Professional Life Crisis

To watch the video of this episode, you can find it here!

Kate Thompson is a leadership coach, experience designer, marketer and art enthusiast. We met via a great network we are both part of, called the Chief of Staff Network. It’s a great active community filled with interesting, inspiring, empathetic professionals. If you’re a Chief of Staff, (or close enough) highly recommend checking it out!

If you’re going through something personal right now outside of work, I highly recommend this episode. Kate’s perspective and how she’s shifted her mindset to accept and thrive in the season of what some may see as negative circumstances is inspiring.

In this episode, we cover:

* Navigating a cancer diagnosis along with being a mom and being laid off for the 3rd time

* How positivity is like an orbit, and avoiding toxic positivity

* Why she relates to describing herself more as verbs than nouns in her career these days and how to provide clarity to others about what she does

* How she’s creating her ideal clients rather than selling to them or attracting them

* Conscious leadership, and what it means to create vs to react

Quote of the day:

* “I think about why people are burnt out or feeling like there's got to be more or feeling a lack of meaning in their work. I think so much of it comes down to the fact that we can't see the difference we're making. We can't see the change that we make in this kind of tech knowledge work environment. Whereas when you are close to the earth: cook a meal, you create a thing, you plow the field, whatever it is, you can see ‘I did work and this is different.’” - Kate

Amanda’s post-recording reflections:

I love what Kate said about how you don’t own positivity, but it is somehow attached or connected to you. An orbit implies that there’s some pull toward, and eventually away from you. And it’s okay if positivity isn’t always nearby- it comes and goes just like the seasons do. I think about this in navigating my own journey of being laid off. Some days the positivity is really close, like summer. And some days, when an unexpected pet injury turns into a multi-thousand dollar surgery and you’re stressed and overwhelmed, and the positivity is like winter, it feels really far away. I’m allowing myself to go through the ebb and flow of emotions, but damn it’s not always easy.

Ps. Did you like the video format this week? Reach out and lmk!

Thanks for joining us,

Amanda

If you know someone who would enjoy Kate’s perspective on life and work, please share this episode with them!

In this episode, we cover:

* Breaking down what it means to procrastinate, from a psychology perspective

* Why we procrastinate in life and especially at work, including my take on a few things on this list that are BS if you’re a highly motivated person like me

* Some of my favorite strategies I’ve adopted to help me procrastinate faster and better, cause get real, I’m not gonna stop anytime soon

* Why my future self-thanks me for my past actions

Quote of the day:

“Do the bad version first! We put too much pressure on ourselves to do things perfectly, okay? Hi, perfectionists, I am looking at you. Doing the bad version first is like a little gift that I gave to myself in the past. This is a gift you can give yourself too.”

Amanda’s post-recording reflections:

I don’t think overcoming (or significantly curbing) procrastination was as important when working for a big company as it was working for a small one. Because at small companies where everything is exposed- every initiative, every marketing campaign, every contribution is right on the surface for everyone to see. Your deliverables are often dependent on others, and others are depending on yours, so the bottlenecks become really obvious (and really annoying) when you operate on a lean team. So if you’re thinking of working for a startup, I think procrastination limiting is a great skill to start practicing!

What ways have you figured out work for you to limit your procrastination habits? Lmk in the comments!

Phew, I can now say, this episode got out on time ;)

-Amanda

Share this episode with your fav procrastinator!

Jennifer Wong (affectionately known as “Jwong”) is a product designer, design coach/mentor, and one of the most authentic people I know. We met while working together at our previous jobs, and both got laid off on the same day.

In this episode, we cover:

* Understanding the “why’s” behind personal and team demotivation

* Founding her own startup and why she decided that pursuing entrepreneurship wasn’t her full time aspiration

* What it means to be a woman in design, and the implied career limitations if you’re a career woman who wants to have a family

* Why she would describe herself as a naive diva in her early career

* Servant leadership, what a good manager does to empower their employees, and how to command respect without demanding it

* How she went from being laid off to a job offer from Netflix in 5 weeks (!! can you design the new cult docu-series please?!)

* Questions you should ask in an interview to weed out toxic workplaces, and find out whether a manager is going to be great or not

Quote of the day:

* “When you're scared of something, that's not always a bad thing. If it scares the shit out of you, I think you should do it.” - Jwong

Amanda’s post-recording reflections:

I don’t think you ever really overcome imposter syndrome, but learning that the way way you treat yourself, and the way you position yourself as a professional is the way that other people will think of you, too. One of Jwong’s biggest pieces of advice for becoming a designer is to start with yourself- believe that you are worth of being a designer, and tell yourself that you are one. You won’t get anywhere with learning new skills if your self doubt is louder than your self-trust.

For me, this was true with starting to freelance, and with starting this podcast! I had a lot of imposter syndrome about doing both of those things, but the funny thing about getting laid off is it helps you move through it much faster (out of necessity lol). But honestly, everything started flowing more easily once I just got started and the words “I’m a freelancer” and “I’m a podcaster” came out of my mouth for the first time. Maybe you should try it with that thing you’re scared to do too.

Till next time,

Amanda

Do you know someone struggling with trying something new, becoming a designer, or showing up 100% authentically at work? Share this podcast episode with them! It’d mean the world to me.

In this episode, we cover:

The mentality shift that I had to make when I went from a 500,000 person to company to a 5 person company was chasmic. In this episode I covered the top 10 things I learned when I transitioned from consulting to a startup that I want to pass onto you, especially if you’re working at a startup, going to work at a startup, or are just startup-curious. (Srsly, just let me save you some time down in the self-questioning spiral that is working for a startup for the first time)A sneak preview of what's on my list:👩‍💻 Mastering the learning curve🧪 Operating with an experimentation mindset🍎 Learning how you like to learn⏩ Procrastinating faster & shorter

Quote of the day:

In consulting, the speed at which we made decisions was much slower, and if you needed to procrastinate a decision, it was no biggie, but that speed to decision time is so much more important at a startup!

 “Not sure what the extra benefit is  of procrastinating, but I don't know, I think it makes you feel more like you're ready to make the choice because you've had a bit more time to mull it over, even if all you've been doing in that time is ignoring the problem.”

Amanda’s post-recording reflections:

* Joining a startup presented new challenges every freakin day. But I learned SO many tactical skills about how to run a business, which is something I highly valued from my next career move when I joined. And I feel leaps and bounds more confident in my marketing skills because of how hands on I was in running the marketing function in my last role. Even with all the uncertainty that it came with, including getting laid off, for me, it was in fact a win ✅

I’m curious how many of my listeners are in or want to be in the startup space!

If you know someone interested in making the shift to work at a startup, please send them this episode!

See ya!

- Amanda

David Rolls is a 360 recruiter by trade, now recruiting consultant and influencer on TikTok and LinkedIn.

David and I met when I brought him on as one of our influencers at my previous company. Little did I know how much richness he would have to share all around the changes in the recruiting industry, the differences between working as an internal vs agency recruiter, and his holistic approach for how to show up as your best self at work.

In this episode, we cover:

* Internal vs agency recruiters and what that means for you when you are one

* Contingent vs retained recruitment models

* Why the recruitment industry gets a bad rap and what he’s doing to improve it

* Why there aren’t many great freelance recruiters

* And some fun topics around:

* Why the US calls it “soccer” instead of “football”

* Why traveling around Southeast Asia didn’t satisfy David’s need for purpose

Quote of the day:

* “I wasn't sure if I wanted to go backpacking again, or if I wanted to, you know, start my career, because to be honest with you, when I was backpacking, as much as I enjoyed it, I definitely felt like I lost purpose. I realized during my trip that I love traveling, it's all I do, it's what I live for, but I definitely need some sort of purpose, and I definitely need something else.”

Amanda’s post-recording reflections:

* At the time, I felt like I was battling conflicting voices in my head when I had my bad first experience in consulting- should I stay and ride it out a bit, or should I go and write off the experience completely? For anyone working in the recruiting industry like David, he shared his take on the wide range of different cultures that exist at recruiting firms, and what some of the more modern firms are like. I would implore anyone considering a switch into (or within) the world of recruiting to take a listen- he didn’t take his first experience as a blanket statement for how all recruiting jobs would be, and was able to find much better environments as he started advancing in his career. There is hope!

A quick poll to get a sense for how you’ve felt if you’ve ever worked with a recruiter

If you learned something new about how recruiting works while listening to this episode, I would love to know what it was in the comments below!

Cheers,

Amanda

Thanks a ton for reading Professional Life Crisis. This podcast is public, so please feel free to share with a friend!

In this episode, we cover:

* What it means to be a generalist at a startup

* What is a Chief of Staff?

* What does it mean to be in a startup recession?

* What I'd consider the pros & cons of being a generalist

* My overall take on whether it's a good idea to be a generalist in a recession or not

* Some advice from me if you are in fact going to be one

Quote of the day:

Joining a startup comes with a fairly steep learning curve every time. And you'll need to have that lifelong learner mentality in order to continue succeeding.

Some may see this as a pro, and some may see this as a con, but it's something that I want to call out, because without [the lifelong learner mentality], I think it's very tough, and very emotionally taxing.

Amanda’s post-recording reflections:

* Joining a startup presented new challenges every freakin day. But I learned SO many tactical skills about how to run a business, which is something I highly valued from my next career move when I joined. And I feel much more confident in my marketing skills because of how hands on I was in running the marketing function at my last job. For me, it was in fact a win ✅

A quick poll to learn more about the type of work you do:

See you in the next episode!

-Amanda

Launch day is finally here! I can’t thank you enough for supporting the podcast. I hope my professional stories and ones from my guests will help you see things from a new perspective, brighten your optimism about your career, and help you realize that if you accidentally replied all to a 15,000 person email thread as a brand new analyst, there is life on the other side, and you’re in good company.

In this episode, we cover:

* My journey to and through the consulting world

* The infamous “first project”

* The most awkward thing I ever did as an analyst (and it’s worse than a 15,000 person email thread)

* The “Eat Pray Love” Sabbatical

* Joining a startup as Chief of Staff

Quote of the day:

“GASP! Holy shit, I'd been sharing my screen the whole time. The horror. I felt all the color fall out of my face at the same time. The meeting ends. I get a call from the MD.”

Amanda’s post-recording reflections:

* Wow! Starting a podcast is a little scary at first! But I hope these vulnerable personal stories I shared with you make the awkward moments you’re going through just a wee bit easier. Everyone has their (at least) one stupid thing they did as an analyst or newbie, so just know you’re not alone, and we made it to the other side and are doing reasonably okay. If you’re brave enough, comment below what your embarrassing story was to give someone a good LOL about it.

A poll to get to know each other

If you have questions about what it was like working at a large consulting firm, you can also post a comment below.

Catch ya next time!

-Amanda

Here's what I define as a Professional Life Crisis:
A crisis about your current job or potential career move that also makes you question just about everything about your life.
- If I work in XYZ, what will that do to my self-image?
- Why am I so hung up on my value as a person as a direct correlation to my salary?
- Do I need to move to a new city, get a new job, or both?
- Are all jobs miserable, or am I just in the wrong one?
- Does taking a remote role just *make sense* or make me look lazy?

I hope the podcast will help other young professionals (like you!) going through these same sorts of challenges:
- Understand what different career paths look like in early- to mid-career and get guidance in making the right choice for you
- Feel a sense of community with other people who have walked a similar path before you, or are walking alongside you now
- Ditch the imposter syndrome that we all feel (me, hi 👋)

David Rolls, is a 360 recruiter by trade, now recruitment consultant and influencer on TikTok and LinkedIn.

David and I met when I brought him on as one of our influencer partners at my previous AI tech startup. Little did I know how much richness he would have to share all around the changes in the recruiting industry, the differences between working as an internal or agency recruiter, and what that means for job seekers.

Sneak preview above, and the full episode, along with 2 others will drop on Nov 14th! Subscribe to stay tuned!