Squiggly Careers

We’re trying something new with our Squiggly Shortcuts. Every Thursday, we’ll share a short clip from a past Squiggly Careers episode with a practical idea you can try in your working week.

This week’s clip comes from episode 599, where Helen and Sarah explored how friction can work for or against you. For this Shortcut, they focus on one part of that conversation: how to get rid of the friction that makes work harder than it needs to be.

They share how to get your team talking about what’s getting in the way, what you could take away to make work easier, and how to spot when a time-saver for you creates more work for someone else.

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

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Meetings might not be everyone’s favourite part of the working week, but they can be a great opportunity to learn.

In this episode, Helen and Sarah share five ways to learn more from the meetings already in your diary. From borrowing brilliance from your colleagues to trying a different question, these ideas help you add learning into your working day.

🎯 What You'll Learn

• How to spot and borrow brilliance from people in meetings
• How asking different questions can help you learn more
• What to listen out for beyond the words people say
• How two minutes of reflection can help your learning stick
• How to start meetings in a way that helps everyone learn

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you respond to feedback you don’t agree with? It can be hard to know what to say in the moment. You might feel you need to defend yourself or rush to work out what to do differently.

In this Squiggly Careers Shortcut, Helen shares the ‘multiplier effect’ from our book, Learn Like a Lobster. It’s a practical way to stay curious, explore different perspectives and work out what you can learn from feedback that’s hard to hear.

🎯 What you’ll learn

- How to stay curious and ask for examples
- How to give yourself time to reflect before responding
- How to use the ‘multiplier effect’ to explore feedback with people who know you and your work
- Questions to help you understand your impact
- How to share what you’ve learned and what you’ll do next

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers newsletter for weekly ideas and tools to support your development: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Read Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

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What does it mean to take accountability at work, and how can you get better at it?

In this episode, Helen and Sarah explore how taking ownership of your actions, decisions and outcomes builds trust and creates more freedom in your career. They assess their own accountability across six everyday work moments, share feedback with each other and suggest practical actions to help you spot where you’re doing well and where you could improve.

🎯 What You’ll Learn

– Why accountability is something people choose

– How taking accountability builds trust and strengthens your reputation

– Six everyday moments where you can take more ownership

– How ‘mistake moments’, ‘metrics that matter’ and ‘I will’ statements can help

– Why comparing your self-assessment with someone else’s feedback is useful

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How often do notifications interrupt your working day?

In this Squiggly Careers Shortcut, Sarah shares five practical ways to reduce notifications and find more focus. Learn how switching between tasks steals our attention, and how small changes can help us spend more time doing just one thing at once.

🎯 What You'll Learn

- Choose which notifications you need and which you just want

- Use Do Not Disturb to create time to focus

- Build your “sticking power”: how long you stay with one task before getting distracted

- Plan phone breaks to make changing your habits more manageable

- Find a productivity partner and work towards a shared goal

📚 Resources mentioned

- How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price: https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-break-up-with-your-phone-revised-edition-the-30-day-digital-detox-plan-catherine-price/8172bbbd596d2fb0

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if you could pull the right career opportunities toward you while pushing away the work that drains you? In this episode, Helen and Sarah explore how the physics of magnets can help you shape a more intentional squiggly career.

Through three questions, they share practical ways to make new connections, rethink what’s in your diary and move from ‘either/or’ to ‘and’ thinking.

🎯 What You'll Learn

– How to attract more people, possibilities, and projects using weak ties and sponsorship

– Why asking "Do you know anyone who...?" speeds up your network growth

– How to use the "repel and replace" strategy to protect your time and energy

– Can you balance your day job and your development without burning out?

– How to navigate the tension between being clear and being kind in your communication

– How to hold flexibility and career progression together without trade-offs

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building self-belief into your working day can help you feel more confident. In this Shortcut, Sarah shares five ways to have a more confident day at work, practical ideas to try if something feels missing, and two watch-outs that can get in your way.

🎯 What You'll Learn

- Spot and use your strengths to help your team

- Find five-minute favours to experience the helper's high

- Zoom in and zoom out to recognise how you're being useful

- Capture very small successes to cage your confidence gremlins

– Navigate daily difficulties to recognise and build your resilience

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What helps us connect with the people we work with, and what happens when that connection is missing?

In this episode, Sarah is joined by organisational psychologist and bestselling author Adam Grant to explore his new book, Vibe, and what the science of connection can teach us about our Squiggly Careers.

From seeing someone else’s ‘snow globe’ to sharing what brings out your worst, Adam shares practical ways to understand each other and work better together. He also answers questions from the Squiggly community about difficult feedback and feeling disconnected when working remotely.

🎯 What You’ll Learn

– How curiosity about someone else’s world helps you build connection

– Why sharing what brings out your worst can reduce misunderstandings

– The difference between social and task cohesion, and why shared goals matter for teams

– How to use a reciprocity ring to ask for help and share your knowledge or connections

– How to respond when your boss says “your vibe is all wrong”

– Practical ways to connect and learn from others when working remotely

📚 Resources Mentioned

Vibe - Adam Grant: https://bit.ly/3WsyYXO

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s one small thing you could do today that your future self would thank you for? In this squiggly shortcut, Helen shares four high performance habits that compound over time to build a resilient and successful career.

Drawing on the time-tracking insights of Laura Vanderkam, Adam Grant's research on the power of giving, and Helen and Sarah's own 'Learn Like a Lobster' framework, learn how small, intentional behaviours in learning, tracking, reflecting, and giving can transform your day-to-day work and build long-term career resilience.

🎯 What You'll Learn

– Why little and often learning is the secret to keeping your skills relevant

– How tracking your time and energy provides vital data for your development

– What your default response to reflection reveals about your working pace

– How to use the 'What Worked Well, Even Better If' framework for quick daily reflection

– Why giving and 'career karma' can generate 50% more success and reciprocity

– How to choose and build just one high performance habit at a time

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Profilers can help you understand yourself, find words for your strengths and choose where to focus your development. But your results are clues to explore, rather than labels that limit you.

In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from three profilers: Lynda Gratton’s Living the 100-Year Life diagnostic, 16Personalities and the Squiggly Skills Profiler. They share their own results, what they found useful and what they questioned, with practical ideas to turn what you learn about yourself into action.

🎯 What You'll Learn
– Understand the benefits and common pitfalls of using career profilers
– Discover Lynda Gratton's 100-year life diagnostic to assess your life threads
– Learn how to use 16Personalities to identify your strengths and blind spots
– Find out how to use profiling data to communicate your value on LinkedIn
– Explore how to map team profiles to identify gaps in diversity of thought
– Try the new Squiggly Careers Skills Profiler to identify your super skill and gap for growth

📚 Resources mentioned:
-100-Year Life diagnostic: https://www.livingthe100yearlife.com/assessment
-16Personalities: https://www.16personalities.com/
-Squiggly Careers Skills Profiler: www.squigglyskills.com

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?
1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices