Transcript #125. Stop praising hard work: 5 strategies to get you out of the “rat-race”.

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Renata: [00:00:00] If we keep ourselves trapped in that hard-working, busy mode. We will find it much harder to achieve purposeful goals in the future for our careers. 

Hi, I’m Renata Bernarde, and this is The Job Hunting Podcast, where I interview experts and professionals in discussing. That is important for job hunters and those working to advance their careers. So, make sure that you subscribe and follow and let's dive right in. 

Hello. Welcome to another episode of the job hunting podcast. Today. We're going to talk about hard work. It's never been easy. To work harder and longer from anywhere at any time before the pandemic, this was already happening, of course. But now, with the flexibility for executives [00:01:00] and professionals to work from home, it's tough to keep our minds away from work. 

It's almost like it's following. Through the bathroom to the kitchen. When we're driving that edge to take a call at any time, check your phone, answer a message on your phone. There's slack. There’s WhatsApp in your inbox. There are teams is zoom. There's Skype. There are all of these apps appearing and popping up with little messages to keep you busy all the time. 

It's extraordinary because it makes it so hard to focus. But it’s so hard to lose focus from work at the other time. You're constantly interrupted for those hard-to-do tasks that you have to do, um, a high priority. Urge and things, or the common interruptions keep coming up all the time. 

Working harder and longer seems to be the norm to cope with that, I find [00:02:00] that myself and many of my clients. I have been drinking too much coffee and using caffeine to boost their energy levels and their performance throughout a very long day. I have always sort of worried about drinking too much after work. 

You know, I remember coming back from a hectic day at the office and feeling like I needed a glass of wine. Thankfully, I don't think like that anymore. I know that many people can relate to what I'm saying. The rat race that we're in is a real trap. We lose focus of our dreams and values because we're so busy keeping up with the day-to-day it's too easy to stay locked into that hard work mode. 

The hard work sprays it's reinforced. It's how we introduce ourselves to others when people ask, so ask us, how are you doing? We often say, oh, you know, busy, but fine saying that we're alive is a badge of pride. You see, it's something we're [00:03:00] proud of. Sometimes we say without even thinking, it's just. 

It's just the way that we are. We're always busy. We're always working very hard. It's how we start conversations is how we add value to the world is through hard work and being active, but is it a solution to all business problems? And is it a solution to your career problem? I have my doubts. I don't think it is. 

The thing is, everybody is busy, and everybody is working hard. I mean, you can, you know that that's how your colleagues and your network introduce yourselves to one another. How would you introduce yourself if you're not working hard? Hey, would you say if somebody asks, how are you doing? Would you say are, you know, just taking it easy? 

Corporate professional. It would be kind of a weird thing to say, wouldn't that if people might think that you're slacking, people might think that you're not ambitious, that you're not interested in work and that's not true, [00:04:00] but there need to be a shift on how we talk about ourselves and present ourselves. 

And also think about our day-to-day for us to meet. Interestingly leaps and bounds and springboard ourselves into another opportunity into another phase of our careers. If we keep ourselves trapped in that hard-working, busy mode, we will find it much harder to achieve purposeful goals in the future for our jobs. 

Talking to you, assuming that you're ambitious for your career, that you want to have control over your career outcomes, you might be looking for a job you might be looking to get out of a work situation where you're not happy anymore. It's not serving your strengths anymore. You grew out of it. 

There's a lot of that, you know like sometimes you grow out of an organization or a job that you're doing. But because it keeps you so busy, older time, when will [00:05:00] you ever find the time to focus on your cell? I get that a lot with clients. Sometimes people will reach out to me on LinkedIn and say, oh, such and such told me I should talk to you and book a time to speak to you about private coaching. 

And I say, of course, Book a time I'm here for you. And then a week, two weeks will go by, and I will send them a message and say, Hey, are you okay? Is there anything I can do to help? And the reply a hundred percent of the time is, oh, it's just so busy. You know, I'm just so busy, and I have no time to focus on myself. 

And I feel like if only two weeks go by, that's fine. But what if a year goes by and you haven't focused on yourself? Two years or a decade goes by, and you're not focusing on yourself. And sometimes, people book the coaching with the best intentions of focusing on themselves, and they cannot carve out the time. 

I think I've mentioned in a previous episode, [00:06:00], when I explained to a client that it was not just about investing in the coaching itself; it’s about finding the time. To activate what you're going to learn with me for every action. There is a reaction. If you're going to incorporate coaching in your life, you need to find a time for it. 

Unfortunately, it's not like you are acquiring Aladdin and it was not Aladdin; it’s not like you're receiving the lamp and that you're going to rub it. And then all your dreams will come true. You know, what you are getting is a support system. So. You can do the work, but you know, you're doing the most efficient way possible that you're going in the right direction when you are activating strategies to move out of your job or, um, change your career. 

But how can you get out of this hard work / Busy all the time situation? I will give [00:07:00] five ideas of how you can start moving towards a different mindset and get yourself in a position where you enjoy your day-to-day life much more. You have more freedom and more time for yourself and enjoy the work and energy you have without being. 

And without the hardworking mentality all the time. The first thing that I'm going to recommend that you do is it requires a change of mindset. A shift in perspective means that you have to relearn and rewire your brain, reminding yourself that you don't need to praise hard, work all the time, not in your life and not in other lives and other people's lives is essential. 

So. Make post-it notes on a vision board, write it in your notebook, wake up in the morning and have something that reminds you that you have to have that mentality to get out of your [00:08:00] rat race you are in the moment. So changing your mindset is essential. The second thing that I recommend is to carve out the time to reset. 

You need to carve out time from the day today. Grind from the rat race of everyday life to build this moment. And you may need a few days away from work. You may need a few days away, from home even to implement the following suggestions that I will give you. I even have a program called reset your career, and that program exists for a reason. 

You know, it allows you to start maybe that reset process where you listen to me for about four hours of the workshop. And in those four hours, it will give you ideas of what you need to do a framework to follow. So my some crucial suggestions, if you're resetting for career advancement or career change or job [00:09:00] search, that program is designed for that, there's a specific reason. 

And then the third thing is to create systems and processes that help you do the work you are already doing. Right. And I'm a big fan of setting plans and strategies and having a roadmap, even if. You, it requires a continuous review, you know, the continuous improvement mentality to set up whatever plan that you have thought of and then apply it. 

And then a week or two weeks a month goes by, and when you look back, and you reflect on how successful it has been in any way improved. So again, you know, if you're job searching, I hope you already have my feet-free resource, which is the optimized job search schedule. And I designed that schedule because you don’t know where to start when you're job searching. 

That's the biggest question and, you know, statement [00:10:00] that most people. Provide me when they answer questionnaires that I have available. It's like, I don't know where to start. I'm a bit overwhelmed, you know? So the schedules help you. And if you're working and not looking for a job search, then finding systems and processes that will help you do the work is essential. 

You know, it could be that you need to make better use of outlook and spend a couple of days setting up outlook to make the most out of it. Same with things like spreadsheets, um, and the setup, um, the suitable environments online for you to manage your teams, lead, uh, people and projects in a way that's very efficient with either Trello or. 

Oh, the project management tools, Microsoft systems, whatever it is that works for you, it could be a dropbox. It could be, you know, G drive, but setting those things up requires a bit of time and a bit of research. So spend that [00:11:00] time working on what you think will bring to work to make your day-to-day work more accessible. 

Another system that I, you know, that I have created is the job hunting mates. It's a system, it's a roadmap, and it has seven modules for a reason. You know, I've been researching this for over a decade now. So I'm very confident that the systems that I've created for job hunting people know they work because they've been tested. 

They've been proven, and you might need to create systems that are tested and proven for you. The fourth thing that I'm going to suggest is that you be very good at delegating. I was talking about this to a client of mine the other day, and, you know, it's so important to bring the best in others. From an early age, we learned how to get the best in us in ourselves. 

Do good at school, do good at university. When we start our jobs, we're reporting to [00:12:00] people, but we don't have direct reports. So we bring the best of us to work. And then, as we get more senior in our careers, we might have direct reports, and learning how to delegate to these direct reports is important because it eases off on you. 

Your work becomes more strategic, more high-level, and becomes about managing them. If you have a family like I have a family, it's important to delegate work at home as well, you know, or even get help from friends, get help from neighbors can help from colleagues. You are making sure that you are not taking up too much. 

There's not too much on your plate. I talked to my son's fiancé, and we discussed how good my, my, my son's cooking is, and he's a good cook. At times I did not cook, and he does have to learn how to cook, frankly. And we had systems in place at home where, you [00:13:00] know, on odd days, one son would do things and on even days, the other son would do something. 

And that worked well for a long time. And they knew that if it was an odd day, it was their day to put out the garbage and do the cookie king, you know, whatever responsibilities I had or delegations I had for my kids. If it were an odd day, it would be for one kid. And if it weren’t even, they, it would be for the other one. 

And they just knew that they had to follow the leader. So learning to lead at home and work will be very helpful. To get you away from that busyness and that hardworking mode. And finally, the fifth idea that I'm going to share with you is to get better at letting go. It's so important to let go sometimes and jars. 

Good easy break and it can be a break from job searching. It can be a break from work can be a break from family can be a break from doing your chores or feeling like you [00:14:00] have to eat healthy every day, or you have to go to the gym, or you have to sleep early, have a break from your roles, whatever they are. 

And I know that I’m filled with rules. I have all these rules. I eat very healthily. I like to sleep at a particular time, and I want to have, uh, a routine in my life, but sometimes just breaking all of those routines reenergizes me. It's okay to eat takeaway now and then. It’s okay to let a week go without doing your laundry. 

The world's not going to end, and you might be better off for it. Take a little vacation from your set of rules. I hope you enjoy implementing some or all the suggestions I have for you above. If you have any questions or want to learn more about some of the things I discuss here, like the optimized job schedule, the reset, your career program, or the job hunting made simple [00:15:00] program. 

There will be links in the show notes for you and after listening to this episode, take a break. See you next time. Bye.