias, we probably aren’t seeing things exactly as they were.
Today I got a bit closer to the person I want to be.
Five minutes closer to be precise!
James Clear in his mega hit book Atomic Habits talks about how consistent tiny steps are the way to achieve our goals. By aiming to get just 1% better each day, and by prioritising consistency over intensity, we can create a sustainable path towards our desired future.
Purpose isn’t something you FIND, it’s something you CULTIVATE.
The idea that you can “find your purpose” can be obstructive in the quest for a meaningful life and career. It can mean you get lost in rumination rather than taking the actions that will lead to clarity. Navel-gazing on the sofa isn’t going to get you there but you can waste so much time trying (years in my case!)
And yet, purpose matters. A lot…
If you're thinking "New Year, new job", you might be reflecting on this question, and it's one that BBC's #WomansHour tackled last week with some great advice shared by the experts.
Here are some of the most important points I heard:
I used to spend days like these crying on a bus to work. Grey, rainy January mornings on the way to somewhere I didn't want to go. Dreading the day and the week ahead, and asking myself "is this really IT?". I felt so trapped - and not just because we were stuck in a traffic jam with about eight other number 73 buses, fighting our way through London's Kings Cross. I was stuck in a career and life that wasn't one I felt I'd chosen, but that I'd somehow landed in, and I had no idea how to change.
Before I changed careers and when I was feeling pretty stuck, I landed on a great book by John Spencer Williams called F**k Work, Let's Play. It completely reframed work to me and helped me shake off a lot of the weightiness I was carrying around about "career" - even though, if I'm honest, I still didn't truly believe that kind of playful work-life was possible for me.
We all have those negative inner voices, our ‘gremlins’ or ‘saboteurs’, which can hold us back from what we truly want and leave us feeling stressed or anxious. It’s a normal part of being a human being, a function of our brains and the primal part of them that tries to keep us safe by keeping us small.
What does it take to turn against the tide of normalcy and social conditioning and to forge your own path?
My brilliant colleague Natasha Stanley has written a great piece on the Careershifters website on what she calls the "Renegade Mindset", and how to cultivate it for career change:
Navigating a big life upheaval such as a career change is never going to be easy. There are times where the uncertainty feels too uncomfortable or the magnitude of the task too big to bear.
In those moments, the temptation can be to tell yourself your current work situation isn't too bad, that maybe you could just stay where you are, and take the path of least resistance.
But if we really want to make a shift, we have to learn to navigate change effectively, accepting that it's going to be difficult and drawing on strategies to ensure we can do what it takes.
Here in the UK, the end of lockdown is finally in sight, but with many employers telling their staff that remote working is now permanent policy (a survey of 278 execs by McKinsey in August 2020 found that on average, they planned to reduce office space by 30%), it’s important to put measures in place to protect your home-working wellbeing.
I’ve been WFH for a number of years now, and these are some of things I’ve found helpful.
Ever feel like you’re pushing a boulder up a hill just to get through the working day? Do you feel utterly drained of energy by the time you clock off and beaten down by the job like you’ve just gone twelve rounds in the ring with Tyson Fury?
Compare this to how it feels when you’re ‘in flow’ – completely absorbed and energised by what you’re doing, and where just time seems to fly in this joyful state of immersion.
I’m speaking to so many people at the moment who have been using the last few months of lockdown to reassess their work situation and what they want from their careers. It’s an irony and a challenge of the current climate that while the enforced pause has prompted many to realise that their current jobs have not been fulfilling them, it’s also potentially a tricky time to find something else.
So what can you do if you are desperate for more meaning in your work but, for now, you feel you have to stay put in your current job?
