Career Fulfillment Mindset

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 starts feeling better, this is the place for you. I’m your host, Melissa Lawrence. Let’s get started.

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. Today we are going to talk about the mindset you need to have a career that is fulfilling for yourself and that fills the gaps that exist in the current training programs at your company and what you can do about that. So when you’re not fulfilled in your career, there are specific behaviors and thoughts that you have that prevent you from taking the action that you want to take and that get you to what you want and how you know this is if you scroll LinkedIn and indeed to see what else is out there. You let external circumstances guide your decisions, like whether or not you’re going to get this other job you applied for that you’re not really sure is any better than the one you’re in now. You look to your boss or colleagues to tell you what to do or what your next step is, or you look to them to tell you what is possible for yourself based on what they achieve.

You look at pay, benefits, perks as a reason to stay. You take the opinions of people in your life, like your friends or partners. You compare yourself to others and doubt yourself. Maybe you go to LinkedIn and you look at your alumni from College and you are looking at how far along they are, what level of success they’ve achieved. And then you use that as a measurement for yourself.

You play mental gymnastics and this is where you settle one day because you have a great day and you’re like, it’s not so bad here, and then you have a bad day, and then you convince yourself to stay anyway. But then you have days where you go and look for another job because you feel you just can’t take it anymore and you’re just constantly in this cycle of repeating that type of mental gymnastics I call it where you’re just constantly going through this pattern of settling, convincing yourself to stay, feeling like you deserve more, and then you go and apply for a job, but then you’re not sure if it’s any better or you don’t hear back about that job. So then you stay in your current job. So a huge lesson that I learned and that I wish I had known a decade ago is that your brain is designed to keep you in the same results that you have right now. So when I was unhappy or wanted more in my career, I convinced myself that it was just me.

But had I known how my brain works, what motivates it, how your brain actually deletes and distorts information that I would have taken action toward what I wanted a lot sooner than I did. Because our brain doesn’t want us to make changes. It wants us to stay the same. Even when we logically make changes, apply to new jobs, create success, our decisions are still filtered through our primitive brain. That stops us from being too big, from doing too much, from being too seen and going outside the norm.

So don’t think because you’re successful that you don’t have this issue. You still do. Everyone does. If you’re a human. This is how your brain works.

But each person’s filter is going to be different based on their experiences, genetics, and inputs. But this is a problem because when you’re trying to make career decisions and you’re going through this roller coaster of thought and emotion and you overthink and compare yourself, you lose yourself a little bit. Maybe you don’t even really know what you want anymore. You’re prioritizing everyone else. You doubt yourself and your decisions to stay or leave.

And then you get more confused and you lose objectivity. And then you convince yourself to settle. You don’t ever really know what you want, and what you end up doing is you take a lot of action that doesn’t address the root cause of why you’re not happy or fulfilled. You just distract yourself with something new. You have to get comfortable taking the uncomfortable action and disrupting your brain’s default thinking.

Because you can spend your whole life not knowing, making decisions for other people, being afraid of rejection, being afraid of making the wrong move, being successful on paper, but secretly not being happy, never knowing what you’re capable of. All of this keeps you safe, and it might not feel that way. You might be thinking, Melissa Now listen, I really want to change, or I’ve made a lot of change in my career. I’ve made a lot of Pivots, and I have a growth mindset, and you’re not right about me. But if you’re listening to this and you’re thinking I’m not happy in my career and you’re finding yourself in these patterns I’ve described, then you do have that in you as well.

And that is just typical brain behavior. It is true for everyone that your brain wants you to always be right, to make things easy, for you, to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. That is your brain’s motivation. So with every decision you make, with the actions you make in your life, you’re going to have your decisionmaking process filter through that primitive part of your brain, especially when you’re doing something that you’re unsure about. And so this is going to keep you in the pattern of scrolling LinkedIn and indeed, and applying to jobs that make sense but aren’t necessarily what you want.

Taking what is given to you, looking for education and certifications to pad your resume, focusing on resume writing, executive presence, and your personal brand thinking. You’re the problem or that you just need more time to figure it out. But when you do that, you keep your same results of not being fulfilled and never knowing your best career move. Never reaching your potential, needing other people to validate your accomplishments, not making the impact you can. Not getting the title or money that you could being unhappy in your career, always wondering what else is out there.

So in Career Path Navigator, there are five steps that I teach that essentially guarantee that you override your brain’s default and get to the root cause of what you really want. You make clear decisions. You’re more confident. You influence your stakeholders and your boss. You get rules created for you.

You save time and money. You take action. Even with your human brain. You take consistent action toward what you want step by step. You make decisions without social conditioning of what everyone else has told you is acceptable for you or what success looks like without perfectionism and without that comfort that you’ve become so accustomed to.

You address the reasons why you don’t know what you want, and you solve for that root cause. And you understand why you haven’t been happy and what has been missing. And you take action knowing the why behind what you want. You learn to take action even with fear. Being on your side.

You know how to overcome obstacles because the first obstacle is knowing what you want. And then you have to take the action, and then you end up creating a career path that is fulfilling, that is unique and authentic to who you really are. That addresses the root cause. And then you end up having sustainable fulfillment. So I am not about a quick fix.

Let’s just get you feeling better right now because honestly, that’s what you’re already doing a lot of the time, right? Changing jobs, Netflix and chilling going and having happy hour with your friends. Focusing on patting your resume, networking. Like all of these things you do to try to get you to the next level that are sometimes just a distraction to make you feel better in the short term. And then you find out.

Let’s say you change jobs. It’s really not any better than where you were. I show you how to find the job that is right for you 100% that is based on you, that is guaranteed to be fulfilling for you. So how do I do this? Well, it isn’t magic.

You learn specific tools and frameworks that you can apply to discover for yourself what is missing and what you really want. You learn strategies and get personalized guidance on how to get into the role that is best for you. Whether it’s negotiating, advocating for yourself, or confidence or communication skills, you master those and position yourself for the role that you want. But what makes this unique and different than College course or training program is the application. So imagine your best career development program or training that you’ve ever taken.

Then imagine that what you learned was not only useful, but customized to your brain. That when you go back to work and forget that cool tool you learned, or that really insightful thing that the trainer facilitator said. You actually have accountability from your coach to use the material that you learned. Imagine that you’re using what you learned, but your brain conveniently puts you in a pattern of self sabotage because again, it’s trying to make you comfortable and to avoid pain. Keep you in a routine, make things easy.

But you have a coach to point that out to you to help you understand what happened and what to do. Instead, you keep going. Imagine you know exactly what you want to do in your career, or you’re close to knowing. But then you face some obstacles you didn’t anticipate. It’s not as easy as you thought.

Or maybe you start questioning what you want all over again. Or maybe when it’s time to actually make a move, you get cold feet. But instead of staying where you’re at, you bring the problem to your coach. Your coach helps you discover what to do to stay on track so you don’t give up. You’re almost there.

But then it’s time to negotiate for what your salary is going to be in this new role that you discovered. Or you have a boss that isn’t on board with the changes you want to make. What do you do? Then you bring it to your coach. So coaching is accountability.

It’s career strategy. It’s organizational psychology. It’s you learning your brain. It’s learning the skills to get into a career that you love for the rest of your life and knowing how to do that for the rest of your life. Because as your skills and interests change, you may want to revisit your career again.

I expect that you will. But you’ll have the tools to be able to do that. So you can’t buy this at Target. As much as we love Target, you can’t learn it through a Booker course or Brene Brown special. This is why you get the simple process and everything you need in career path Navigator the coaching tools, the frameworks, the exercises.

But you get the coaching tool. That is what is going to make sure that you cross the finish line no matter where you start. I had a client recently discovered the path that she wanted. It was actually a lateral move in another Department for a new therapy area. When we were implementing the strategy for her to get into this role, which was going to be created for her, that was the path that we took.

She started applying to other jobs as a backup plan because she started freaking out a little bit. So she started distracting herself with other problems. But because she was going through this process, we coached on it. We were able to stop her from going down this rabbit hole. I was able to call it out and show her what she was doing and keep her focused.

And within seven months of when we started, she knew exactly what she wanted, had the role created for her with a big salary increase, even with the mind drama and the distraction. But if she hadn’t been going through this process with me, if she hadn’t been getting coaching, she would have left too soon and settled for another job somewhere else because she was desperate for a change. So she would have settled for something that was close enough to what she wanted, but not exactly what she wanted, which is what she got now. She stuck with it and got the coaching, and she got it over the finish line. So listen, when you haven’t experienced something like this for yourself, your brain can have a hard time making sense of it and want to go into all of the questions of the how do you do this?

And the detail, and this is really just outsourcing your confidence to something else. But other people’s results and other people’s opinions are not an indication of your potential and what you can do. I give you the process, the tools. I give you the coaching. I set you up for success.

And when you try new things, you get new results. But most people delay doing this work. They put it off. They wait to see if a job opens up. They think they need more time, and it just keeps you stuck.

It keeps you comfortable because the pain of the familiar is more comfortable than the pain of change. Or they expect a different title, company or money to solve this problem. Instead of figuring out what their career fulfillment path looks like for them. They think, I’m going to go find this other job that’s close enough and see if I like it, or I’m going to wait to get promoted, or I’m going to wait to see if there’s a reorgan. I get a new boss.

They wait for something else. But what is really interesting about that is this work you do in Career Path Navigator to discover your ideal career path, to know what you want in your career now and forever, and to have the skills to always do that. Always be able to position yourself for the role that you want.

It’s like the chicken and egg. You want to do that first, right? You could apply to other jobs. You can make other moves. Of course, you’re very successful.

But knowing what you want first helps you make really clear decisions. It helps you know, if that other job is the right one. It helps you know, when you’re interviewing what the red flags are to know if that culture is going to be a good fit for you. It helps, you know, now and forever when it’s time to move on. The skills you want to use how to negotiate your job responsibilities.

When you do that, you save so much time and effort and you’re happier so much sooner. And the sooner you start, the sooner you get results. It’s part of our brains default thinking to delay for a better time when we’re less busy. But this is exactly why you should start now, because your brain is just trying to make you comfortable. But here’s the thing.

It’s actually not complicated to overcome this. It’s simple. You just need a process that works in an expert. And this is what I do. This is the work we do in Career Path Navigator.

All you need to do is tap into some feelings, and I’m going to tell you what they are right now. The courage to try something new, the commitment to yourself and the process, the desire to be happy and the resilience to keep going. And then you will be able to develop the mindset to identify what you want and not get confused by the way that your brain is set up to help you fail and to keep you in a routine, to take action consistently, even with fear, to make decisions with confidence, to advocate for yourself, influence your leadership and know how to evaluate your progress, measure your results and build confidence. This way, you know exactly what you want. You know who you are.

On a deeper level. You position yourself for any job. You’re a clear and confident decision maker and leader. You have more time. You’re no longer spinning and waiting and convincing yourself doing those mental gymnastics.

You make more money. You’re not spending money on things that don’t matter. And according to the Journal of Applied Psychology and a global study by the International Coaching Federation in 2009, people that invest in coaching get seven times their return on investment. And that is the average many get much more. Because when you get coaching, you’re more likely to get promoted, to improve performance, to be more fulfilled in your job.

And this is what you master. In Career Path Navigator, you get to your best level. You achieve what you dream that you could have achieved for work and how you dream you could feel about work. You achieve that. And I have all of the belief for you that you can do this.

I know you can. So it’s okay if you don’t believe it yet. You just have to start. So if this is what you want to do. Enrollment for Career Path Navigator is open right now, but it closes this Friday.

You are in the last stretch to join before doors close until later this year. When you join, you get the process right away. You get the details set straight to your inbox and everything you need. You get the step by step and the materials to apply the process. It’s not just about learning.

It’s the application, the skills you learn and master the skills we talked about it’s on demand. It’s risk free. You get one year access. To sign up, go to www.melissamlawrence.com/navigator and when I say it’s risk free, it means either you figure out your next best role in a plan to make it happen or I give you your money back. There is no scenario that you are not getting a return on your investment no matter where you are starting, what role you are in.

This process will work for you and there are no quick terms on this money back guarantee you have any time in the year that you have access to the program to ask for your money back. With that said, this process has worked 100% of the time for all levels and it will work for you. You can sign up right now. As soon as you join, you’re going to get an email with access to the member portal to the private LinkedIn community. You can literally get started right now.

I do want you to know one thing. You get everything you need. With this program. You can know your next best move, stop feeling stuck and get to your next level with just the on demand member portal where I teach you in depth the process and tools. You have a workbook and everything you need to apply the process on your own.

But if you’ve ever tried anything on your own, you know it can be hard to get yourself into action to make sure you’re doing it right and wish you could just get that personalized guidance and support along the way. Especially when you have fears come up. We have beliefs in the way. When you’re struggling with your confidence, remember the way that your brain is wired is for you to stay the same. This is why coaching is such a powerful tool, because it will help you overcome obstacles and stop self sabotaging yourself.

You uncover your blind spots and achieve more than you would without it. So what I offer in Career Path Navigator is that you can get coaching every single day as much as you want. You can ask any questions as you have them. You can get coaching on everything you need, every step of the way, on every module. As soon as you need coaching, you just head to the LinkedIn community and ask your question and I respond as your coach and you get one on one help as you go through the process.

But building relationships is important as well, especially networking in this industry. Which is why when you join, you get access to this private LinkedIn community filled with people in your industry that can celebrate your progress with you that you can learn from, ask questions, celebrate your wins. It’s a safe space for you to go and focus on you. You will achieve more because you are in this space with other people who are normalizing these problems and excel in their career with you. Alongside them.

But you don’t just get coaching in the community. You get live coaching every week on Zoom. Every week you and the other members join me. You raise your hand. You get coached to talk through anything that comes out personalized strategy, doubting yourself, getting confused, having a hard time staying on track.

You get coached. You also get coaching by watching the other members get coached. Because what I find is you can get triggered by someone else. They can be going through something you haven’t thought of or experienced yet and exponentially increases your growth. You get results faster by having a group.

You also realize you’re not alone. You’re going to normalize so much of what you judge yourself on now. So you get access to the community, the coaching calls you can binge all of the ones that have already happened this year, the member portal and you get immediate access when you join. And I know you’re busy, so there’s even a members only podcast. So this is my public podcast navigating your career.

I have a private members only podcast called your daily. Commute so you can take the calls with you on the go. You can do the dishes. You can multitask, go for a walk and still take the program with you. You get everything you need.

You get the member library with the exact process and worksheets to be confident and clear on your next best career move and the role that is going to give you the purpose that you create, the fulfillment that you want. You get live and OnDemand coaching to keep you in action, to get you into your ideal role quickly and better paid to overcome obstacles, including your own brain drama along the way. And you get the community with the other members in your industry going through the same thing. And you get the members only podcast. All of it is included, but you have to join now because enrollment ends this Friday, April 15.

You won’t be able to join again until later in the year. But remember, the sooner you start, the sooner you get results. Don’t delay being happy and fulfilled in your career if you don’t have to. All right, that is all for this week’s episode. The link will be in the show notes and have an amazing week knowing that seriously, you can achieve way more than you think.

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. I truly hope you enjoyed it. If this episode resonated with you or helped you in any way, please share it on your social media and tag me. I love seeing what you’re up to. Also please make sure to subscribe and leave a review.

And until next time, have fun navigating your career knowing the life you want is totally possible. Bye.