Career killers to beware of

Balance, solution thinking, self-care. 

These kinds of things now fit into the category of helping your career ... not killing it. 

Check out this Forbes article and see how you might be killing it. 

And not in a good way! 

Self doubt. 
Willing to make mistakes. 
Risk taking. 
Empathy and biases ... 

They’re here too. 

Read on. 

Control freaks : how is the self control going

Self control may be a hallmark of high levels of emotional intelligence but most of us don’t think we have much... or enough! Self control that is. 

And curiously, there’s a link between self control and productivity. 

Do you recognise the cycle of failing in self control and then berating yourself for failing? I do. It’s a strong circuit indeed! 

How do we break it? What can we do instead? 

These tips from the World Economic Forum are both familiar and new: 

Focus on solutions
Forgive yourself 
Eat. Sleep. Exercise. Meditate. 
Don’t say yes unless you really want to 
Don’t seek perfection 
Stay positive
Avoid asking ‘what if’
Ride the wave - the ebb and flow of control. 

Greater self control can require more of us than a single action... once. And it may be simpler than thinking we have to make dramatic changes or embark on mega habits. 

Choosing these alternatives when there’s a blip in our self control is wiser than berating ourselves. 

Read more about it here

A mindset for success or burnout

The deep beliefs we hold about what we’re doing and why, may not be as noble or effective as we think. 

After all, why do we work longer hours? 

Why aspire for higher standards?


Here’s a quick check of 9 mindsets (this article says ‘lies’) we may believe, unconsciously, that don’t serve us well. 

1. If you stop what you’re doing you’ll be letting everyone down

2. If you don’t do it it won’t get done

3. You have to work long hours or you won’t get ahead in your career

4. If you sacrifice now you benefit later

5. It’s only costing you some ‘time’

6. You don’t have time to do what you enjoy

7. You have to isolate yourself to get the work done

8. You can do it all on your own

9. You have to be perfect all the time.


Ticked any of them? 

What if you reversed, flipped or edited them, all 9 mindsets? 

1. If you stop what you’re doing it gives others a chance to step in. 

2. If you don’t do it maybe it won’t even matter. 

3. You can work shorter hours and still get ahead in your career. 

4. If you sacrifice now, you may make things worse in the future. 

... keep going. You edit the rest and see how it challenges beliefs about work. 

Are you slicing too thickly

At the bakery today they asked me if I wanted the loaf of bread sliced for sandwiches (thinner) or toast (thicker) ... OR a new thickness, ‘cafe style’. 

It’s big, chunky, super thick slices!

We may think in a maximising super-sizing more-is-better way, that thicker is indeed better. 

But when it comes to work, almost none of us are slicing thinly enough. 

We carve off huge thick slices of work... chunky, lumpy cafe-style slices. 

It’s why our to do lists are overwhelming, our minds are full and we end up distracting ourselves, losing focus and giving up. It becomes too hard and unachievable. 

Big chunks of work take us sooooooo long to work through and complete, we lose our way, lose momentum and motivation. 

So, set the slicer to ’thinner’. 

Slice off thinner pieces of work. That is, smaller steps and more easily achievable tasks. 

It’s not a competition for who can take on the biggest or who can eat the most work all at once. 

You won’t miss out. In fact you’ll get more done, sooner. 

Thinner slices of work are better. 

Hard work is too hard on us

Burnout, overwork and the drive to ‘do more’ can be a never ending and dangerous loop. 

There are clever and ingenious solutions - or hacks - available to us, if only we’d take them up. 

A hack is a smart short cut, a streamlined process or focused advice to make things easier. 

So, if you knew of a better and easier way, would you take it? 

Some people like to see others do it first ... to see if ‘it works’. 

That’s what the diffusion of innovation curve is all about. There are always some trailblazers and early adopters who take a risk and trust their ability to cope with the new. 

And then come the early and late majority ... once the idea has been ‘proven’. By that time though, the trailblazers are often on to something newer, and easier. 

There’s another hack someone has uncovered or discovered!

Rather than waiting until more people have tried it and your risk is lower, jump in a little earlier. 

Play on the easier side of the curve for awhile.

You can wait to see how something turns out for others ... or run your own experiment, play your own game and live your own experience. 

It could be easier at the other end of the curve.