Invincible Career - Claim your power and regain your freedom

In 2021, I spent over 500 hours researching and writing newsletter articles — and recording podcast episodes — to share with you every week. The top 10 are listed below, and I’ve also categorized more than 100 articles and episodes for easier browsing.

Whew! No wonder I’m feeling a little bit tired as the year is winding down. 🤣

If you found my advice and the interviews helpful and would like to support my continued writing and podcasting in 2022, please consider a premium membership that also grants you access to my private Invincible Career community.

It would mean a lot to me. Thank you! 😊

Welcome to my end-of-year wrap-up that summarizes and categorizes everything I published in 2021.

When people ask for my advice on a career, work, leadership, or entrepreneurial topic, I can usually point them to a specific article that I’ve written on that very issue. You may already be a loyal subscriber, but I know that it’s easy to miss something over a year. I certainly do with the newsletters I follow.

So, enjoy this recap, and feel free to share the summary article with friends who might find some of the advice helpful!

My Top 10 Articles

I reviewed the stats for my articles, newsletters, and podcast episodes. These 10 rose to the top in 2021.

* How to Relieve Stress During These Trying Times - How are you holding up?

* Be a Bridge to Climb the Ladder - Those who don’t stall out in the middle

* How to Stop Rambling in Conversations and Interviews - It happens when you’re unfocused and unprepared

* Tough Love You May Not Want to Hear - Some common patterns of behavior I’ve observed

* Career Success with Caroline Tsay, CEO of Compute Software - She also sits on the board of directors for The Coca-Cola Company and Morningstar

* Career Success with Irene Au, Operating Partner at Khosla Ventures - She shares advice from her Silicon Valley experiences

* Improving Your Conversational Skills - It’s more difficult online, but I know you can do it

* You’d Better Ride That Wave! - The timing for your career peak may be limited

* A Simple Framework for Your Success This Year - Creating your 2021 career plan

* 20 Things You Should Stop Doing - Say no to the wrong things so you can say yes to the right things

Articles organized by category

I thought it might help to organize all of my 2021 articles and podcast episodes into categories that you would find most useful. There are more than 100 of them listed below. Enjoy!

Career planning and performance

* A Simple Framework for Your Success This Year - Creating your 2021 career plan

* Who Will Be Fired This Year? - These 10 questions provide some clues

* How to Change Careers (Big, Medium, Small) - A professional pivot is always possible, but it isn’t easy

* Total Career Reinvention - An Interview with Sam Sycamore - A pivot from carpenter to successful web developer in less than a year!

* It’s Never Too Late! Fiona Pagett’s Career Reinvention - Pivoting, adapting, and thriving

* Have You Mapped Your Career Journey? - Every step you take has a season and a reason

* You’d Better Ride That Wave! - The timing for your career peak may be limited

* Why You Must Ask for a Raise or Promotion - It’s that time of year again

* Finish this Checklist Before the End of the Year - 16 tasks to boost your performance review, promotion request, or job search

Job search, interviews, and negotiation

* How to Stop Rambling in Conversations and Interviews - It happens when you’re unfocused and unprepared

* Interview Advice from Dayna Wu, Silicon Valley Tech Recruiter - Interviewing do’s and don’ts for job candidates

* How to Instantly Feel More Confident - Self-confidence tips that help with job interviews, work meetings, and good ol’ social events too

* Not Your Average Recruiter - Andrew Shearer, Founder & Principal of BravePath - What happens when you put your employees first?

* Make Potential Employers Compete for You - It’s the easiest way to negotiate job offers

Success

* How Memorable Are You? - You only attract excellent opportunities if people remember you

* Career Success with Caroline Tsay, CEO of Compute Software - She also sits on the board of directors for The Coca-Cola Company and Morningstar

* Career Success with Irene Au, Operating Partner at Khosla Ventures - She shares advice from her Silicon Valley experiences

* Career Success with Jeremy Baker, CTO of Retail Zipline - The unconventional career path of an entrepreneurial technologist

* How to Stop Being a Quitter - Do it for you and scratch your own itch

* Do You Ever Feel Like an Impostor? - Six strategies for dealing with your impostor syndrome

Living your best life

* How to Relieve Stress During These Trying Times - How are you holding up?

* Do You Love Where You Live? - If not, what are you waiting for?

* How Writing Can Change Your Life - Three ways your writing makes a difference

* Are You Experiencing Burnout? - How to handle it before it’s too late

* No, You Can’t Have It All - But you can have more of what matters

* Don’t Let a Job Kill You - A toxic work environment is terrible for your health

* How Walking Benefits Your Career and Life - Why some of the best minds in the world walk every day

* 20 Things You Should Stop Doing - Say no to the wrong things so you can say yes to the right things

* What Makes You Feel Grateful? - Practicing gratitude is good for the recipient AND the giver

Solopreneurship and entrepreneurship

* How to Become a Consultant - The fast path to building your business or side hustle

* The Power of Storytelling with Anna Codina, Content Strategist - She also shares her global entrepreneurial journey

* Kickstart Your Life with Sami Gardner, Career Coach and Author - She redesigned her career to travel the world

* How to Find Your Puzzle Piece Partner or Co-founder - Do both of you complete the same picture of the future?

* The Global Wake-Up Call - My Conversation with Marvin Liao - A former VC partner shares his advice for founders, investors, and everyone seeking financial stability

* Why Brigitte Granger is Bootstrapping Her Startup - Her Supporti app taps into the power of accountability

* 25 Years of Solopreneurship - Sherri Edwards, Founder of Resource Maximizer - Don’t wait for permission

* She Had to Follow Her Dreams - Joan Kennedy, Artist, Illustrator, and Author - Yes, it’s possible to build a successful creative business

Life lessons

* How to Repair Your Reputation - You can’t wait and hope it will all blow over and go away

* Tough Love You May Not Want to Hear - Some common patterns of behavior I’ve observed

* Why Things Work Out — Eventually - Don’t give up hope

* Late Bloomers Aren’t Doomed - Five ways to make peace with being one

* No One Is Coming to Rescue You - What are you waiting for?

Personal and professional development

* Does Your Voice Sound Strange? - How to create your vocal delivery style

* Should You Fix a Weakness? - That depends on what fixing it means

* How to Stop Rambling in Conversations and Interviews - It happens when you’re unfocused and unprepared

* Improving Your Conversational Skills - It’s more difficult online, but I know you can do it

* How to Plan Your Days - Matt East, Productivity Coach - Schedule your Fluid Layer and Habit Layer activities

* Be a Bridge to Climb the Ladder - Those who don’t stall out in the middle

Networking

* How to Squeeze More out of Social Media - Use it instead of it using you

* Have You Found Your Tribe? - Your long-term success depends on finding your community

* The Surprising Value of Weak Ties - Don’t overlook the casual acquaintances in your network

Office hours, challenges, and private episodes (for premium subscribers)

* Identify Your Goals for This Year

* Break Your Big Goals into Subgoals

* Create Your Plans for the Year

* Leverage Your Calendar

* Write Your Full Story

* Create Your Elevator Pitch

* Document Your Strengths and Weaknesses

* Define Your Professional Brand

* Define Your Personal Website Requirements

* Compare Your Online Options

* Research and Secure Your Domain

* Choose Hosting for Your Website

* Share Your Website

* Post on Your Personal Blog

* Publish on Medium

* Cross-publish Your Writing

* Learn about Self-publishing

* Research Newsletter Platforms

* Choose a Newsletter Platform

* Developing Your Writing Focus

* Build Your Audience

* Professionally Leverage Social Media

* Get More out of LinkedIn

* Explore the Passion Economy

* Share Your Portfolio of Work

* Audit Your Professional Brand

* Assess the Progress of Your Plan

* Review Your Metrics

* Learn More About Google Analytics

* Adjust Your Plan

* How to Build a Powerful Network

* Nurture and Reignite Your Network

* Connect with New People

* Find Your Communities

* Invest in Your Public Speaking

* How to Find Speaking Events

* How to Host a Workshop

* How to Be on a Panel

* Networking to Practice Your Communication Skills

* How to Be a Guest on a Podcast

* Explore Your Own Podcast

* My Podcasting Equipment

* How to Choose Podcasting Solutions

* Record a Test Episode

* Choosing a Video Platform

* Identify Your Video Theme

* My Smartphone Video Equipment

* Record, Edit, and Publish a Video

* Making the Most of Your Mentor

* How to Grow Your Video Audience

* Interviewing with Multiple Companies

* Ready for the Final Push?

* Emerging opportunities in the multi-generational workforce

* Capture Your Achievements for the Year

* Don’t Be Too Patient

* Write Your Self-review

* Get on the Same Side of the Table

* Reflect on the Year

* What Needs to Change? (coming next week)

Your support helps!

I’m looking forward to writing more articles, interviewing new guests, and recording new podcast episodes for you in 2022. If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like me to cover, please leave a comment below or send me a message.

BTW, I have no employees, interns, or even an assistant. The newsletter and podcast are a one-person labor of love. This is my passion and how I make a living as a solopreneur.

If you’ve found my advice to be helpful, and you’d like to help support my efforts to produce it, please consider subscribing to the premium weekly newsletter. This gives you access to:

* My private career community for ongoing advice, feedback, and support.

* A weekly career prompt and professional development challenge delivered to your inbox every Monday.

* Exclusive office hours every Monday with me and the premium members.

Thank you for being a loyal reader in 2021. I appreciate your support!

By the way, there is still a great way you can support my work without spending any money:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media! 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

➡️ I’ll be launching my Employee to Solopreneur courses and private community in 2022. If you’ve ever thought about starting your own business or side hustle, sign up to be notified.

If you’ve ever felt like an impostor, please know that you’re not alone. Most of us feel that way at some point in our lives. Even famously successful folks have admitted there are times they felt like a fraud.

* America Ferrera felt like no one believed she deserved to win an Emmy in the lead actress category in 2007 for Ugly Betty.

* Tom Hanks said that no matter what you’ve done, you always wonder when everyone will figure out you’re a fraud and take it all away from you.

* Maya Angelou experienced self-doubt and once said that although she has published more than ten books, every time she thinks, “Uh oh, they’re going to find out now.”

* Howard Schultz was the CEO of Starbucks for more than 30 years but said that almost no one feels qualified for the job of CEO.

* Emma Watson feels that she’s “fooled” people about her acting abilities.

In fact, up to 82% of people have experienced impostor syndrome (depending on the screening tool used). The condition was first identified in 1978 by the psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes. It’s common among both men and women and across various age groups.

I’ve certainly felt like an impostor at different points in my career. I would guess that many of you reading this have felt that way too.

Impostor syndrome can definitely hinder your career progress. When I experienced it, I found myself taking fewer risks, questioning my judgment, and doubting my talent. I dismissed my accomplishments as luck and worried that someone would eventually reveal that promoting me was a mistake.

Those who experience impostor syndrome struggle with self-efficacy, perfectionism, and neuroticism. Gee, thanks. Competitive environments in school and at work — and pressure from parents — don’t help the situation.

However, more seriously, it often co-occurs with depression, anxiety, and chronic procrastination. People suffering from it experience impaired job performance, poor job satisfaction, and sometimes burnout.

I know some people don’t take impostor syndrome seriously (I’ve read their articles about it). Yes, haven’t we all had bad days (or even weeks?) when we experienced doubt, felt like a fraud, and didn’t believe in our success?

But, like anything (e.g., occasional sadness vs. clinical depression), it becomes an issue when the feeling persists, and you almost always feel that way. Impostor syndrome can rob you of your confidence, motivation, and drive.

Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Why do we feel like impostors?

It begins long before you enter the working world. It reaches all new heights as you progress in your career, but it starts much earlier than that. Impostor syndrome doesn’t suddenly appear overnight.

It begins the moment in childhood when someone first told you — and you started believing — that you were somehow not enough.

* Who you are is not sufficient or acceptable.

* You need to be someone different to fit in, be accepted, and make friends.

* You need to behave and be perceived in a certain way to succeed.

So, you began creating layers of camouflage and defense.

* This layer makes me look smart.

* This layer helps me make friends.

* This layer protects me from bullies.

* This layer is how successful people look and behave.

* This layer is what everyone expects from me.

In their book, If I’m So Successful, Why Do I Feel Like a Fake? The Impostor Phenomenon (my Amazon affiliate link), Harvey and Katz called out three indicators of imposter syndrome:

1. Believing that one has fooled others into overestimating one’s own abilities.

2. Attributing personal success to factors other than one’s ability or intelligence, such as luck, extra work, charisma, or an evaluator’s misjudgment.

3. Fearing exposure as an imposter.

The cycle of feeling like an impostor and dismissing your success typically follows this pattern:

* You’re faced with a significant task.

* You doubt yourself and your ability to succeed at this task.

* You’re a perfectionist and fear failing at the task.

* So, you procrastinate because you feel overwhelmed.

* But, you pull it together at the last minute and work like crazy to get it done under immense time pressure, stress, and anxiety.

* Surprisingly, it turns out well, and you’re successful.

* But you don’t believe that you deserve that success. It only happened because you worked like crazy at the last minute and got lucky.

* You feel like there is no way you can repeat this success, so the cycle starts again with the next task.

Sound familiar? It sure does to me.

The good news is there is something you can do about it. Even though I lived with this feeling for most of my earlier academic and professional life, I found a way to manage my impostor syndrome (I’ll share some strategies later in this article).

I suspect that it may never disappear entirely. But, it has faded to a faint whisper that I’ve learned to ignore.

Why my impostor syndrome faded

I’ve been on a journey of personal career transformation for the past 11+ years, ever since I left my last corporate exec job in Silicon Valley tech. I want to tell you that I left my impostor syndrome behind when I left the corporate world. But, unfortunately, that’s not true.

Instead, it accelerated and climbed to all new heights as I pursued a new career as a strategic advisor and then founded my tech startup. I raised funding, incorporated the company, became the CEO, hired a team, and immediately experienced the crushing weight of feeling like I was in over my head.

Of course, I really was, as any honest startup founder will tell you. But, the impostor syndrome made the gut-wrenching fear, doubt, and anxiety almost unbearable. After a few years, my startup failed.

Shutting down the company was one of the saddest moments in my life. I went through a long period of darkness, as many founders do. I should have been honest about that and talked with someone. But I didn’t.

☎️ Let me take a moment and tell you that you shouldn’t suffer through something like that alone. There are online resources where you can get help.

The silver lining is that it forced me to completely reevaluate what I wanted to do with my career and life. Should I try again and spin up another startup? That’s the “Silicon Valley Cinderella” story we all love to read.

Should I even stay in tech? I had invested more than two decades in that career path, so leaving it seemed insane. 

Or should I set all of that aside and go deep on what I really wanted for my life. If I could live anywhere I wanted, doing what I really wanted to do, what would that look like?

I thought long and hard about who I was. Not who I wanted to be. Not who I may have aspired to be or even pretended to be. Not the layers upon layers of the “persona of me” that I had developed since childhood.

I dug deep until I got to who I am at my core:

* What I’ve always enjoyed doing.

* What I’ve always been good at doing. 

* Who I was before people began telling me what I should be.

* Also, admitting what I suck at doing and don’t enjoy doing. Ever.

* No more pretending.

I uncovered a few core truths, strengths, and talents, fully accepted them, and centered my new career (and business) on them to force my impostor syndrome to fade away. For example, I’m an explorer, lifelong learner, teacher, and relentless problem solver. I also believe in rescuing good people from bad situations (e.g., terrible jobs and bosses).

We all have different natural talents, strengths, and interests. Your core truths about who you are will be unique to you. I work with my clients to uncover theirs while pursuing their future career goals and life plans.

The point I’m trying to make is that someone else’s recognition or praise doesn’t generate your core truths. They can’t be taken away by someone else’s criticism, either.

* Failure doesn’t affect them.

* They are neither good nor bad.

* No one else can measure them.

* They don’t have a rating or score.

They simply exist. 

I stopped trying to be what I was not and would never be. I played the corporate game for many years. But, I finally decided that I could no longer pretend to be some heartless exec who was ok with good people getting laid off while some jackass got promoted for being a ruthless b*****d.

Whew! I guess I had to get that off my chest.

Instead, I focused on creating a life and career centered on my core truths.

You’ll notice that none of mine are about being a genius, wildly popular influencer, successful billionaire, or the world’s greatest leader. No one would ever compare me to Elon Musk or Steve Jobs.

Most importantly, I no longer compare myself to someone like that either. Or anyone else, for that matter.

My core truths are what they are, flaws and all. They aren’t particularly impressive, but I don’t need to pretend that I’m something I’m not. I’m honest about what my truths are and who I am.

Impostor syndrome exists when you fear that someone will discover your lack of fantastic talents and abilities. You worry that you’ll be revealed as a fake or fraud.

Maybe it’s part of growing older. Perhaps it’s part of leaving my past career behind. But, I no longer fear being exposed as lacking talent because I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most intelligent or most talented person in the room.

I’m ok with that. That’s not the value I bring to my relationships with others.

I’ve survived. I’ve made mistakes, and I’ve learned. I’ve found my way around obstacles to achieve goals (there’s that relentless thing again). I’ve had enough success that even I finally had to admit that it couldn’t all be due to luck.

I’ve had a good life, and I’m happy. I’ve figured out how this crazy world works, and now I want to help others make their way through it so that they can be happy too.

Six strategies for dealing with your impostor syndrome

It’s not unlikely that you have suffered from impostor syndrome. Maybe it comes and goes. Perhaps it makes you feel sick to your stomach every time you achieve success and fear that the whole facade will come crashing down.

However, there are ways you can manage your impostor syndrome. Here are six suggestions that might help:

* Remember that you’re not alone. Almost all of us experience it and feel like “frauds.” The next time you’re in a meeting, remind yourself that even the most seemingly confident person in the room (or on-screen) has moments of self-doubt.

* Accept that no one is perfect. I doubt that you expect others to be absolutely perfect. No one is expecting you to be perfect either. Side note: If someone does demand that you are perfect, you should question whether you want this person in your life.

* Recognize your achievements. The people who know you believe in you and what you’ve accomplished. It can’t all be luck when you’ve been successful more than a few times.

* Consider the source. External events and other people can trigger impostor syndrome. When that happens, consider the source of criticism. I remember one leader harshly judging my leadership skills. It bothered me a little until I considered the source and thought, “This person is a terrible leader. I don’t give a damn about their opinion.”

* Find your inner circle. I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s so valuable to join or create a group of supportive peers and advisors. When you doubt yourself, they will lift you up, cheer you on, and remind you of how great you are. That’s one thing that I do for my clients, and my Invincible Career community does that for members too. It’s an incredible feeling to have people believe in you.

* Finally, invest some time in deeply understanding yourself. What are the core truths about you that no one can take away?

Stop defining yourself by who you think you should be or the expectations others have placed on you. Stop letting others judge you on talents and skills you secretly feel you don’t genuinely have.

Instead, center yourself on the deep truths that have been core to who you are for as long as you can remember. Think back on your life. 

Reflect on your childhood to see the patterns. Talk with friends and loved ones who have known you for a very long time.

Your truths will reveal themselves as consistent threads that keep cropping up in how you work, live, and interact with others. They are a part of defining you as “you.”

The secret to eliminating impostor syndrome is to center yourself on who you truly are. Be radically honest about your strengths, talents, weaknesses, and flaws. It’s ok to be a normal human being.

Really, it is.

Discard the labels and assessments used to measure you by what you are not. You can’t be revealed as an impostor for something you no longer define yourself as being. It is incredibly liberating.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment”— Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m not saying that you don’t need other knowledge, skills, and experience to do your job well. Of course, you do. But they don’t have to define you. That’s an important distinction.

Your manager’s assessment of these skills (good or bad) should have no impact on your sense of worth. Your knowledge and skills are helpful tools. But they are not who you are.

I’m also not saying that you don’t need to make a good impression on others if you want them to hire you. But you don’t need to be fake. 

Being fake might get you in the door, but maintaining that facade will make you miserable. You’ll be much happier in your next role when it maps closely to your core truths and who you really are.

If you have other tips for managing impostor syndrome, please share them in the comments. There’s no reason any of us should suffer with it!

⬆️ Scroll to the top if you want to listen to my more detailed discussion of this article. 🎧

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I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

This week’s office hours topic

⭐ Write Your Self-review

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

📰 Interested in sponsoring an upcoming newsletter and reaching my community of ambitious professionals, leaders, job seekers, recruiters, and hiring managers? Contact me for more information about ad placements.

➡️ I’ll be launching my Employee to Solopreneur courses and private community in 2022. If you’ve ever thought about starting your own business or side hustle, sign up to be notified.

Right now, you may be dreaming about your holiday break, but thinking about how much you still need to get done in the next few weeks. I know the end of the year is busy, and it’s not easy to stay focused.

However, spending some time on this 16 task checklist is a worthwhile career investment to make. “Future you” will thank you later for making the effort.

In the early days of my corporate life, I thought my career growth would naturally sort itself out. Step up, do great work, and my manager would notice it and compensate me appropriately. Right?

However, that will only happen when you have an exceptional boss. If you’re lucky enough to have a manager who is on top of things and focused on developing your career, your hard work will be rewarded.

In other words, it rarely happens.

I discovered that it was more common for my manager to be too busy to notice everything I had accomplished. I learned that I had to take charge of my career development and advancement. No one cares more about your professional growth than you do.

I had to build the case for my raises and promotions. I had to be ready to make a significant change if things weren’t going to work out for me in the company.

I had to be prepared before the performance review cycle began. You should be, as well.

You still have the month of December to wrap things up before the big New Year’s Eve countdown. The list I created below will remind you of areas that might need your attention.

Plus, it will be a lot easier to get some of the required information and data before everyone slips away for their vacations. If you wait until January, it might be too late.

The 16 tasks focus on:

* Priorities

* Goals

* Accomplishments

* Failures

* Projects

* Additional responsibilities

* Success metrics

* Requesting feedback

* Testimonials

* Team contribution

* Industry involvement

* Professional growth

* New priorities

* New goals

* Personal goals and plan

* The Business of You

Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

1. Priorities

What were the corporate priorities for the year? How did those priorities trickle down to your organization? How did they translate into your priorities at work?

Some organizations have a formal process for identifying and communicating priorities. They require that you commit to your personal version of those priorities at the beginning of the year.

If that sounds like your company, you’re in luck. You already documented them.

If not, you have a little more work to do. Maybe you created them for yourself. Perhaps you didn’t. You may need to dig through a few emails or other communication channels to uncover what they were supposed to be for the year.

If your priorities changed during the year, this is the time to document why they changed. You don’t want your performance judged on past priorities that were made irrelevant at some point and for some reason.

Hopefully, you have a record of why the old priorities were dropped to focus on new ones. Regardless, be clear that things changed and what your real priorities were for the remainder of the year.

2. Goals

Your goals for each quarter — and the year — should have been directly related to the above priorities. What specific outcomes did you commit to so you could support those priorities? What were your overall goals for the year?

If you achieved or exceeded your goals, congrats! Document those accomplishments for the next task.

If you failed to achieve some of those goals, that will be captured later too. You will want to document why that happened. What was under your control, and what was not.

Were there other professional goals you wanted to achieve this year? If you haven’t entirely completed those yet, you still have a month to go. There is still time.

Be sure to capture these, as well, to have a complete picture of everything you accomplished.

3. Accomplishments

Create a full list of everything you accomplished professionally this year. You may need to go back and skim your calendar and message inbox to jog your memory.

If you keep a projects directory organized by date — something I highly recommend — you can browse that as well.

Obviously, your accomplishments are related to your committed priorities and goals for the year, as mentioned above. But, we all know that the one constant in life and business is change.

This is especially true as we are more fully embracing what it means to be an agile organization.

“Change is the only constant, and to turn one’s back and pretend that it is not coming is an exercise in futility” — Anthony Carmona

I remember creating one of my earliest self-reviews for a manager and being disappointed by the small list of completed accomplishments for the year. Only a fraction of the commitments made at the beginning of the year had survived.

Of course, this was because our priorities had changed almost every month. It was quite a turbulent time at Apple (right before Steve returned).

I learned that I had to take ownership of this situation and clearly explain how things had changed and pivoted. Then, I created a complete list of all of the other accomplishments that resulted from the change in focus.

Don’t be shy about what you claim as an accomplishment. They don’t always have to be formal projects that were tied to corporate priorities and goals. Include other professional and personal achievements that demonstrate your creativity, productivity, and growth.

4. Failures

Own your failures before they own you. This is your opportunity to control the narrative.

I learned this lesson early in my career, and it has always served me well. Own your story and tell your story the way you want it to be told before someone else does.

If it is genuinely your fault that you failed to accomplish a committed goal, step up, and own it. Don’t deflect responsibility. Don’t unfairly blame others. This only makes you look weak.

This becomes even more important as a leader. Your team will fail to deliver on commitments and miss targets. There will be myriad reasons this happened. But, as the leader, you own that responsibility. 

Never blame your team.

That being said, if there are circumstances that made failure inevitable, clearly state that. We never have 100% control over the outcomes for complex goals.

* Partners fall behind schedule.

* Competitors release products that steal your launch thunder.

* Market conditions affect consumer behavior.

Do your best to understand why the failure occurred. Explain the factors that impacted the outcome. Most importantly, document what you learned from all of this that will increase your chances of success next year.

Failure is inevitable. What separates the best from the rest is that they aren’t destroyed by failure. They learn, evolve, and grow.

5. Projects

Document every project you worked on during the year. Some of these will be planned projects that were tied to your goals and commitments. But, many will be unexpected projects that were put on your plate later.

Even if it was only a small contribution to help out a coworker, document it. Those efforts add up.

I know some people who were such great team players that they were always helping coworkers out but, sadly, were never recognized for it. Their formal list of projects was mediocre, but the value they added to the organization was tremendous.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Document everything you worked on so your manager understands how much you are contributing overall. Great leaders will have noticed your involvement, but most managers are so busy that they need to be reminded.

This is also an excellent time to keep adding to your portfolio of work. Portfolios aren’t just for designers. Everyone can benefit from documenting their project-based work and accomplishments.

I’ve worked with so many people who have struggled to build their portfolio long after the work was completed, or even after they had left the company. It’s hard to get the data and information you need later. Much harder.

Create a simple one-pager per project that explains:

* What the project was

* The role you played

* The problem statement

* The goal of the project

* The desired outcomes

* What work was done

* What was actually produced and launched

* What the actual results were

* The lessons learned

You can also document trade-offs that had to be made. This can help explain why a project didn’t turn out as you had hoped, and what you would do differently next time.

6. Additional responsibilities

It is all too easy to forget the little side projects and tasks that came up during the year. As you look at your list of formal projects, you might be thinking, “Is this all that I did this year? I sure seemed a lot busier!”

You feel that way because you were busy. But, you most likely took on additional work without thinking of keeping track of it all.

Go back and skim through your calendar of appointments. Scroll through your email and other messages. Browse your project directory.

There is often a good deal of work that a great employee performs that doesn’t neatly fit into a “project” definition. I mentioned assisting others with their projects in the previous section, but we often have fuzzier contributions that we make to our organization and company throughout the year.

Obviously, it is much easier to capture this long list of little things weekly or even daily. That’s something for you to remember next year. Keep a running list of all of the small tasks, activities, and contributions you make.

7. Success metrics

This is directly related to your project work for the year but focused on what actually launched. Documenting all of the success metrics is not just helpful for your performance review or making a case for your promotion; it’s also critical for constructing a more powerful resume and Linkedin profile.

Recruiters and hiring managers love to see examples of what you accomplished in your past jobs.

It’s pretty weak to have fuzzy statements that only speak to your job activities (e.g., “Created lots of spreadsheets”). It’s much more powerful to have examples of tangible success (e.g., “My project increased sales by 23%”).

I was a designer for almost nine years before I became involved in metrics, instrumentation, and analytics at eBay. Part of that was due to working on OS software before the rise of the Web. Part of it was due to corporate focus. eBay, for example, is a very data-driven company.

However, I still meet designers who don’t know what “needle” they are trying to move with their design work. This is a career-limiting mistake.

My move into leadership and Product was highly correlated with understanding how Design can help drive product and business success. Know your data!

If this is all new to you, it’s time to learn. There are so many resources available now, from free to paid courses.

In the meantime, work with a product manager, analyst, or business owner to get the data you need for your projects. This will be a lot easier now than later.

8. Requesting feedback

Proactively identify coworkers who can provide feedback on your work performance for the year. It might be tempting only to ask people for input when you are confident they’ll have great things to say about you. But, that’s not how you will learn and grow.

Also, your manager is sure to solicit input from the people who have worked most closely with you, whether you enjoyed interacting with them or not.

As with the Failures task, get ahead of the feedback. Reach out to the people you worked with and schedule a quick 30-minute meeting to ask for their input on how things went.

Some people will be comfortable doing this, but some will not. That’s ok. Meet with the folks who are willing, and let the others know that a few notes in an email would be helpful.

The very act of soliciting feedback and input on how you can improve yourself is a sign of professionalism. People will notice and appreciate it.

I always had the utmost respect for people who would sincerely ask me if there was anything they could do to improve our working relationship.

It’s not always possible to avoid negative interactions at work. You shouldn’t expect that everyone will be happy, want to be your friend, and never have any complaints about you.

However, we can all be professionals, realize that ultimately we’re on the same team, and want to help each other become the best at what we do.

9. Testimonials

So, this one is going to feel a bit strange for most of you who have always been employees. But, consultants, solopreneurs, and independent business owners are quite familiar with asking clients and customers for testimonials.

Why do we do it?

We seek them out because the opinions of 3rd parties tend to carry more weight than your personal assessment of your performance. Your manager will assume that you do have some bias, of course.

For the previous task, you asked a variety of coworkers for feedback. Some of it probably contained constructive criticism. You may have even encountered some negative feedback or complaints.

However, a few probably spoke glowingly about your performance and how you interacted with them and their team. Don’t be shy about asking for a few positive testimonials.

Ideally, you would do this throughout the year upon the successful completion of a project, big task, or other activities when you delivered value. Put this on your to-do list for the future.

But, it’s ok to ask for a testimonial or recommendation later. Believe it or not, I asked one of my managers from over 20 years ago to provide a testimonial on Linkedin.

Guess what? He gladly wrote one. I should have asked him for it two decades ago, but Linkedin didn’t exist then.

10. Team contribution

When I was a corporate manager, “contribution to the team” was one of the factors I evaluated when considering someone for a promotion. It’s a sign that someone is growing professionally and adding value to the organization above and beyond their primary work performance. People who do this regularly help everyone get better at what they do, and it elevates the entire organization.

This is similar to the previous points about the contributions you made beyond your assigned projects or work responsibilities. For example:

* Did you share useful research with your team?

* Did you acquire a new skill and teach others in the company?

* Did you learn something at a conference or workshop, and then share that knowledge with your colleagues?

Basically, document the times you made an effort to help others get better at their craft, mentored more junior employees, helped onboard a new employee, or invested your time and energy in improving the organization. It probably happened more often than you think.

Again, look back through your calendar and messages to jog your memory.

11. Industry involvement

When I used to discuss potential promotions with other corporate leaders, we talked about “expanding spheres of influence” for high-potential employees. If people consistently had influence at a level above their current role, it was one sign that they might be ready to move up.

When someone is just starting, their focus and influence are usually only with coworkers they collaborate with on projects. Over time, this sphere of influence expands to include their immediate department.

Later, they start having influence within the broader organization. Then, they start getting noticed and having an impact across the company. Eventually, they might become known at the industry level.

We all know a few people in our chosen professions who are known by almost everyone in the industry. You mention their names, and someone says that they attended one of their talks or workshops, read their articles, or watched one of their videos.

Document all of the times that you demonstrated your expanding sphere of influence. How were you involved with other members of your profession beyond the company? What did you contribute to the broader industry (e.g., articles, talks, panels, podcast interviews)?

12. Professional growth

What new skills and knowledge did you acquire this year? How did you invest in your professional growth? This could include conferences, talks, workshops, online courses, etc.

The beautiful thing about this type of investment is that it’s good for the company and it’s great for you. Everything you’ve done to grow professionally will make you more effective in your job, position you better for a promotion, and make you more desirable in the job market.

One area of professional growth you will always hear me recommend is to become comfortable with public speaking.

Warren Buffett once told a class of business students that he would pay anyone in the room $100,000 for 10% of their future earnings. If they were good communicators, he would raise his bid by 50% because public speaking would make his ‘investment’ more valuable (source).

As you look forward to the coming year, think about where you would like to continue investing in your professional development. Look for opportunities for your employer to either provide the training or pay for you to seek training outside of the company. Companies usually have a budget for this, but you will need to ask.

13. New priorities

Now, it’s time to look forward. This is your opportunity to demonstrate that you understand what’s important to your manager. It should also show that you know what’s important for the company.

What do you believe are the company’s new priorities? What will your organization focus on in the coming year? How does that translate into your new priorities?

A performance review is a look back, but making a case for a raise or promotion requires that you look forward. Junior employees tend to focus on priorities that personally affect them and their projects (e.g., “One of my priorities for the coming year to is to be a lead on a bigger project”).

However, senior employees and the ones who are operating at the next level — and are ready for a promotion — tend to see the big picture of what the organization needs and what the company thinks is critical.

For example, “In the coming year, my priority will be to successfully launch project XYZ, which will add $12M in recurring revenue for the company.”

14. New goals

Given these new priorities, what goals do you want to commit to for the coming year? What do you plan to accomplish?

You’ve learned a lot over the past year about making commitments, creating stretch goals, and the likelihood of achieving them. So, now you’ll be better at identifying goals that you have a higher likelihood of meeting and exceeding.

As with the priorities, your goals should reflect that you are thinking and operating at the next level. You will want to commit to goals that are meaningful for the company and your manager. More importantly, you need to translate these into goals that you are personally able to commit to and know can be measured.

Early in my career, I made some mistakes in choosing goals that weren’t entirely under my control, which meant that I could fail to reach them despite my best efforts. I also made mistakes with goals that weren’t easily tied to a quantitative measurement. That left the success or failure open to interpretation by my manager.

Do your best to commit to goals that are meaningful and ambitious, but you know you have a high degree of control over achieving them, and there will be no uncertainty about your success.

15. Personal goals and plan

You may not want to share this specific task with your manager, but you should definitely do it for yourself. What do you personally want to achieve in the coming year? This may or may not be aligned with your current role.

For example, your personal goal could be to get promoted to the next level, but that is impossible within your current company. So, you might make a plan to find a new job that will give you the growth opportunity you need.

I often ask my clients to create a 10-year goal, a 5-year goal, and a more focused goal for the next year. Over time, longer-term goals will evolve and change. That’s to be expected.

However, knowing where you ultimately want to land with your career and life will help you make tough decisions in the coming year. You may be faced with a few options that all seem like reasonable paths.

But, when you consider where you want to be in 10 years, one will emerge as being more aligned with that objective. Planning in reverse like this can be very useful.

A goal without a plan is merely daydreaming. It’s fun to think about, but not likely to magically come true on its own.

Map out what you need to do over the coming months to achieve your goal for the year. Create a plan for making progress towards your longer-term goals. Identify the weekly activities and daily habits you need to stay focused and on track.

Plans are more effective than goals. Daily habits are more powerful than plans.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Will Durant

16. The Business of You

I often rewrite and tune my elevator pitch that explains who I am, what I do, and who I help. Your personal life is certainly not static. So, you shouldn’t be surprised that your professional life evolves as well.

I call this “The Business of You,” and you may have noticed that phrase mentioned in a few of my past articles. It’s basically your professional value proposition.

* What value do you add to the company for your employer?

* Why should a new employer hire you?

* If you’re an entrepreneur or solopreneur with your own business, why should a customer purchase your products or services?

This statement shouldn’t be a long essay. Try to boil it down to one to three sentences at the most. Here are some one-sentence examples:

* I ensure that young couples never forget their wedding day by creating a stunning visual keepsake of their most magical moments.

* I help mobile app companies virally grow their customer base by designing uniquely addictive experiences.

* I help smart business owners save money when they acquire new customers by teaching them how to reduce their dependence on traditional advertising.

Be ready to hit the New Year running

Note: this exercise will be so much easier next year if you check in on these tasks at least monthly. Get into the habit of updating a document with your changes in priorities or goals, new and completed projects, and other notes you think will help you prepare your performance review.

In the old days, I used to keep a Word doc handy for this purpose. Now, I’ve switched to using Evernote so that I can easily make updates from my laptop or phone on the go, wherever I am.

Many companies kick off their performance reviews at the beginning of the year. Budgets are allocated. Decisions are made about investments, raises, and promotions.

You want to be ready to take advantage of this opportunity.

If you have your goals, plans, and data prepared, you’ll be better positioned to make a case for what you want out of the coming year. This might be a promotion, a raise, some training, conferences, or even getting ready to make the jump for a more significant opportunity somewhere else.

A quick tip

If you have a copy of your performance review from last year, you can use this as a starting point for writing your review this year. The structure of the review shows you what is important to capture.

However, if you’re new to the company or you don’t have a copy of last year’s review, ask your manager for a copy of the review template. If the process is all online (some of my review tools were), then ask for an overview of how your performance will be assessed.

Past reviews are also useful to measure your progress. For example, if last year’s review indicated that you had difficulty running productive meetings, you can demonstrate how you’ve improved your meeting management skills this year.

A “levels and expectations” document is also incredibly helpful when writing your review. If you are seeking a promotion, take a look at the performance expectations for the next level. Then, write your self-review to highlight examples of how you are meeting those expectations, thus illustrating that you are already performing at the next level.

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This week’s office hours topic

⭐ Capture Your Achievements for the Year

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

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The balance of power has shifted in the job market. Employers used to feel like they held all the cards and could make candidates jump through hoops. I remember some hiring managers saying, “People should feel lucky to work here.”

Well, well. How the tables have turned!

Now, the Great Resignation is upon us. 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September alone!

Companies are struggling to fill over 10M positions while potential workers look at the meager hourly pay and say, “No thanks.” Restaurants, retailers, and other businesses are reducing their operating hours or even closing their doors because they are short-staffed.

As a job candidate in this hot market, you now have the advantage. If you’re good at what you do, it should be reasonably easy for you to find multiple employers who would love to hire you.

If you’re in the market for a new job and I could give you one piece of advice, it would be this:

Make them fight for you!

You should be interviewing with more than one potential employer simultaneously. Speed up or slow down the process with each one to time everything, so you receive multiple job offers (e.g., “I need a few more days to consider your offer. I won’t be making a final decision until I receive offers from the other potential employers too.”)

The best way to receive the best compensation possible is to negotiate intelligently and firmly. But, most people feel bad about pushing their advantage when they are in the driver’s seat.

I get it. You’re a good person. But, there’s nothing wrong with wanting a fantastic job offer. There’s nothing wrong with being a strong negotiator to get what you deserve.

Let me tell you, employers didn’t feel guilty about taking advantage of the previous job market conditions to play candidates against each other, hire people at below-market compensation, and give employees meager raises that didn’t even keep pace with inflation.

However, if the thought of tough job offer negotiations makes you feel a little queasy, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most stressful phases of landing a new job.

It isn’t easy to push back and ask for what you want in just the right way. It can often feel like some complex strategy game where you don’t know all of the moves and consequences.

After all, the interview process itself is already pretty painful. Then, you’re supposed to argue back and forth with a recruiter and hiring manager about the offer? No wonder most people tap out and settle for less.

Yes, when you don’t negotiate hard enough, you are settling for less. That’s unfortunate because every new job is your most significant opportunity to boost your lifetime earning potential. Your biggest bumps in compensation — and often title — will happen when you have the best bargaining power.

When are you in the best position to bargain? Before you take the job.

But, for many of us, negotiation feels like conflict. It seems risky. If the other party gets upset and walks away, we lose the job. Or, we end up getting the job, and now we fear that our new boss is irritated with us.

However, there is hope. There is a way to reap the benefits of negotiation, even if you feel like it isn’t your strength. There’s a much easier way to let other negotiation experts work on your behalf.

How? By leveraging the power of competing offers.

Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Why Competing Offers Change the Game

It’s not uncommon for people to see their initial job offers increase the total comp by more than 50% when multiple companies compete for you. During one of my negotiations, a company moved the role up a level to sweeten the offer. A competing company increased the stock and doubled the signing bonus.

I was surprised by how easily this all happened when they began competing with each other vs. negotiating with me. When I decided and told the other company that I wouldn’t accept their offer, they bumped it up. I said “No” again, and they increased the offer even more! They couldn’t accept that I had decided to take the offer from another company.

Receiving competing offers increases your confidence too. You know that you’re in demand. You know that you have options. This usually lights up your negotiation skills, which you may have thought were lying dormant.

Some people only want to interview with one company at a time. Even after being warned that this weakens their bargaining position, they are uncomfortable setting up a competitive situation. They also find it stressful to be interviewing with multiple companies at once.

You may be able to succeed in getting the best job offer possible if you are a world-class negotiator, in the top 0.01% of your profession, and in such high demand that any company would pay anything to get you. But, most of us benefit greatly from a competitive process where companies are pitted against each other vs. directly negotiating with you alone.

If you feel like you could use the support from my community during this process, please join us. We’ve all been through multiple job interviews and offer negotiations during our careers. We’re here to help you get the best offer possible!

For example, we helped one community member negotiate $10,000 more for his base salary during a recent job interview. Is a $15/month investment worth an extra $10,000 every year? What do you think?

Before Your Interview

Sometimes opportunity does come knocking. That happened to me while I was working at Apple. I was happy about working there, and I wasn’t looking around. But, on the other hand, it wasn’t perfect either.

Times were tight, raises were meager, and promotions had slowed. So, when opportunity did knock in the form of an exciting startup, I listened. In the end, the offer ended up being so good that I decided to take it (i.e., it was a 50% raise).

I was new to Silicon Valley and the wonderful world of careers, so I made the mistake of not considering additional job interviews. However, I was lucky enough to have an awesome hiring manager at the startup who did the right thing and made me a fantastic no-hassle offer. Looking back at that and getting to know him better, I know that was a rare occurrence.

Perhaps you’ve reached a point where you know that you want to leave your current company for one reason or another. Some of the most common reasons that people want to quit include:

* The lack of a clear career path, often coupled with no upward movement for years.

* A bad or incompetent boss with no hope for change in sight.

* Feeling like your true potential isn’t being recognized, and your strengths aren’t utilized.

* Feeling like your work has no meaning or purpose.

* Being unhappy with the corporate culture and relationships with coworkers.

Looking for a new opportunity is time-consuming and quickly becomes chaotic when multiple companies are involved. It’s tempting to follow these steps in sequence:

* Find a company of interest.

* Secure an interview.

* Interview well.

* Get the offer.

* Negotiate the offer and propose a counteroffer.

* Receive the new offer.

* Make a decision.

* If you accept their counteroffer, you’re done!

* If you don’t get an offer or decide not to take it, move on to the next company.

* Start the next round of interviews.

However, this puts the entire burden of successful negotiation and counteroffer on your shoulders. Instead, if you turn this into a parallel process with multiple companies, you will have more than one offer to consider. Instead of the companies merely negotiating with you, they are now competing with each other.

So, before you start interviewing, line up multiple companies and interviews. It will be impossible to align their timelines perfectly, but put it all in motion. You want to receive an offer and be able to delay your decision-making long enough to receive additional offers for consideration.

The Interview

I’ve already written about how to be successful during the interview process and critical missteps to avoid. So, I won’t go into details about interviewing here.

Negotiation after a successful interview

Here is where I will radically depart from several helpful negotiation articles and books that already exist. I’ve learned to be much better at negotiation than I was many years ago. I had to up my game as an exec, founder, and business owner.

I also gained more of the confidence required. But, I don’t feel like I’m some master negotiator who can give you better advice than those articles and books already do.

However, I felt like I was so mediocre at negotiation many years ago that I had to find a way to sidestep the whole process and get a great offer regardless. You know that I’m a fan of bypassing traditional methods that are only for the company’s benefit. Let me tell you, the corporate job offer negotiation process isn’t structured to help you.

But, you know who is talented at negotiating because they do it almost every day? Recruiters and hiring managers. They make dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of job offers every year.

They know the game. They know the rules. Hell, they make the rules, and they know precisely when they can be bent and broken.

So, my strategy was to get multiple job offers in writing and let them battle each other. Get more than one company fighting to land you.

Do this well, and they are no longer negotiating directly with you, and you are no longer held hostage to your negotiation skills, confidence, and risk tolerance.

Be Honest

You don’t need to hide that you are interviewing with other companies and want to compare offers. Of course, you are in demand.

You also take career moves seriously and want to explore your options. The best candidates always have multiple companies courting them.

So, let the recruiter and hiring manager know that you are interviewing with multiple companies and have other job offers that you’d like to consider before you make a decision. However, do not say that you have competing offers when you don’t yet.

I experienced this with a few candidates when I was a hiring manager. It always backfires when someone isn’t honest.

Inevitably, the recruiter will ask you what your current compensation is and what your salary expectations are. They always do. The general advice is to avoid being the first to state a number during the negotiation since it can trigger an anchoring bias.

That’s great, but some recruiters refuse to budge. You probably have a number in mind, but you should research the current competitive salaries for the role and level. Levels is an excellent resource for Tech jobs. Glassdoor is ok, but the data isn’t quite as fresh. PayScale and Salary.com are also valuable resources.

Come up with a range acceptable to you and anchor yourself to the higher end of that scale. In the end, if one company’s offer falls within your range, but another company’s offer exceeds the range, they still need to compete with that offer and negotiate to stay in the game.

One other crucial thing to keep in mind is that everything is flexible. One company may move your role up a level (e.g., from Director to Sr. Director). Another company might double your signing bonus. Almost all of the companies can increase stock grants.

The conversation with the recruiter could go as follow.

Recruiter: “What are you currently making? What are your salary expectations?”

You: “If we both decide that this is a great fit, I’m sure we can be flexible. What is the salary band for this position?”

Recruiter: “I’m sorry, but I need a number from you first that I can take back to the hiring manager so that we know if we can meet your expectations.”

You: “Well, I’m certain that you’ll make me a competitive offer for this position.”

Recruiter: “But, what are your expectations? At least give me a range!”

You: “Ok, I can provide a range. I’ve done some research, and I think somewhere between $x and $y would be in the right ballpark. But, of course, I’ll need to consider the offers that I’ll be receiving from the other companies before I can make a decision.”

Now, they can’t just safely play within your range and call it a day. You will have other offers, and they will need to be competitive with those companies.

Be Professional

“Honest communication is built on truth and integrity and upon respect of the one for the other.” — Benjamin E. Mays

But, you should always be professional and respectful. Don’t use competing offers to threaten. Don’t say something like, “I’d prefer to work for company ABC, so I’m going to wait for their offer.”

Waiting for all of the other offers to come through is the right thing to do for your career, and it’s ok to be honest about that. You want to make the best possible career move.

The competing companies will up their game once they know you have other offers in hand. That’s one of the reasons you want to take this approach.

They are now going to do their best to compete for you and no longer try to edge slightly above your current job and compensation. They have invested a lot of time getting you to this point. So, they don’t want to risk losing you simply because they came in a few thousand dollars lower or didn’t sweeten the deal with a nice signing bonus.

Be Logical

Wait until you have the complete offer before you formulate your counteroffer. It is vital to have all the numbers to make an apples-to-apples comparison (e.g., level, base salary, annual or quarterly bonus, stock, signing bonus).

A complete offer also allows you to counter with a full proposal for improving their offer to exceed your competitive offers. You can also suggest other changes to the offer that would make it better for you.

As I mentioned earlier, one company making me an offer bumped the role up a level. Additionally, it gave them more flexibility in the base salary since the position was now in a higher band.

One of the most awkward negotiation phases is when you reply with your counteroffer, the company accepts, and now you are wondering if you should have asked for more. It feels greedy to counter yet again, and you shouldn’t. The nature of a counteroffer is that it represents what will get you to say “Yes” and sign the paperwork.

However, competing offers will often solve this problem for you. Yes, their counteroffer was acceptable yesterday. You would have been willing to sign, but company ABC just came back with an even better offer! So, can company XYZ beat that?

Be True to Yourself

What you want in your next job isn’t entirely about the compensation, of course. So, the best title and highest total comp won’t fully determine your final decision.

* You care about the work you’ll be doing.

* You want to work for a leader you respect.

* You want someone who can mentor you.

* You want colleagues you’ll enjoy working with.

* You want a career path at the company.

It is easy to be dazzled by a fantastic comp package and forget about some of the negative issues that would come with that job vs. a job at a more desirable company. That’s another reason that I like to use the spreadsheet that I describe next. It helps you stay focused on all of the factors that matter the most to you, even when the money temporarily distracts you.

Making Your Decision

As you start listing the critical factors in your decision, it becomes too much to hold in your head. The last time I did this, I finally decided to create a spreadsheet to make it easier to quantitatively rate and compare the offers.

Of course, there is an emotional component to the decision. You will have a gut feeling. But, I found that it helps to assess several factors as a gut check too.

If you want to try the spreadsheet I created to help people compare multiple job opportunities, you can download it here. The first 100 people get it for 50% off!

The spreadsheet includes 38 factors to consider in addition to base salary, bonuses, stock, job title, etc. I certainly didn’t think about all of these factors when I was starting my career. I learned about them the hard way.

It’s one thing to get a job. It’s quite another to be happy about that decision years later and experience incredible career growth there.

Some companies, leadership teams, and environments will accelerate your professional success. Some toxic situations and dysfunctional teams will set you back.

Here are a few examples of factors that I’ve learned are essential. I know that some of these are hard to assess from the outside. But, you can uncover some clues about companies and leadership teams if you know where to look.

How much of an impact can this role have at the company?

I’ve witnessed people get a job with a great title and compensation, but then they were sidelined because they ended up reporting to a manager who had no juice at the company. Their manager’s poor reputation affected the team.

Or, they ended up working on a dead-end product with poor visibility to senior management. It’s hard to get noticed and have your hard work be appreciated when you’re assigned to something that the execs don’t think is important.

How talented is the broader team?

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” ― Jim Rohn

We end up spending a lot of our waking hours at work. You will end up spending most of your time with coworkers.

If you are an “A player” on a C-player team, you will not learn much from them. You wouldn’t grow as much as you could if surrounded by intelligent and talented people who will challenge you and help you become even better at what you do.

What is the corporate culture, and how are the politics at the company?

Some people thrive in competitive environments where employees argue in meetings, fight over resources, and climb over others to get to the top. Other people shut down and shrink when exposed to such cutthroat behavior.

You know who you are, how you expect people to behave and treat each other, and what environment helps you do your best work and thrive. Make sure the companies you are considering are set up for that.

How do you feel about your potential manager, your manager’s manager, the C-level executives, and the Board?

If you’ve been in the working world for some time, you already know that your boss can either make your working life pleasant or a living hell. A supportive boss who mentors you and actively guides you in your career growth can make all the difference in your future path. But don’t forget to look up the leadership chain too.

* Are they good leaders?

* Do they make smart decisions?

* Do they have a track record of success at past companies?

* Do you respect them, or are they the kind of people who may damage your professional brand?

What is my potential career path at the company, and — more importantly — what is the career path for someone like ME?

One of the main reasons people quit jobs is the lack of a clear career path. A surprising number of companies haven’t formally invested in creating one for their employees!

Why wait until you have accepted an offer and you’re inside the company to find this out? You can ask this question either in the interview process or during negotiations.

When considering a big career move many years ago, I interviewed multiple companies and received offers from each. One company had a way higher total comp over four years vs. another one.

However, the more I explored and learned how someone like me in that role would be treated within that company, it was clear that my career path would be limited there, or it would be an arduous struggle to move up. There was no track record of success for people like me there.

But, my career path at the second company was much clearer. There were examples of individuals like me succeeding and moving up into higher roles at the executive level.

Career mobility was essential to me, and it made all of the difference in my next moves. I knew where I eventually wanted to take my career and the path at the second company enabled that, even though the comp wasn’t as good.

It was such a hard decision, but it was the right decision. I’m glad that I made it.

Good Luck!

Remember, never decline another offer until you’ve signed the written offer for the job that you want. I’ve seen verbal job offers disappear at the last minute due to org changes, leadership moves, frozen reqs, etc.

You can celebrate once you have formally accepted, signed, and returned the offer. Then you can respectfully inform the other companies that you are declining their offers because you decided to take a different job.

I wish you the best of luck with your next career move! I hope that you take advantage of the power of multiple job offers to make your life a little easier during the negotiation process. I also hope that the spreadsheet can help you make a decision that you will be happy with later.

⬆️ Scroll to the top if you want to listen to my more detailed discussion of this article. 🎧

Do you have a friend or family member who might benefit from this job search and offer negotiation strategy? Feel free to share it with them!

Ready to join my private community?

Subscribe now, and I’ll send you an invitation to join my private community of ambitious professionals who help each other become more successful and fulfilled in their working lives. Once you’re in, you’ll be able to participate in our exclusive office hours every week and chat with the other members and me every day!

Are you ready to turn a $15/month investment into thousands of dollars of increased income every year? That’s precisely what has happened for many people in my community.

However, I do know that not everyone is ready to become a paid subscriber yet. But, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

This week’s office hours topic

⭐ Ready for the Final Push?

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

📚 I’m creating a series of courses, live coaching, and a peer community to help guide people on a journey from Employee to Solopreneur. The launch date will be in 2022. If you’ve ever thought about starting your own business or side hustle, sign up to be notified. If you have a friend who might be interested, please feel free to share the link with them too. Thanks!

If you’re reading this newsletter, you definitely have some reasons to feel grateful. If nothing else, you have access to the internet and a computer or phone.

I’m sure you probably have many more reasons to feel grateful. But I don’t know you, so I can’t go much beyond those assumptions.

I do too, but I sometimes forget how lucky I am and the many wonderful things I have in my life. I should feel gratitude every minute of every day, but instead, I frequently feel like I’m lacking. I’m disappointed in myself, impatient for results, and always wanting something more.

* I want my business to grow faster.

* I want more subscribers to this newsletter.

* I want more podcast listeners.

* I want more people in my community.

* I want to write more books.

* I want everything to progress more quickly and smoothly.

If you’re ambitious and driven, you tend to focus most on what you don’t have and want to achieve. You get frustrated by the gap between reality and your expectations. It’s easy to fall into the trap of “Woe is me” and “Why can’t my life be like…?” thoughts.

It’s ok to be ambitious, push yourself to achieve more extraordinary things, and want more out of your life and career. But, it becomes a problem if you focus too much on your frustrations and end up whining and complaining (even internally). It’s not healthy to dwell on what you don’t have and lose sight of how much you do have and how lucky you really are.

Things could always be worse. Always. And, many, many people have it way worse than you or I do. We sometimes lose sight of that.

Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The Power of Gratitude

“A good life happens when you stop and are grateful for the ordinary moments that so many of us just steamroll over to try to find those extraordinary moments.”— Brené Brown

There is power in the expression of gratitude. Research has shown that feeling grateful is associated with:

* Greater happiness, joy, and optimism

* Better coping skills to defer stress

* Improved progress toward personal goals

* Enhanced self-esteem

* Increased generosity and empathy

* Building and maintaining stronger social relationships

* Better physical health, fewer aches and pains, and deeper sleep

* Higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, attentiveness, determination, and energy

There are plenty of articles and books (my Amazon affiliate link) on the topic of personal gratitude. For example, this article has several excellent suggestions for expressing gratitude, being more mindful, and even a gratitude challenge.

I don’t think I need to tell you how to show your friends and loved ones that you’re grateful. But, I think we sometimes forget to extend this to the people we work with every day and those we encounter in our professional lives.

How to express gratitude professionally

You might be thinking, “Gratitude is gratitude. I already see a lot of expressions of it in the workplace.” But is it really the type of genuine gratitude that leads to the many benefits I listed above? In my decades of professional experience, I haven’t seen that much of it.

Sure, people will give a cursory “Thank you” when you help them or complete a task. Leaders send an email blast to the entire company — right around this time of the year — to tell everyone they appreciate all of their hard work (but also remind y’all that there’s even more hard work ahead). Your boss might even say, “Well done!” when you complete a project ahead of schedule.

I'm not talking about the lazy leader approach or the knee-jerk “Thanks” from a coworker. I’m talking about a meaningful and personal expression of gratitude for someone that shows you really know them and how they’ve positively impacted your life.

You can begin by making a list of people you would like to acknowledge. For example, you can export your Linkedin connections to capture your professional contacts. Create a spreadsheet using that list as the starting point to have a simple relationship management tool.

Then:

* Add more names (i.e., people you aren’t connected to on LinkedIn).

* Add columns for other relevant info (e.g., who they are, how you met, what they do, what influence they had on your life, etc.).

* Add columns to track when you last contacted them and the method of communication (e.g., an email to say, “Thanks”).

Below are the 9 types of people you may want to reconnect with to express your professional gratitude. Doing this will also boost the power of your network and professional relationships. But, more importantly, this act of appreciation is good for both of you!

1. Past educators

Do you have a teacher or professor who made a difference in your life? Have you told them how much they helped you or influenced your career path?

I’m sure they’d love to hear from you! I know it’s probably been quite a few years since you last saw them, but it’s never too late to express gratitude.

For example, I left a “Thank You” note on one professor’s office door a few years ago. He was a terrific educator and guided me in my decision to pursue graduate school. I hadn’t seen him in about 27 years! But, it felt good to acknowledge him and let him know how much it meant to me.

2. Past bosses

Think back to your bosses and managers who played a part in your achievements and professional growth. Take a moment to write down some thoughts about how they helped you and how much you appreciate that.

Then, let them know. You could tell them in person (e.g., if you still see them around), send an email, or mail a physical thank-you note.

I can count on one hand the leaders I’ve worked for who really made a positive difference in my life. I sent a message to one person to let them know how much I appreciated what they did for me, even though it had been ~20 years ago. Guess what? They were happy to hear from me, and it made their day.

3. Past colleagues

Similarly, I’m sure there are some fantastic colleagues and coworkers from your past too. You probably enjoyed working with a few people and remember them fondly. Well, it’s time to let them know.

I know we sometimes feel too shy to express gratitude in person. It becomes more comfortable with time and distance.

But, take the time to do it. People always appreciate the gesture.

4. Past employees

Even if someone no longer works for you, you can still tell them that you appreciate what they did for you and the team. Expressing gratitude to an employee doesn’t stop when their employment with you ends.

Most of us work in small industries, and our paths cross again. If you enjoyed working with someone, let them know. It’s even easier when they’re no longer on your team since you can be completely open about it (e.g., no worries about playing favorites with your current employees).

5. Current leaders

It is undoubtedly a bit more challenging to express genuine gratitude to your current manager or more senior leaders in your organization. You do not want to look like you’re “kissing up” and trying to curry favor.

You should only do this if you genuinely mean it and have specific examples of what you appreciate about them. In some ways, you can look at this as “coaching” your boss. You’re providing positive feedback and letting them know that something they’ve done is noticed and valued.

As a leader, I can tell you that it’s rare for an employee to sincerely thank you for the role you play. Insincere flattery happens all too often, and it gets old. Genuine gratitude is always appreciated when it comes with positive feedback that can help guide you in your leadership development. We already get enough negative feedback. 🤣

6. Current employees

Again, it’s more challenging to express genuine gratitude to your current employees. But, you can think of this almost like a performance review with only the positive feedback element.

Do not take this time to add “areas for improvement”! Save that for the official performance review.

Be very specific about why you are grateful for each employee in a 1-on-1 conversation or message. Don’t do the lazy email blast to the entire team (e.g., “Thank you all for your amazing effort this quarter!”). Share examples of things the employee has done that make you glad that they are on your team.

7. Current colleagues

It’s a little easier to express gratitude to your current colleagues than to your boss and employees. It’s not as tricky to navigate.

Think about the coworkers you enjoy working with and value. It can be people in your same organization, of course, but don’t forget people in other orgs who have supported you.

For example, I’ve been lucky to work with some amazing people in HR, recruiting, PR, marketing, legal, community, sales, etc. Work is stressful and demanding! People love hearing that they’ve made a difference and that you appreciate them.

8. Advisors, mentors, and coaches

It may seem obvious that you should also take time to thank any advisors, mentors, and coaches who have guided you during your career. But, you’d be surprised by the number of mentees that never bother to express gratitude.

Some people forget that advisors and mentors are often taking time out of their busy schedules to help others for free. They are doing you a huge favor!

So, if you’ve been fortunate enough to have someone play this role for you, it makes sense to let them know how much you appreciate them. Just send a quick message along the lines of, “Hi, I don’t know if I’ve ever fully expressed how grateful I am for your mentoring. Thank you for taking the time to give me feedback and help guide me in my career decisions. I appreciate your help!”

9. Friends in your professional community

Finally, I hope you have friends you appreciate in your professional life. I have what I would call my “inner circle” of trusted people who are my confidants. Everyone needs people they can turn to for advice, feedback, and even a little sympathy.

Work can be rough at times. So, it’s helpful to have friends in your profession and industry who “get it” and can commiserate from time to time.

Let them know that you are grateful for their friendship and appreciate them. Hopefully, they already kind of know this, but everyone enjoys being appreciated.

Expressing my gratitude

“I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness - it's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude.”— Brené Brown

Writing this article allowed me to reflect on what I’m grateful for in my life. I needed this exercise just as much as anyone else.

I’ve been feeling down more than usual lately. More frustrated, irritated, and stressed. So, I took a few minutes and captured my thoughts on gratitude and the good things in my life.

Here is what came to mind:

* I’m grateful to you. Thank you for making time in your schedule to read my newsletter and listen to my podcast. I know you have a busy life, so I want you to know that I appreciate you giving me some of your valuable attention.

* I’m grateful to my premium subscribers and clients. You are why I created this business, and I hope to keep serving you for many more years to come. Your patronage makes it possible for me to write, record the podcast, and build my coaching practice.

* I’m grateful to my loving wife.

* I’m grateful for my amazing children.

* I’m grateful for my health.

* I’m grateful that I’m able to work and provide for my family.

* I’m grateful that I created a business I love that allows me to work remotely.

* I’m grateful to my loving parents, who raised me to be independent. They also showed me how to be a good father through their actions.

* I’m grateful for the friends who have stuck by my side as my life and career have changed over the years.

Thank you, again, for reading my newsletter and articles. I appreciate you.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration and can take some time to relax with your friends and family. Enjoy!

⬆️ Scroll to the top if you want to listen to my more detailed discussion of this article. 🎧

Do you have a friend or family member who could benefit from expressing gratitude a little more often? They might enjoy this article and podcast episode. Feel free to share it with them!

Ready to join my private community?

Subscribe now, and I’ll send you an invitation to join my private community of ambitious professionals who help each other become more successful and fulfilled in their working lives. Once you’re in, you’ll be able to participate in our exclusive office hours every week and chat with the other members and me every day!

Are you ready to turn a $15/month investment into thousands of dollars of increased income every year? That’s precisely what has happened for many people in my community.

However, I do know that not everyone is ready to become a paid subscriber yet. But, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

This week’s office hours topic

⭐ How to Grow Your Video Audience

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

Welcome to Invincible Career — a newsletter by Larry Cornett that helps ambitious professionals live better lives. If you find this article helpful or interesting, consider sharing it with a friend or two. If you’ve been reading and enjoying my newsletter for a while, consider a premium membership that gives you access to my private community, weekly office hours, and exclusive professional development prompts and challenges!

My guest for this episode is Joan Kennedy. She is a multi-award-winning international artist, illustrator, and published children’s author. 

Everything she creates is inspired by a deep desire to acknowledge and admire the beauty of our animal kingdom, which she believes should be protected at all costs.

Her unique style reflects the movement and energy of the animals she enjoys to paint. Mixing watercolour and vibrant inks she tries to capture the essence of the animal with each brush stroke.

She was selected as only one of six businesses in the U.K. to curate a body of work and go on various funded exhibitions to China — winning best exhibit award. She has also exhibited at the British Embassy in Prague.

Her work features in exclusive galleries throughout China and she has collectors throughout the globe.

You can find Joan and her work here:

* Joan Kennedy Artist website

* Joan Kennedy on Instagram

* Her Facebook

We talk about:

* Her initial job that wasn’t fully utilizing her creative talent.

* Her first business teaching children through music.

* Why she finally decided to follow her artistic dreams after putting them off for many years.

* The incredible success she’s had with her creative business!

* The advice she shared with her daughter.

Key points from our conversation

I want to call out a few points from my conversation with Joan to consider if you feel like you’re not living up to your potential or leveraging your true talents in your job. She also talked about the importance of following your dreams.

Don’t settle

Joan didn’t begin her working career as an artist. She started working for P&O Transport in Dublin, Ireland. She got married and moved to England. There, she taught children through music for 19 years (her first business).

Her painting was more of a hobby when she lived in Dublin (although she sold over 50 paintings then). But, she stopped when she moved to the UK because she was extremely homesick. Her creative spirit was blocked.

However, she finally decided that she would always regret not trying to make a go of it as a full-time artist, and it was too much to keep running two businesses (music and art). So, she focused on what she loved the most and put all of her energy into it. It was really difficult, she almost gave up, and it took years for her to make it work — but it’s now a successful business.

Leverage your talent

It’s frustrating to have a valuable talent you’re not fully utilizing. I know musicians, writers, artists, etc. wish they could spend their days doing what they love, and find a way to make living with that talent.

Unfortunately, most creative folks have a completely different day job that pays the bills. They spend 8 hours at work and try to squeeze in time for their creative explorations in the evening and on weekends.

There’s no better feeling than being able to fully express your talent, invest time every day in getting better at it, and being able to make a living with those skills. It may take years to plan a path to that goal, but, as Joan said, it’s worth it.

Be proactive

When you listen to this episode, you’ll hear how proactive Joan was about promoting her work. She didn’t just produce her art and hope that someone would take notice.

She’s applied multiple times to have her work featured and exhibited around the world (e.g., China, the Czech Republic). She was selected as one of only six creative businesses to have her work curated in the U.K. and featured in the British Embassy in Prague. None of this would have happened if she hadn’t stepped up to submit her art.

Waiting and hoping isn’t a very powerful career strategy. If you want things to happen in your life, you have to be proactive and take action to pursue your goals and dreams.

⬆️ Scroll to the top if you want to listen to our entire conversation, and hear more of Joan’s story! 🎧

Do you have a creative friend or family member who wants to make a living doing more of what they love? They might enjoy this article and podcast episode. Feel free to share it with them!

Ready to join my private community?

Subscribe now, and I’ll send you an invitation to join my private community of ambitious professionals who help each other become more successful and fulfilled in their working lives. Once you’re in, you’ll be able to participate in our exclusive office hours every week and chat with the other members and me every day!

Are you ready to turn a $15/month investment into thousands of dollars of increased income every year? That’s precisely what has happened for many people in my community.

However, I do know that not everyone is ready to become a paid subscriber yet. But, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

This week’s office hours topic

⭐ Record, Edit, and Publish a Video

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

Welcome to Invincible Career — a newsletter by Larry Cornett that helps ambitious professionals live better lives. If you find this article helpful or interesting, consider sharing it with a friend or two. If you’ve been reading and enjoying my newsletter for a while, consider a premium membership that gives you access to my private community, weekly office hours, and exclusive professional development prompts and challenges!

Several years ago, I made a mistake.

I declined an early-morning meeting, and the person scheduling it asked me why I couldn’t make it. I shared the details of my existing commitment with him. He said, “Oh! Well, this meeting is much more important than that. Cancel your other commitment.”

I will never let that happen again. How I choose to prioritize my time is my decision. Only I understand the reasoning and the tradeoffs I want to make.

After that day, I forever changed how I manage my time and communicate with people who want a slice of it. I know that my time is a finite precious resource, and I’ll never have enough of it to do the things that matter most unless I fiercely protect it.

Does anyone ever feel like that they just have extra time lying around? I doubt it. Pretty much every person I know says there aren’t enough hours in the day.

How about you? Does any of this ring true?

* I feel like I can never catch up at work.

* 41% of people spend time on tasks they don’t enjoy that don't really get work done.

* I will never complete my growing to-do list.

* Only 2.5% of people can multitask effectively (i.e., they’re supertaskers).

* I’m so tired! I never get enough sleep.

* Over a third of U.S. adults don’t get enough sleep. 

* I’d like to spend more time with my family and friends, but I have too much to do.

* 56% of employed parents say it’s difficult to balance the responsibilities of job and family.

* I’d like to exercise and eat healthier, but I’m too busy.

* 67% of Americans say they don’t have time to exercise as much as they’d like.

* I want to take more time off to enjoy life, but I can’t.

* 60% of U.S. adults say they sometimes feel too busy to enjoy life.

Saying Yes can be a problem

There are only 24 hours in a day. You cannot create more time. 

You can’t keep robbing yourself of sleep, either. That’s not sustainable or healthy. 

You can try to work faster and be more efficient. There are tons of books on productivity tricks and hacks. But that will only help a little. 

The real solution is to do less. You have to say no to things that eat up your time to make room for more important things. 

I know this isn’t a revolutionary concept. You know that you should be saying “No” more often. 

However, if you’re like most of us, that’s easier said than done. You’re thinking it, but you’re not really doing it. 

Why? Well, we often bite our tongues and say “Yes” because:

* We want to be kind and helpful. 

* We don’t want to appear selfish or rude. 

* We’re afraid to upset our bosses. 

* We don’t like conflict. 

* We don’t want to disappoint others. 

* We hope that saying “Yes” now will benefit us later. 

In some cases, there are valid reasons to take on more work, tasks, and activities even when we wish we could decline. There are times that doing more is necessary to push through and get things done, get ahead at work, or take care of your loved ones. 

However, your time isn’t infinite, and you still need to consider what you’re taking on and who you’re helping. You have to ruthlessly prioritize and rank the demands. 

Also, I would bet you’re still saying “Yes” to requests that aren’t worth it. There are dozens of things that you should start declining to reinvest your time in better ways. 

I’m just as guilty as most people. I like to help others. I don’t enjoy conflict. I feel guilty about saying “No” when someone wants a little of my time. 

But I’ve lived long enough to see how it all plays out, over and over again. I’ve experienced how prioritizing the needs of others leaves less time for my loved ones and me. 

I’ve also learned that it’s a bottomless pit. You could spend every minute of every day giving away your time, and it would never be enough. 

Keep doing that, and you’ll burn out. You must take care of yourself too! 

Have you heard that cheesy metaphor of putting on your oxygen mask first before helping others? It’s a little goofy, but it’s true. 

You can’t help other people if you let yourself crash and burn. So, below is my list of things you should stop doing to reinvest that time in yourself and more important activities.

Invincible Career® is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Say No to These 20 Things

The hard part is saying “No” and sticking to that decision. But, it’s even harder to do that and not feel guilty about it.

However, let me tell you something. The most successful people in the world say “No” to hundreds or even thousands of requests every week. It doesn’t hurt them. In fact, it’s one of the primary reasons that they are successful.

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”— Warren Buffett

1. Accepting pointless meetings

I worked in Tech for decades, and one of the most common complaints is that there are way too many meetings. As an exec, I used to spend my entire day in conference rooms. As an individual contributor, it’s hard to get your work done if you spend your whole day on Zoom. It’s ok to decline meetings when you know that your presence isn’t essential.

2. Traditional networking events

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never enjoyed — or gotten much value out of — traditional networking events. They are a considerable time-waster since you could easily spend several hours at one and walk away with nothing. There are smarter ways to build a powerful network.

3. Unnecessary business trips

Travel can certainly be enjoyable. I cherish many of the business trips I’ve taken around the world. But, too much travel can be grueling and a waste of time. I remember a few trips that didn’t accomplish much beyond what could have been handled with a few conference calls or Zoom meetings. Learn how to say “No” to unnecessary and unpleasant travel.

4. Excessive social events 

As an introvert, it doesn’t take much for me to exceed my limit of social events. But, even if you’re extroverted and enjoy them, there can be too much of a good thing, and it will quickly eat up your time. Say “No” when you know that you could spend that time doing something more important.

5. Long parties

This is the time of year for holiday lunches, dinners, and parties. Yes, you sometimes need to make an appearance (e.g., at your company’s holiday party). But, you don’t have to stay until the bitter end. Plan your party strategy for attending for a little while, talking with the right people (e.g., your boss), and making a gracious exit.

6. Endless school functions

What’s up with all of the school activities and events? I can tell you that my parents didn’t spend a fraction of the time at my school that parents are expected to spend today. Yes, you absolutely should attend your children’s games, plays, etc. But, I know there are other events that they would be happy to skip — and you should too.

7. Making time for a quick chat

It seems like everyone on LinkedIn just wants a “quick chat” lately. Someone connects with me, sends an introductory message, and then drops the “Hey, I would love to hop on a quick call with you to talk more about what I do.” I used to make time for a few of these. I also used to be super polite with the banter back and forth about how I didn’t need whatever they were selling. Now, I make it clear that I have no time for it and occasionally block people. My time is too valuable.

8. Letting people “pick your brain”

I wouldn’t be a business advisor and leadership coach if I didn’t like helping people. I spent many years giving people advice, meeting for lunch to help someone with a tough decision, and saying yes to requests to “pick my brain.” But, it became too much and left me very little time for my own work. Put a limit on how often you let people pick your brain, and seriously consider setting up paid calls to access your precious time and wisdom.

9. Getting pulled into drama

I used to get pulled into so much drama when I worked in an office. It happens less often now that I primarily work at home, but you’d be surprised. Virtual drama over messaging and Zoom is still a significant time sink. It’s good to help people and support them, but there’s a line beyond which you end up wasting too much time listening to someone mope, moan, and complain without them taking action to solve anything.

10. Keeping up appearances 

When you catch yourself saying, “I have to do this because everyone else does,” take a hard look at why you feel that way. All too often, we waste time on activities because we want to be perceived a certain way by friends and neighbors.

11. Tasks you should delegate

I would bet there are several tasks you’re still doing every week that could easily be handled by someone else. I’m a bit of a control freak, so I get it. One of my challenges as a leader was letting go of work that I knew I should delegate to my team. But, once you finally do, you’ll be amazed at how much time you recover.

12. Being guilted into events

We’re sometimes guilted into events by our family (e.g., a family reunion), but it can occur with friends too. You should only attend events when you really want to vs. when you feel forced to do so. Don’t let guilt steal precious time from your life.

13. Saying “Yes” out of fear 

How often do you say “Yes” to a request from your boss because you’re afraid of potential negative repercussions if you say “No”? I know that I’ve done that. It can be a fear of being fired, not getting promoted later, or your manager’s disappointment. But, that’s no way to live. If you’re overloaded and overworked because of fear, you have to overcome that to manage your time. Or, it might be time for a change (e.g., find a better job where you don’t have to live in fear).

14. Working for exposure 

The game of “working for exposure” is one that consultants, designers, and writers will often be asked to play. Someone is too cheap to pay you what you’re worth, so they promise that the exposure will be fantastic. It never is. Say “No” to this trap.

15. Busy work

Some work will help you grow and advance, but some projects are below your skill level and simply keep you busy. Busy work is a waste of time. It won’t help you shine and get promoted. Have a strategy for taking on work that matters and alternative solutions for low-ROI projects and tasks (e.g., delegating to a more junior colleague).

16. Volunteering too much

Some people want to be good citizens and raise their hands to volunteer way too much at work (e.g., planning parties, scheduling events, designing a team t-shirt). Yes, it’s good to step up occasionally and help with tasks that fall outside your job description. But, do it too often, and you’ll find yourself drowning and falling behind in your expected work.

17. Responding immediately

Communication via email, texting, and online messaging has exploded over the past decades. There’s an “always-on” expectation, and it’s easier than ever for people to reach you 24x7 and fragment your attention. Resist the urge to respond immediately to every single message. Instead, batch the activity and reply when you want to dedicate time to it.

18. Excessive multitasking

I know that the modern job requires quite a bit of multitasking. But, we often take it to extremes. We feel like we can do it all and still be effective. The truth is, we cannot (remember the stat that only 2.5% of people are supertaskers?). If you want to reduce your stress, feel less tired, and get more quality work done, focus on one or a few things at a time.

19. Commuting for a job

This may no longer be an issue for you if you’re working from home forever or have a short commute. But, I used to spend over 625 hours a year on the freeway before I finally left my corporate job behind. The world has changed significantly in the past two years. If you’re tired of wasting time on your daily commute to the office, there are better options now.

20. Apologizing for saying no

Finally, you need to say “No” to apologizing for saying No. It’s human nature, I guess. I still catch myself doing it. “Sorry, I don’t have the time to do that.” But, you don’t need to be sorry for making yourself a priority. You don’t need to apologize for treating your time like the precious resource that it is.

How to say No

How you say “No” to a request for your time depends on the request and who the requestor is. It’s easier to decline a meeting request from a stranger on LinkedIn than tell your boss that you don’t want to take on a new project.

You will need to be more thoughtful about your response to your manager, which may require a deeper explanation and offering alternatives. But, saying “No” falls into these major categories.

I don’t do that

In some cases, a request will be at odds with your values, beliefs, and priorities. You could potentially fulfill the request, but you don’t want to. Not now and not ever.

For example:

* “No, thank you. I don’t do that kind of work.”

* “No, thank you. I’m no longer accepting this type of meeting.”

You can decide if you want to explain why or leave it at that.

I can’t do that

In other cases, you can’t fulfill the request because it is beyond your capabilities, not within your power, or otherwise impossible. It’s not a choice of doing it or not, you simply cannot, and it will be a waste of your time to try.

For example:

* “No, I’m not the right person for that task.”

* “No, I don’t have the power to make that decision. You’ll need to talk with Susan.”

* “No, I can’t attend that meeting in person since it would be a 4-hour drive.”

I have other commitments

There will be times when you decide to prioritize existing commitments over something new that demands more of your time. You can’t keep putting new things on your plate.

For example:

* “No, my time is already fully allocated to other priorities, and I can’t take on any additional work.”

* “No, I already have a commitment at that time… What is it? It’s personal.”

* “No, my schedule is full, and I’m not accepting any new meetings.”

Not now, but later

Finally, there will be times that you would like to accept a request but simply don’t have the time right now. In those cases, you can negotiate.

For example:

* “I’d be happy to accept this project, but it will have to wait until next Friday when I finish my commitment to this current project.”

* “My schedule is full this week, but I’d be happy to talk with you next Wed.”

I think you get the idea. The big takeaway is that you should be the one owning your time and deciding how you allocate it. You get to prioritize your activities and how you schedule things.

Take control, stop saying “Yes” to everything, say “No” when necessary, and negotiate when appropriate. When you eliminate the wrong things, it makes more time for the right things.

⬆️ Scroll to the top if you want to listen to my expanded discussion of this article. 🎧

Ready to join my private community?

Subscribe now, and I’ll send you an invitation to join my private community of ambitious professionals who help each other become more successful and fulfilled in their working lives. Once you’re in, you’ll be able to participate in our exclusive office hours every week and chat with the other members and me every day!

Are you ready to turn a $15/month investment into thousands of dollars of increased income every year? That’s precisely what has happened for many people in my community.

However, I do know that not everyone is ready to become a paid subscriber yet. But, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

This week’s office hours topic

⭐ Identify Your Video Theme

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

Welcome to Invincible Career — a newsletter by Larry Cornett that helps ambitious professionals live better lives. If you find this article helpful or interesting, consider sharing it with a friend or two. If you’ve been reading and enjoying my newsletter for a while, consider a premium membership that gives you access to my private community, weekly office hours, and exclusive professional development prompts and challenges! Take advantage of my Halloween Special! Subscribe now and get a 1-year subscription for half the price. Limited time treat!

My guest for this episode is Sherri Edwards. Sherri started her own consulting business, Resource Maximizer, nearly 25 years ago. Her career in sales, operations, and HR management included 37 jobs across half as many years.

This winding path led her into the staffing industry, where the lightbulb finally went off. She found she could help others improve their performance and find easier paths to rewarding careers and that she could do it within a context she defined. Resource Maximizer was born.

Over the years, Sherri has provided outplacement services and corporate training on topics such as effective communication, goal setting, time management, and customer service — while also offering 1:1 coaching for individuals.

Her business focus is now centered on coaching services and workshops for individuals pursuing a career change or those needing guidance in moving their careers to the next level. She facilitates a structured networking group that is moving into its 20th year.

You can also find Sherri on Twitter (where we met) and LinkedIn.

We talk about:

* Her career journey and why she had so many jobs.

* Why and how she launched her own business.

* How she didn’t wait for permission to pursue her goals.

* How she overcame her impostor syndrome.

* The incredible value of community and networking.

Key points from our conversation

I want to call out a few points from my conversation with Sherri to help you if you feel blocked and are waiting to do what you know you should be doing. She also shared more advice that is helpful for every job seeker.

Don’t wait for permission

Sherri decided that she had learned enough about recruiting, staffing, searching for jobs, and interviewing to break free and do it on her own. It’s impressive! Remember, she started her business 25 years ago before LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., even existed.

Perhaps you’ve already encountered this in your life, but someone asked her why she thought she was in the position to help people find a job when it seemed like she changed jobs frequently. I’m always amazed when people try to make us feel small and shut down our dreams. Maybe the right word is “angry” instead of amazed.

Side note: What in the heck is wrong with people? Why would you try to discourage someone from being ambitious and taking a swing at doing their own thing? Don’t ever be that person! Please support your entrepreneurial friends. It’s hard enough to run a business without your friends tearing you down.

Anyway… Sherri just went for it. She started her business, experimented frequently, and wasn’t afraid to pivot as the economic conditions changed. She didn’t wait for someone to give her permission to do it.

Overcome impostor syndrome

Sherri described how she initially felt intimidated when coaching clients with advanced experience, Ph.D. degrees, etc. But, then she realized something…

Yes, they had deep experience in their domains. But, they did not have expertise in successfully finding a job, interviewing well, and landing a great offer. They didn’t need her help with their profession. They needed help finding new jobs.

I tell my clients the same thing. They’re the expert at what they do for a living. I’m not here to help an engineer write better code, a designer create better designs, or a doctor perform surgery better. I’m here to help with the issues that are holding people back in their careers (e.g., why aren’t they getting promoted?) and find ways for them to get ahead and be more successful.

Build relationships and community

Sherri and I agree that success in your career is all about relationships. If you want to struggle in your job search, try the “spray and pray” approach of blasting your resume to hundreds of online job listings.

If you’d rather succeed more quickly in finding a great job, build relationships and nurture your network. My connections have been the secret to landing pretty much every great job I had.

Sherri also built a community to help people with the challenges of their careers and searching for jobs as they grow older. Rather than mope and complain, she encourages people to do something about their situation. Take action!

Now, her community is growing by adding younger people who are children of the clients she’s worked with for several years. How cool is that?

⬆️ Scroll to the top if you want to listen to our entire conversation, and hear more of Sherri’s valuable advice! 🎧

Ready to join my private community?

Subscribe now, and I’ll send you an invitation to join my private community of ambitious professionals who help each other become more successful and fulfilled in their working lives. Once you’re in, you’ll be able to participate in our exclusive office hours every week and chat with the other members and me every day!

Are you ready to turn a $15/month investment into thousands of dollars of increased income every year? That’s precisely what has happened for many people in my community.

However, I do know that not everyone is ready to become a paid subscriber yet. But, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

This week’s office hours topic

⭐ Choosing a Video Platform

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

Read an updated version of this article:

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching in 2022).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.

📚 If you’ve ever thought about starting your own business at some point in your career, check out my Solopreneur workshop.

I see too many people stuck in a “holding pattern” in their lives and careers. If you push, you find out that they already know what they should do.

They just refuse to accept it.

In some cases, it seems like they’re waiting for a “hero” to come along and rescue them. The problems they’re facing feel insurmountable. Taking action feels too scary. They don’t feel capable for one reason or another.

Well, I have some bad news:

* Politicians aren’t going to save you (or the planet).

* Leaders aren’t going to rescue you (or look after your career).

* A talent agent isn’t going to miraculously discover you at your day job.

* An editor isn’t going to pull a draft off your laptop and run screaming to a publisher, “Look at this masterpiece! We must publish this!”

* No one cares more about you than you do (except maybe your Mom).

“No one is coming to save you; no one is coming to make life right for you; no one is coming to solve your problems. If you don’t do something, nothing is going to get better. The dream of a rescuer who will deliver us may offer a kind of comfort, but it leaves us passive and powerless. We may feel if only I suffer long enough, if only I yearn desperately enough, somehow a miracle will happen, but this is the kind of self-deception one pays for with one’s life as it drains away into the abyss of unredeemable possibilities and irretrievable days, months, decades.”― Nathaniel Branden, Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (My affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Repeat after me:

No one is coming to save me.No one cares about my future more than I do. I have to step up and become the hero in my own story.

I’m sure there is something that you want to do, but you haven’t made it happen yet. There’s a change you want to make in your life, but you’ve been holding back and haven’t taken the first step. You want something more out of your career, but you keep waiting and waiting.

Answer these questions truthfully. Be honest; even it hurts to say it out loud:

* What excuses am I making?

* Why am I not taking action?

* What am I waiting for?

* What am I afraid of?

* Do I want to live with the regret of not trying for the rest of my life?

* What’s the worst that could happen if I do take action?

* What’s the best that could happen?

It isn’t that you don’t know what to do. Ok, maybe there are some things that you need to learn, practice, and master (BTW someone like me is here to help). But, I would guess that you really do know what you should be doing.

There isn’t some secret to success that only a few people at the top have discovered. Heck, are there any secrets to success anymore?

We have millions of books and websites at our fingertips, loaded with stories of success, advice, and recommendations. There are more than enough examples to follow.

We all have the knowledge. If that knowledge is so evident that it seems like common sense, why doesn’t it become standard practice? Why isn’t everyone doing what it takes?

* It isn’t that people don’t know what it takes to achieve success.

* It’s that most people aren’t willing to do what it takes to achieve success. 

They never overcome the inertia even to get started. They don’t sustain the effort required. Or, they bail as soon as things become uncomfortable or painful.

Taking consistent action despite the uncertainty, fear, and discomfort sets the winners apart from the masses. Successful people make things happen.

If there is any secret to adopting the successful habits that generate successful results, I think it comes down to three things:

* Accountability

* Commitment

* Integrity

Winners take the knowledge that is available to all of us, and they take action. They actually do something with it. These three forces drive them to succeed in building their new habits.

Accountability

Accountability is a potent psychological tool. When I’ve witnessed people fail to make a positive change in their life, it can often be traced to a lack of accountability.

No one is watching, so who cares?

On the flip side, I also know people who were able to turn around a failed habit plan by adding accountability. Once they knew that others were aware of their success or failure, they renewed their efforts.

Why? Because they were finally accountable to someone. They didn’t want to disappoint that person. They made a promise, and they were reluctant to let that person down.

I observed this firsthand with my journey back to fitness. The most significant change in my exercise habits came from the four years I spent doing CrossFit.

I had dabbled in exercise for over a decade, but I knew no one was watching. I wanted to sleep in when I felt tired, and it was all too easy to pull the blankets back up and skip my morning workout.

Love it or hate it, CrossFit changed that for me.

Yes, there certainly was a decent amount of knowledge and skill acquisition thanks to the coach, which did help set me on a better path. But, knowing that my CrossFit group was waiting every morning helped me get out of bed on the coldest days. Picturing the disappointment of my lifting partner kept me showing up, even when I desperately wanted to skip that day.

I was accountable to them, and I knew it.

They would hold me to that promise, and I experienced their disappointment if I did happen to miss a session. There was always someone who would say, “Nice of you to show up today. Where in the hell were you yesterday?”

I recently interviewed Brigitte Granger, founder of Supporti, for my podcast. Her startup is all about helping people find accountability partners. She shared a similar story about her running buddy. She showed up to run on the coldest Boston mornings because her friend was waiting.

As human beings, we want to belong. We seek approval and acceptance. We avoid the disapproval of the group. 

Find the right people who will support and encourage your new habit, make yourself accountable to them, and you’ll significantly increase your odds of sustained success.

I’ve shared this data before, but I’ll include it again because it still blows my mind. The Association for Talent Development (ATD) performed a study on accountability and found the following probabilities of accomplishing a goal:

* 10% if you simply have a goal in mind

* 25% if you consciously decide that you will achieve it

* 40% if you set a date by which you will achieve it

* 50% if you create a plan for how you will do it

* 65% if you make a promise to someone else that you will do it

* 95% when you make specific accountability appointments with that person (this is probably why 1-on-1 career coaching works so well)

At some point, once your habits are established, you may be able to create a plan to be accountable to yourself.

I transitioned to this after my time at CrossFit. I knew what I needed to do. I had a clear training program and schedule. I am pretty hard on myself.

When I tell myself that I will work out for an hour and do this many sets and reps, I will refuse to stop until I do it. I don’t want to disappoint my future self.

Commitment

I read an interesting article by Mark Manson related to success, happiness, and struggles in life. He said:

“What determines your success isn’t ‘What do you want to enjoy?’ The question is, ‘What pain do you want to sustain?’ The quality of your life is not determined by the quality of your positive experiences but the quality of your negative experiences. And to get good at dealing with negative experiences is to get good at dealing with life.”— Mark Manson

Commitment is your plan to see things through and persist through the discomfort and pain. It is the promise you make to your accountability partners.

It means that you will commit to fulfilling that promise, even when it would be easier to give up. You commit to a long-term goal over short-term pleasure.

When you commit to the people who will hold you accountable, breaking that commitment must have consequences. Sometimes those consequences come from the person or the group (e.g., disappointment, shunning, or even expulsion). 

Lifelong change comes when you internalize the consequences of abandoning your integrity (more on this next).

Winners also commit to a process. A daily practice often trumps goal setting, which can seem intangible at times. 

The luster of that goal can lose its shine in the face of adversity. Therefore, successful people tend to structure their lives to optimize their chances of continuous progress.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Will Durant

Integrity

When people with deep integrity give their word, they keep their word. If they say they are going to do something, they will do it. They have aligned their behavior with their internal values.

No if, ands, or buts.

No excuses. No hedging. No complaints.

It is this integrity that makes accountability work even better. Sadly, I have known people who were accountable to others and aware of that accountability, yet they still let those people down. When questioned, they would make excuses about why they couldn’t follow through on their commitment.

Accountability occurs when you make a promise to others — or even yourself — that you will do something. Possessing integrity means that you will honor that promise because doing so is in alignment with the values you hold dear.

One of my favorite books is Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values (my affiliate link) by Fred Kofman. He talks about the importance of “essential integrity.” He even goes so far as to claim that happiness is tied to integrity, not necessarily achieving success.

“Most people believe that happiness is an outcome, a result that accrues to the winner. This is just not true… Happiness comes from integrity rather than success, from behavior in alignment with essential values rather than winning or losing.” — Fred Kofman

So, not only will integrity help you remain accountable to achieve your goals, it may lead to greater happiness. We all have experienced how bad it feels to behave in ways that aren’t aligned with our values and beliefs. Maintaining your integrity ensures that it won’t occur.

Optimize for your own success

Making a change is hard. Giving up bad habits feels impossible at times. Establishing new positive habits seems insurmountable.

Commit to a consistent daily process. Start small, but simply keep going and do not stop. Actions create progress. Progress fuels accomplishments.

Some examples:

* Journal every day as you enjoy your morning coffee or tea. It doesn’t take long.

* Set a timer and write for at least 15 minutes every day. If the words are flowing, keep going when the timer stops. But, worst case, it’s only 15 minutes!

* Commit to working out every day. Do 15 minutes of a warmup, stretches, and start to exercise, even on days when you don’t feel like it. You’ll be surprised to discover that you’ll often want to keep going when the 15 minutes is up.

* Every week, spend one hour reading a book that contributes to your professional development or personal growth (steal the time from Netflix).

* Spend 30 minutes networking online every week.

* Spend one hour working on the future of your career or your dream business plan every weekend.

Make a promise that you will make the change you want most in your life. Make a promise to honor your commitment. Maintain your integrity to deliver on that promise.

Finally, use accountability as the most powerful tool to keep yourself honest. Find someone you trust to keep you on track. Ask that person to hold you accountable and schedule regular check-ins to track your progress.

If you’re the kind of person who can hold yourself accountable, that’s great. But, if you need to be accountable to someone else to ensure that you follow through, find that accountability partner.

I play that role for my clients. I do have a process, and I often have unique insights because I can see things from a different perspective. But, many of my clients know what they should be doing to invest in themselves and their careers.

I will share some advice with them, and they will literally say, “I know, I know. I really should be doing that. Thank you for the reminder and for giving me a kick in the butt.”

Sometimes all we need is that kick in the butt. Someone to believe in us, encourage us, and remind us why we started this journey in the first place.

We usually know what we need to do. We just need a gentle push to keep us doing it.

⬆️ Scroll to the top if you want to listen to my more detailed reading of this article🎧

Ready to join my private community?

Subscribe now, and I’ll send you an invitation to join my private community of ambitious professionals who help each other become more successful and fulfilled in their working lives. Once you’re in, you’ll be able to participate in our exclusive office hours every week and chat with the other members and me every day!

Are you ready to turn a $15/month investment into thousands of dollars of increased income every year? That’s precisely what has happened for many people in my community.

However, I do know that not everyone is ready to become a paid subscriber yet. But, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money:

📣 Recommending my newsletter on social media 📣 

It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.

I’ll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!

I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead at work and be happier in your job, but you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.

https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com

This week’s office hours topic

⭐ Office Hours - How to Choose Podcasting Solutions

Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and 24x7 support. If you’re interested in starting your own business someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course.

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.