90 Seconds to be Inspired

I love my job. But I haven’t always. Today’s newsletter focuses on how to fall in love with your job again, or maybe it’s time to challenge yourself with something new. The road is long but life is short. Do what you love.

Sahil Bloom’s newsletter really inspired me this week. Here’s an excerpt:

“Do I want this job, or do I want other people to see me having this job?

I recently had a conversation with a friend about the most non-obvious pieces of career advice that we had received—the advice that's rarely shared, but we wish more people heard. He said that a mentor had once told him the following:

Take the job you want to have, not the job you want people to see you have.

That one hit me hard...

• The job you want people to see you have is about status.

• The job you want to have is about learning, growth, and energy.

When you slow down and think about it, there are many things in life that we start doing for the external clout, rather than the internal value:

• You take the job that sounds good in the LinkedIn post rather than the job you feel energized by

• You buy the thing that will look good in the photo rather than the thing you'll wear til it's threadbare 

• You get the house in the fancy community rather than the house in the area you actually love

Unfortunately, chasing short-term clout is a recipe for long-term misery.

We think that these things—the impressive sounding job, the luxury purchase, the house in the fancy community—will bring us lasting respect and admiration, but ultimately, it's a race to nowhere.” - Sahil Bloom The Curiosity Chronicle

I remember two distinct times I was in a job I wanted people to see me have and I was miserable. And the two times I was in a job I wanted to have, I was on fire. I’m sure many of you can relate to this, and I’d love to hear your stories!

What do we do if we are in this non-optimal situation of having let our ego or circumstances drive our outcomes? Or what if we see this happening on our teams? It’s not too late to make a change, it never is.

90 Seconds to Learn a Little

I was working with a team of managers last week to help them coach to people’s strengths. 

One senior leader shared a case study with the group on how she took her burnt-out team through an exercise of realigning responsibilities to their strengths. It was incredible. Here’s a snippet you could replicate with your group:

1. Create a series of starburst shapes (either in a whiteboard app like Miro or using paper if you’ll do this activity live) and print job descriptions on them i.e “project management”, “code review”, “CRM”

2. Have each person write their name on sticky notes and place them on as many starbursts that represent what they enjoy doing (the jobs they want to have)

3. Have each person write someone else’s name on a different color sticky to nominate them for jobs they think that person would enjoy

4. Allow each person to review the starbursts and cross their name off if nominated for something they don’t enjoy

The manager shared that her name was nominated under “project management” as that is a large part of her job description. But she crossed her name off. Why? She was ready for a change and needed the team to grow in that area. So, others started to take on that responsibility.

The result? 

• Amazing insights into what work people enjoy

• Re-scoping of projects and in certain cases, changing responsibilities within a role to better match interests and talents

• An immediate uptick in engagement and stabilization/decrease in burnout

6 months after introducing this new approach to job design, the team won their largest contract to date and were able to execute on 9 projects simultaneously, a firm-wide record. All of this while maintaining higher engagement levels than they’d ever had before!

All of our jobs are changing every day. Get in the driver’s seat and start heading in the right direction!

90 Seconds to Connect

A long-time coaching client who is a Founder/CEO recently hired his CEO replacement. And he’s never been happier. “Joy, I get to build again!” He shared triumphantly.

Many others I’m working with are interviewing for new jobs within their organization or outside their organization. Others are re-working R&R to be more aligned with strengths, similar to the story I shared previously. And others are simply focusing on activities that fill their cups and ensuring that ~20% of their time is dedicated to those activities.

Connect with yourselves again, my friends. It’s extraordinary what a life in alignment feels like.

If you need help with this, here are a few ideas (and in this edition, I’m keeping it in the family. Literally.)

• Invest in a coach. Chemistry matters a lot for the effectiveness of coaching. I’d love to work with you or recommend other incredible coaches!

• Look to the stars. My older sister happens to be an outstanding evolutionary astrologist. Many of my clients go to her too. If you’re intrigued, check out her website here!

• Dream and manifest. My mom is the master of manifesting her destiny. She’s lived in Bali, Mexico and now Northern Minnesota. You can read about her journey on her blog Writing For Self Discovery. We are co-creating a virtual workshop to envision and journal your way to clarity. Send me a note or fill out this form if you’re interested in joining us!

Help me expand my inner circle

My company, ScaleJOY, has delivered quality experiences to hundreds of clients and has grown solely by word of mouth referrals. Spread the joy by sharing this newsletter, or connect them directly to me for leadership development, coaching, or offsite facilitation. Thank you for your continued support!