Office Space

Posted on July 24, 2019August 8, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

My “office” (pictured above) is also where we eat meals, play board games, do homework, create artwork, and so many other activities. As a matter of fact, a realtor would probably call this room the dining room or eat-in kitchen. Our house doesn’t actually have a dedicated office space.

Here’s a list (and photo evidence below!) of some of what I had to remove from my office in order to take the first picture: swimsuits and towels dried, but not yet put away from swim lessons; an incomplete to-do list; a quantity of crumbs unparalleled by Cookie Monster; Trolls movie soundtrack CD borrowed from the library (I like my kids to experience older technologies to better appreciate new ones!); and a water bottle with food still caked on the side. I could continue the list, but you get the idea. Plus, it only occurred to me to take a picture after I was about halfway through cleaning it up!

The same is often true for people in their careers. We wait for the perfect job description, the perfect timing, or the perfect company. And because none of those things actually exist in the funny little place we call reality, we never take action.

In order to break out of the perfectionist mindset, here’s a few ideas:

If you think a job posting sounds interesting… apply!
Just because the timing is inconvenient in taking on a new opportunity is no reason not to go for it anyway!
Stuck at a company you hate because you figure they’re all the same? You may be surprised to discover that there are lots of great places to work that probably are a better fit for you than your current employer.

So, do I give up the dream of an office of my own someday? Definitely not! But I also don’t let it hold me back from doing what I need to do to be successful today. And you shouldn’t either.

P.S. If you're feeling especially stuck, you may enjoy reading this.

#PositiveAction What progress can you make today to stick it to perfection?

Photos by me, taken in my perfectly imperfect office.

Full Fridge Syndrome

Posted on July 18, 2019February 28, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

You’re staring into your full fridge and declare, “There’s nothing to eat!” You dig through your full drawers and lament, “I have nothing to wear.”

It’s not that there’s really nothing to eat or nothing to wear. It’s that nothing appeals to us in that moment. We were hoping for something different and therefore feel disappointed because expectations don’t match reality.

Interestingly, this happens with intangibles as much as with physical objects. The person who makes sure every I is dotted and T is crossed sees someone with strategic thinking capabilities and says, “They’re so visionary and paint such a vivid picture of the future. I wish I could be more like that.” Or the strategic leader who says, “I’ll bet my top performing, detail-oriented team member never forgets their spouse’s birthday! I wish I could be more like that.” *Note – if you’ve forgotten your spouse’s birthday, stop reading here and take immediate corrective action!

It’s so easy to get caught up in comparison or get lost wishing things were different. In the case of the full fridge, there’s a chance that there’s one or two rotten things in the very back, but for the most part, it’s food waiting to be turned into a nutritious meal. Same goes for the drawers. Maybe a few items don’t fit, but for the most part they do. The same is true of our strengths – we can find ways to use all of them in our careers and lives if we’re willing to try.

I spent the early years in my career overvaluing other people’s strengths while dismissing my own. Wishing I could be better at the things at which I will never be a superstar. It took more years than I’d like to admit before I finally recognized the value in my own unique strengths (thanks in part to a patient mentor!) and started to seek out opportunities that would leverage them.

And I know I’m not alone. These days, I spend time with each of my clients making sure that they can recognize their strengths and are comfortable talking about them with others so they can highlight the value they bring to an organization. It’s always rewarding to work with someone when they have that a-ha moment around their amazing, completely unique-to-them strengths.

Next time you’re staring at your fridge wondering what to eat, appreciate it for what it is. A storage unit filled with life-sustaining nutrients. Don’t know what to wear? Be glad you have a choice of clothes that fit. Those strengths that sound boring to you? There’s someone out there looking for exactly what you have to offer!

I used to dread making dinner the night before we went grocery shopping. It always felt like there was nothing left in the fridge! Now, I enjoy the fact that there is a unique combination of ingredients waiting to be discovered and turned into dinner. Similarly, no one else approaches work exactly the same way as you, so find a way to leverage your authentic, inimitable strengths to deliver amazing results!

Plan B

Posted on July 10, 2019February 29, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

I love the end of the school year. Everything seems imbued with hope, just like the latest class of funny-hat-wearing graduates to cross the stage. They all have big plans and outsized dreams.

Eventually, we wake up when we're 30… 40… 50… 60 (sidebar: isn't it funny how we only seem to do major self reflection on round number birthdays? No one freaks out that they're 43 and 5 months old and haven't done anything with their life yet! I digress…) So we wake up and suddenly the path we're on is nothing like the one we hatched as a hope-filled grad.

We all face disappointments and setbacks in work and life, most of which we wouldn't choose for ourselves, at least when they're happening. Being laid off from your dream job. Watching your company go out of business overnight. Losing someone you care about. The details change for each of us, but the challenges are similar.

This quote from writer Sarah Ban Breathnach sums it up nicely. “…success in life is not how well we execute Plan A; it's how smoothly we cope with Plan B.”

Coping smoothly when life smacks you in the face is tough, especially when you've been working on Plan A for a while. But coping is a whole lot more effective than complaining and wishing for the past. Acknowledging and accepting where you're at is the only thing that allows you to develop a plan to move forward. It's not the original path you charted, but it's the path you're on now.

As the wise and delightfully eccentric Doc Brown says in Back to the Future, “Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads!” It's time to figure out Plan B (or C or D or Z!), with or without roads!

If you need help figuring out what direction to head, you are welcome to reach out to me.

Success Defined

Posted on June 19, 2019February 28, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

At work, it’s usually pretty easy to know if you’re being successful, hitting those targets that have been set (whether by you or your leaders). There are definitive numbers that need to be met and when you meet or exceed them. Hooray! Confetti rains down along with a nice bonus! Or maybe it’s a “Thank you, keep up the great work” kind of conversation. Either way, you know where you stand.

It can get a lot more confusing in mythical Work-Life-Balance-Land. Speaking from experience, I assure you your 4-year-old will not be overly impressed if you exceeded your annual targets, but they definitely will be if you read a story in a silly voice.

Why do we struggle to feel successful in our life, even when everything seems to be going well at work? It comes down (as so many things do) to clarity and intention.

First, clarity. Have you stopped to think about what a successful life means to you (and to your partner if you’re in a relationship)? Do you know what truly matters to your family? What are you willing to give up and what is a non-negotiable item? For some people, it’s uninterrupted time as a family with no cell phones. For others, it’s turning off the radio to talk about everyone’s day as they drive to the evening activity. Whatever it is to you, it’s something you do consistently and that you prioritize above everything else (yes, even that important evening work meeting!).

Next, intention. Now that you know what success means to you (which will be different from what it means to me, or your neighbor, or your boss, or your mother-in-law), how are you taking intentional action to make that success happen? What do you need to say no to in order to keep your priorities aligned? What things do you need to add? Determine the changes that you need to make and take action.

Neil Pasricha had a fantastic article on this topic that has some great practical examples of how he and his spouse approached this exercise as a “life contract” in the same way that job duties and expectations are detailed out in a work contract.

In my own life, I’ve seen what a difference having a specific set of priorities has made for me and my family. Sure I could try to squeeze more stuff into my days, but what I value is quality time with my family. It has to be a really amazing opportunity or activity for me to even consider giving up eating dinner together and talking about the highs and lows of our days.

When we lack clarity in any area of our lives, we’re left with a vague sense of not meeting expectations somehow. Then we struggle to quantify in what ways our life balance is off, which makes it particularly hard to correct it. Instead, once you’ve defined success that feeling disappears and you’re left with a sense of calm (even among the chaos of deadlines and school concerts!) that you’re doing those things that you value most.

Now that sounds like success to me!

Interrupting Cow

Posted on June 13, 2019February 28, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

One of the most popular jokes in our family right now is a knock-knock joke.

Knock-Knock.

Who's there?

Interrupting Cow.

Interrupting cow who?

Moo! Note that the timing is everything here. You need to yell out your Moo before the other person finishes the Interrupting cow who? portion of the joke, thereby interrupting them. Trust me, it's hilarious! If you spend time with younger kids or with adults who need to lighten up (and who doesn't?!?), try this out on them and see for yourself.

My kids have been off from school for a week and it's been an adjustment for all of us as we unlearn the schedule and pattern of the school year and try to settle into a summer rhythm. When and how I got my work done over the school year isn't effective anymore; there are too many interruptions.

Do you ever feel that way in your job? Are the interruptions taking over and preventing you from doing your best work? I've been in roles where that's been the case and it's frustrating for both the interrupter and the interruptee.

But there's another way to think about the interruptions: Have you considered the possibility that the interruptions ARE your job?

When people stop by your desk to ask questions, it's not because they've been plotting all day to sabotage your work when you finally get a moment alone. It's because they lack clarity on something and believe you can provide it.

Those problems that get brought to you to fix are the things that someone else couldn't resolve on their own (Send them back to try resolving it on their own first if they haven't!). They need your unique insight and advice on another way to approach the issue.

I'll bet if you spend some time thinking about your various interruptions throughout the day, they are mostly questions, requests for help, problem-solving, or advice. They are a chance to build productive relationships. A chance to share your knowledge. They are an opportunity.

We need to reframe how we look at interruptions. They aren't annoyances to be ignored or brushed aside – they are often the exact thing that our companies or families need us to do in order for us all to be successful.

And sometimes when an interruption is taking place, it helps me remember to reframe it, lighten up, and really listen when I whisper to myself, “Moo.”

Imperfect Action

Posted on June 5, 2019February 28, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

Do you have a big dream or maybe a tiny nugget of an idea inside your head that you hope will happen someday? Great! Hope is an amazing tool in many instances. But it doesn’t make dreams and ideas happen. Action does.

In the book, Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World by Brooke McAlary, she spends some time exploring the idea of imperfect action. Rather than waiting for the exact perfect conditions to do the thing you’ve been waiting to do or hoping to have unfold, instead identify the action you can take now, albeit imperfect, to move you toward what you want.

Is there something at work you’re hoping will change? Identify one action you can take to make that change happen. Is your dream to write a book? How many sentences (or words!) have you written to get you closer to that goal? Do you want a new job? Start thinking strategically about what steps you need to take to get to where you want to go. Wishing and hoping isn’t a strategy.

I encourage all of my clients to start taking actionable steps toward whatever it is they are targeting. It’s easy for all of us, myself included, to come up with excuses and reasons why we can’t or shouldn’t get started. That means we usually put off doing those steps that could help us get to where we want. Then we end up struggling with why the change we seek is taking so long or give up entirely because it feels like we're not making progress.

As a recovering perfectionist, I completely understand. It's hard to push forward when it's not perfect timing, or perfectly worded, or perfectly planned out. But there's at least one thing you can do to move forward (arguably, there are many, but start with one!).

There’s a saying, sometimes attributed to Chinese proverb, that says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

You don’t need to wait for the timing to be perfect; you just need to pick one thing and move forward imperfectly. Start starting already!

What Impression Are You Making?

Posted on May 31, 2019February 29, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

It took me quite a while to develop my first personal brand statement and tagline. Part of the reason was that early in my career, I didn't give personal branding much (any!) thought. I mistakenly believed my work would just speak for itself. If you are in a similar situation, stop reading this post and immediately start working on your personal brand! Or better yet, finish this post and then take action!!

Doing great work is an important element of being in control of your personal brand, but it doesn't tell the full story of what it's like to work with you. That's where your personal brand comes in – it guides people toward the impression you'd like them to have of you.

The critical question you need to answer, then, is what impression do you want them to have? And what impression are you making right now? Do they align? Your personal brand is the way to tell the story of what it's like to work with you so that people's perceptions match reality.

Getting clarity around the type of impression you want to make is the first step in telling your best story around the value that you bring. It's also one of my favorite parts of coaching. I get to be part of the process as they recognize and celebrate their unique contributions. How cool is that?!?

If you need help getting started, reach out to me today!

What’s Your Superpower?

Posted on May 23, 2019February 28, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

The principal at my kids’ school holds an all-school assembly each week where they celebrate the positive behaviors they want to encourage the students to have. At a recent assembly, they talked about the idea of a superpower; basically helping the kids to think about what their strengths are.

My kids were excited to share the concept with me and it sparked some pretty awesome (and sometimes deep!) conversation in our house over the course of a week. I believe in the power of language and sometimes the hardest thing about being a kid (besides not being able to reach the cookie jar on the top shelf!) is you don’t always have the words to describe what you’re thinking or feeling in a way that you can help others understand.

The same can be true in the workplace. Sometimes, we don’t effectively communicate our value to those who most need to understand it. If you’ve ever been surprised in a performance review, you know what I’m talking about!

Everyone benefits when you get clear on what your superpowers are. If you’re not sure, take some assessments. One that I've used is the Clifton Strengths, but there are many options available if you do a quick internet search.

A word of advice on determining your strengths. There are no good or bad superpowers – each is useful in various situations, so don’t spend time wishing you had different strengths. Embrace the ones you have! The key is to figure out how to use your superpowers for good as often as you can, both in the workplace and in the world.

When you know your superpowers, it’s much easier to talk about them to other people and when other people are clear on what you bring to the table, it’s more likely that they’ll reach out to you when they have a need for your particular skill set. It’s a win-win situation.

In my house, my kids have enjoyed not just talking about their superpowers, but also sharing how they have been able to use them each day. We took it a step further and talked about the superpowers of everyone in our family, so they have a better understanding and appreciation of what we all bring to the table and how we’re all unique.

My superpowers are building productive relationships, applying efficiency to all that I do, anticipating obstacles, solving problems, creating order from chaos, and having great taste in music*. What are yours?

*Note: This last one may border more on opinion than fact.

Be Prepared

Posted on May 8, 2019February 28, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

I enjoy writing. That's one of the reasons I started this blog – I get the opportunity to write and share my ideas along with my personal story. And yet, today, the words aren't flowing. My creativity has stalled out.

But that's a lot like how real life works, isn't it? Sometimes when we really need to create an amazing presentation or report or piece of software, the ideas don't come. We wait… and hope… and wait some more. And so you try to make it work, even if it's not your best idea, because you need something (anything!!) for the deadline.

If you're like most people, that's also how you approach your career development – waiting until something else forces you to take action in the form of updating your resume, applying for a job, editing your LinkedIn profile – and then the panic sets in and the ideas don't come.

Stress has a funny (strange, not haha) way of reducing the quality of our work by hijacking our brains. When we are stressed, the fight-or-flight response is triggered and our body reacts to the perceived threat. This was helpful in bygone days when we needed that response to stay alive. Now it just makes the stressful task at hand all the more challenging because you don't have all your wits about you.

So what should we do? How do we get back into creativity mode so we can do our best work, whether on a resume, an important presentation, or a blog post?

Preparation.

Wait a minute! I thought we were going to talk about how to generate brilliant ideas that make billions of dollars?!? Nope. It's about putting in the work so that you can keep moving forward when the stress happens and the creativity slows down, since it happens to everyone.

Successful writers write everyday. Successful painters paint everyday. If you want to be successful in your career, you need to be taking action daily on those things that will make you successful. Make sure you're communicating your value to your current and potential employers with your personal brand. Make updates to your resume and LinkedIn profile quarterly. Develop an impactful elevator pitch for when you get your shot to talk with your CEO or other leader.

As for me, I carry around a notebook and am daily jotting down ideas for my coaching clients, speaking gigs, and yes, even blog posts. Then, when inspiration refuses to strike, I still have a whole bunch of options to choose from.

Is this blog post a make or break moment for me? Probably not. But we can't always predict which moments will be course altering until after they happen. Wouldn't you rather be ready for whatever the future might bring? I know I would!

Common Courtesy

Posted on May 1, 2019February 28, 2020 by WorkAuthentically

I have a friend whose superpower is to state the obvious in a way that makes people suddenly realize the truth that has been staring them in the face and they take action. It's truly a magical thing to watch unfold. So I'm going to do my best to channel that power for this post.

There was a wonderful article published in Fast Company this week about relationship currency. The idea is basically that doing good work is not enough in the work world; you also need to cultivate productive relationships.

My knee-jerk reaction to the article was, “Duh.” But in the same way that common sense isn't all that common these days, common courtesy is arguably on the decline as well. There are many reasons for this. The corporate world has changed from a 9-5 to a 24/7 always-on environment. Workers are stressed and that stress often causes people to behave badly. My advice is to inject some kindness into whatever you do at work – people need it more than you know!

More times than I can count over the past 20 years, the best things happened at work because I took the time to build productive relationships. Not because I hoped to one day get something out of it, but simply because I believe in treating everyone as a human who deserves kindness. Interestingly, whenever I needed help with something at work, help appeared in the form of the many relationships I had developed.

Even now, as I work to grow my own business, my relationships are here with me, helping me and cheering me on. I honestly can't imagine how anyone could expect to be truly successful without having the advantage of relationship currency.

So in the age of automation, don't let someone's interaction with a chatbot be the nicest thing they hear today. Instead, be the uncommon courtesy your workplace is missing. People will respond in kind.