The Journey to 100

Welcome to Navigating Your Career, the only podcast that blends personal development, professional skills and psychology to help you get happy.

At work and live the life you want.

If you want to stop feeling stuck and start feeling better, this is the place for you. I’m your host, Melissa Lawrence. Let’s get started.

Hello. Hello. Guess what today is? It is the 100th episode of Navigating Your Career. 100 episodes. Every week for 100 weeks, I have released an episode to help you with your career. That is two years. It’s actually been more than that. If you consider bonus episodes. This is such a big milestone and I am so glad that you are here with me celebrating, because it doesn’t only signify the body of work. The changes that you as a listener have made, the shifts in perspective, the growth, the career changes, the improvement of leadership skills. But honestly, the growth. For me, putting this show into the world was hard. I was really nervous about having a podcast. I was actually working with a coach one on one at the time, and I kept moving the start date of when I would have my podcast ready, always months ahead, a nice cushion if you’ve ever worked towards something. I mean, this could be as simple as eating healthier or starting a workout program where that Monday keeps moving to another Monday, or you are going to apply for that job or apply to be a speaker at a conference or something.

And it’s always like, oh, maybe the next one, maybe the next one, right? And that’s kind of the space that I was in. I was giving myself plenty of time to get comfortable with the idea, to overcome my nervousness about it, to really get over the fact and get over myself, really is what it came down to. And my anxiousness of putting this body of work into the world. So I just put a lot of pressure on it. I know you listening to this can probably relate about wanting things to be perfect and wanting them to be a good representation of you and your best work. And that’s really how I approach this. I wanted to be sure that I didn’t sound stupid or generic. And it was almost like my brain was telling me that my whole business was riding on this podcast, which is really ridiculous, looking back on it. But at the time, that is really what I was thinking. And this is human brain behavior. But even as a coach, even with the knowledge of how the brain works, when you’re in your own brain, it can be harder to tease through.

That’s why coaching is so powerful, as you have an outside perspective and someone else observing your behavior and your thinking. But I still experience it sometimes where I have blocks I have to overcome in my thinking, and I did when it came to putting out this podcast. And that was partly why I was working with a coach. And so my coach asked me, why do you keep scheduling this so far out? Why aren’t you committing to a date? What do you need to get this off of the ground? And when I broke down the steps that it took, it was really about a week that I could get everything done and get that first episode into the world. And so then it just became about overcoming fear. So I picked a date. I picked September, that was the month of my birthday, and I made a goal to do it. Then I had my coach checking in with me along the way to help me manage my thoughts about this. So I didn’t procrastinate it or move the date even further. And then I did it. In that first week, I was so proud of myself that I was someone with a podcast and I think 20 people or something downloaded that first episode and it’s now been downloaded hundreds of times, but at that time it was 20.

And I was so happy and grateful. 20 people decided to tune in and hear what I had to say and wanted to hear my thoughts on how they could move where they wanted to in the workplace and get happy in their jobs. But I had built it up as such a make or break it for my business, for my credibility, that I just had so many months of hype. But I kept going, week after week, new content, figuring out my voice, figuring out what I wanted to share with you, what you needed to know. I thought about what could help you actually make changes in your career and your life, even if we never met. So it’s very important to me that this podcast make a difference for you. And as we get into this episode a little bit more, I’m going to share a number of tools and resources, a little gift bank that I’ve created for you. So stay tuned for that. I’m going to talk about that in a minute. But it’s very important to me that you learn something, that you try something, that you think differently. Even if we never meet, you can still get a lot of value and make a lot of big changes from this show.

Every few weeks. Someone reaches out to me and I’m so grateful for that. Or puts a comment in LinkedIn or post a review of the podcast that the episode or the episodes. The show in general has helped them to build confidence. To know what they want in their career. To get promoted. To love their work. To overcome anxiety. To know how to handle a difficult employee issue. And I love hearing this, really, because that is why I am in this work. That is why I have this show. It is for you, it is to help you. That is why I’m a coach. That’s why I do the work that I do because I want everyone that has exposure to me to leave a better person to know they can do more than they thought to achieve those big things. Like having a podcast, if that’s what you want. It’s funny, some of my clients have these side goals outside of their career. There’s one that I’m working with right now that wants to have a blog. Actually, I’ve had a couple that have wanted to have blogs. But the idea, it’s like they thought about it the same way that I used to think about it around like, I need to put it out there.

What will people think of it? Right? And then it becomes this big thing and it’s not digestible, it’s not simple, it’s not little steps that you can take to get you moving forward and then it never ends up happening. And so that’s part of what we work on in coaching is actually helping you achieve those things that are on your to do list that you can’t seem to bring yourself to do and are likely having some sort of subconscious sabotage going on like I was with this podcast. So if you’ve experienced some growth change, if you’re feeling differently because of this show, if it helps you tell me, share it with your friends, you can share it on LinkedIn or Instagram and tag me. You can send me a private message on those platforms, you can send me an email, you can leave a reviews, only takes about 1 minute. And they help the show get discovered by new people. That’s really why they’re important. So if you love the show, I would greatly appreciate you taking the time to do that. And if you don’t love the show, well, then never mind. So I know I’m getting long winded here and I thought about what I wanted this episode to be about.

In the spirit of this being a show all about growth, practical insights you can apply right away and putting what you learn into practice, I thought, let me just give you a gift for listening, for being on this journey with me, for the future self that will thank you for taking the time to invest in yourself today. Because these episodes, whether they’re five minutes, ten minutes, 20 minutes, it’s time that you’re taking for yourself to work on your brain, to work on the way you think about things, to work on your career, to work on the life that you want to have. And that is amazing because most people don’t do that. Most people don’t spend the time to develop themselves. They don’t want to have the self awareness. And the fact that you do is a celebration in itself. So I’m just so grateful to you for listening. I’m so grateful that I put this out there because now I’m sitting here two years later with over 100 episodes total of my ideas, my thoughts, my teachings, things that I’ve done to help you. And I wouldn’t have had that if I didn’t get started.

And so that is my overall lesson for you today. Around those goals that you have, the big things that you want to achieve, the impact you want to make. The hardest part is getting started. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You’ll get better over time. But imagine what you could achieve if you just started. If you just invested in yourself a little bit more. If you just went and applied for that job. If you went and if it’s like hiring me. If it’s hiring me as your coach. If it’s talking to your boss. If it’s advocating for yourself. If it’s releasing your own podcast or writing a book or starting a charity. Whatever it is. Just get started. Because then you can look back and know that you did it and have the same kind of experience of reflecting on how difficult you made it for yourself when it didn’t have to be that hard. All of the build up of what’s going to mean and your credibility and questioning your enoughness, it doesn’t have to be like that. All you have to do is get started and you will have those things that you really want.

So that is my lesson. Now let’s get into this little gift, this little gift pile I have for you. Are you ready? So over the last two years, there have been several episodes that I have provided a free download either to take the work deeper or to apply the steps or framework from that episode. So instead of having to go back and figure out which episodes have these because I’ve had them featured within the episode, sometimes I’ll have a place on my website for them, but then that website changes. I usually change things up for different things that I’m offering at that time. So some things that may have been offered a while ago, you don’t know where to find them now, right? So I decided to dig things out of the vault and to activate them all so they’re available for you right now. So I even added a new one, which is a podcast workbook. So this workbook is for you to create an action plan from each episode to keep you in action and hold you accountable to the things you want to do differently. And all of this is going to be absolutely free for you.

Are you ready to shop at my free market? All right. So have a pen and paper or be ready to take a note on your phone however you like to do it. You can also come back to this episode or check out the transcript. It’s going to have the links right there for you or in the show notes if you’re not in a position to take notes right now. So I’m going to cover the different downloads, tools, resources, things that you can access right now for free. Take one, take all. Here we go. First up is the master. Difficult conversations worksheet. This was highlighted in a recent MVP episode, but this worksheet is a PDF fillable for you to prepare for any difficult conversation. If you want to confront a coworker or boss, you want to negotiate a timeline, you have someone that you just don’t like going to meetings with because you think they suck. You want to talk to your partner at home about something you’re upset about. You can use this to create a winning outcome for both of you and let go of the anxiety and stress and avoidance of having to work with this person.

So this is the companion worksheet to episode 18, Master Typical Conversations. So to get this worksheet, go to www.melissamlawrence.com/conversations. Next up is the perfect one on one framework. If you’ve been listening for a while, you know I’ve talked about this a little bit. This is a guide for people managers to effectively run your one on one meetings to improve engagement, reduce turnover, and have a high performing team. You get the exact agenda items for the meetings, and the episode tells you how and why the structure works. I actually tested this out in my corporate life with actual data and culture surveys, and it had amazing results. So this is a companion to episode 42, the perfect one on one framework. To get this one on one guide, go to www.melissamlawrence.com/framework

All right, this next one is four things you need to know before making a career move. And this is a workbook that guides you through what questions you can ask to make decisions on what move would be best for you. So if you’re considering whether or not you should apply for a specific role, if you should change your company, if you should work towards a promotion, this workbook is going to answer that question for you and help you get clear on that.

And you can use this workbook as prompts for the three part Career Passion Blueprint Master class that I featured on the podcast a while back. So that Master class that I delivered live and then I took the audio and I put it on the podcast for you. Those episodes are 55, 56, and 57 from October of last year. They’re titled Career Passion blueprint day One, day two. Day three. And so when you use this workbook with those three episodes, you’re essentially getting a deep dive workshop with me on exactly what steps to follow to get you into a career you love, and you’re getting that workbook to apply it. So to download the workbook, go to www.melissamlawrence.com/4-things

Next up is my framework and steps for getting your voice heard and expertise used at work. If you want to influence more effectively, this is for you. If your ideas are being passed over, if you go to work and think I was hired as an expert. Why are they just ignoring me? Or why are they telling me I use aren’t good? Or if you just want to be more effective in your existing or new team, this is for you.

So this is a companion to episode 76. Get your voice heard at work. To download, go to www.melissamlawrence.com/voice

Finally, as a special gift for the 100th episode, you can get my podcast study guide that I created to help you apply each episode. Because if you’ve been listening for a while, you know that I always provide frameworks, I provide steps, I provide exercises, I provide specific things that you can do related to that topic of that episode. So if you try to remember it all or take notes. This study guide is going to be really helpful for you because it’s going to help you pull out those steps. Know what questions you have. Create a plan for how you’re going to use them that day. The next day. The next week. And it’s going to help you achieve your goals faster and make progress and see improvement overall very quickly. So this you can access at www.melissamlawrence.com/podcastguide

Alright, so those are all of the free guides and tools that you can download right now. Now, if you know me and you’ve been listening for a while, you know there will be more over time because I love spoiling you with these free resources and tools.

I love making this really practical and tangible for you. So keep listening, keep growing, keep taking action toward what you want. And if Coaching With Me is on your wish list, then schedule a call with me. That is another free resource that you have. I’m happy to talk to you about your goals and what you want to be different. I will share my insights based on my expertise so that you have a step forward. And if coaching is a good fit, we can talk about that too. So that is always a resource. I will put that link as well in the show notes if you want to pick a time that works best for you. And thank you so much for listening. Thank you for being here. Have an amazing week. It’s a great honor for me to support you in your journey. And until next week, keep growing, keep showing up and I will talk to you soon.

Coaching with me is the best way to guarantee you get happy at work and achieve your career and life goals. Getting started is easy. Head over to www.melissamlawrence.com to learn more and apply. It is the first step to get you from feeling stuck to knowing exactly what you want and have the tools to make it a reality will be by your side the entire way.