The Traveling Introvert

On this episode of The Traveling Introvert, we're exploring how to stay focused on big, overwhelming projects. I share my tips for breaking down tasks into smaller, manageable, time-bound pieces to increase productivity and motivation. I discuss the importance of prioritizing tasks based on urgency and importance, and how to create specific endpoints for each step. I also talk about the benefits of taking a step back and seeing the bigger picture, including reducing stress and avoiding burnout. Don't miss out on this episode if you're looking for ways to improve your productivity and achieve your goals faster.

Topic: Breaking Down Tasks for Better Results

- Breaking tasks down into smaller pieces makes progress easier and results more visible

- Janice from the Career Introvert shares this tip to help with building a personal brand and getting hired

- Stepping back to see the overall picture is crucial for completing tasks

- Prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency

- Break each step down into smaller, specific tasks

- Focusing on the most important tasks first is essential

- Breaking down large tasks into smaller ones can increase productivity

- Doing a "brain dump" to write down all the steps needed to complete a project can help create a clear understanding of what needs to be done

- Focusing on one task at a time can improve efficiency and effectiveness

- Breaking down tasks can reduce stress and prevent procrastination

- Procrastinating too often can lead to negative consequences

- Breaking down tasks is a useful trick for tackling big projects

- Setting deadlines for each task helps create a sense of urgency and avoid procrastination

- Starting on the first task and working through each one until the project is complete is the key to success.

On this episode of the Traveling Introvert, I share tips for event organization and maintaining routines while traveling. I speak from personal experience of running a large event and highlights the importance of having someone to ensure the event organizer stays hydrated and fed. I talk about being prepared for potential delays and offers advice on having a meeting before an event to run through everything step by step. She recommends booking recharge time or activities in advance to prevent wasted time and provides insight into finding her favorite restaurants in a new city.

Topic: Preparing for an event

- Tips for organizing events and making the event organizer's life easier

- The importance of having someone to make sure the event organizer is properly hydrated and fed throughout the event

- Expecting and planning for potential delays such as people being late or traffic

- Having a meeting before any event and running through everything step by step to ensure everyone knows what they need to do

- Having a designated bag person to remind you of important timing

Topic: Maintaining routines while traveling

- Traveling and being out of routine can cause people to feel out of sorts

- Maintaining certain routines, like going for a walk or getting alone time, even while traveling

- The lack of alone time can cause people to feel cranky and lose their minds

- One should force themselves to take time for solitude and maintain their routines, even when travelling

Topic: Taking recharge time

- After an event, the speaker knew they needed recharge time and booked a hotel to be alone and also a massage

- Recommending booking recharge time or activities in advance instead of wasting time trying to find them last minute

On this episode of The Traveling Introvert, our guest shares their journey in leadership, from dealing with Impostor syndrome to networking as an introvert. They emphasize the importance of transparency in personal situations, building a supportive network, and creating space in a busy schedule for recharging. As an introvert, they value alone time but still make intentional efforts to network and lead their team. They also highlight the crucial support and resources provided by the International Association of Women for women struggling with confidence and asking for help. Join us to learn more about navigating leadership as an introvert and building a solid support network.

Megan Bozzuto is a woman who is always ready to take on opportunities that come her way. She was recently presented with a chance to help with a brand initiative and strategy for her parent company, and without hesitation, she raised her hand and took on the challenge. This move has resulted in an exciting career advancement for her while still being able to continue doing what she loves at IAW. Megan is a professional who is passionate about her work and is always eager to learn and grow.

Social media links

https://www.facebook.com/megbozz/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/megbozz/

https://www.instagram.com/megbozz/

Link to website

www.iawomen.com

Episode: Leading, Networking, and Fostering Community as an Introverted Woman

- Importance of being transparent with colleagues and managers without oversharing

- Benefits of sharing personal information with team members

- Communication skills when declining opportunities

- Accepting oneself as a leader despite doubt and overcoming impostor syndrome

- Delegating tasks instead of saying "no" directly

- Building relationships and maintaining a supportive network for nonlinear career paths

- Managing time and creating space for alone time to recharge as an introverted woman

- Strategies for successful networking, including being intentional about who to meet and where to network

- Support for women's confidence and negotiation skills in the workplace from organizations such as the International Association of Women

Note: The topics are not in chronological order and are a general summary of the episode content.

On this episode of The Traveling Introvert, I discusses the importance of transparency in job postings, pricing, and service offerings. It all started when I came across a private post from someone looking for guests on their podcast without disclosing that it was a paid opportunity. I believe transparency shows respect for people's time and leads to better client and job-seeking experiences. I also dive into the issue of complicated job application processes and the lack of information disclosed to job seekers.

Topic: Posting Salaries on Job Listings and Costs on Service Provider Websites

- Job seekers want salaries to be listed on job postings; service seekers want costs to be listed on a service provider's website

- This shows respect for people's time and helps them make decisions

- Making the process easy helps waste nobody's time, giving a good overall client experience

- The aim of the game is to give a good client or potential job seeker experience

- Lack of transparency wastes time and causes frustration

Topic: Hiring Process Efficiency and Transparency

- The hiring process should be efficient and respectful

- Complicated interview processes and lack of important information can be seen as abuse towards job seekers

- Posting salary with job description and posting shows respect for potential candidates' time and is a valuable resource

- Transparency in pricing and salary establishes trust and eliminates ambiguity, leading to efficient decision making

- Transparent pricing can lead to better fit between job seekers and employers/clients

And welcome to The Travelling introvert. Today is almost a second part to talking about deep work. I've talked about why deep work is really important, especially for introverts. But now I want to talk about strategies to help you be able to do that deep work. And deep work refers to the ability to just focus on one task, to concentrate intensely on a cognitive demanding task without distraction and interruption, allowing you to produce high quality work in less time. In the context of self development, deep work is a highly valuable skill to cultivate and use on a regular basis. When you learn to focus intensely on essential tasks, you become more efficient and effective in reaching your goals. But deep work is also about creating an atmosphere that can help you focus on that one task. And to do this, it's crucial to turn off possible distractions like social media, email, phone notifications, that a thing. But also avoid things that might take away your attention like pets, kids, and spouses. Breaking your tasks into smaller parts and setting goals will help you finish your work quickly. In addition to improving productivity, deep work leads to personal growth and development.

When you engage in deep work, you challenge your mind and expand your knowledge and skills. Achieving deep work is an essential skill that maximizes productivity and focuses on the most critical tasks. Although, don't get me wrong, it's not always easy to get into the zone and that deep flow and focus intensely on a single task. But the more often you do it, the easier you find it. And setting yourself up for success is really important. You can't just be like, I'm going to do some deep work today. Setting the environment to help you do so is hugely important. And so I want to talk about some of the things that I've done that might help. Schedule uninterrupted blocks of time. And I know that might be easier said than done. But one of the best ways to help you achieve deep work is by scheduling uninterrupted blocks of time to do it. Block off a certain amount of time on your calendar. It could be 30 minutes. No one says it has to be 18 hours. That's a lot of time. But block off a certain amount of time on your calendarand commit to focusing on a specific task during that time.

You can set aside 30 minutes, an hour, or several hours depending on the task's requirement. Also, eliminate distractions. Distractions are the enemy of deep work. To achieve deep work, you need to not have phone calls, emails, notifications. There are various ways you can do this. You can turn off your phone. Some people lock their phone in another room, put it on airplane mode, close your email and make sure it doesn't have the notifications that pop up. Some people use noise cancelling headphones if necessary. Tell your family and friends not to interrupt without a good cause. Those are the things you could do. It's really, really important that even though you are doing deep work, that you take breaks. An integral part actually of achieving deep work is by taking breaks. After working for an extended period of time, take a short break to rest your mind, recharge, bio break, hydrate. It could include going for a walk, getting some fresh air, or doing some stretching exercises. But this will help improve what you do overall over time. Don't think that this is, Oh, I have to sit at my desk for four hours. Please do not.

You should get up, take a break, give your eyes a rest at least every 30 to 40 minutes. One other thing is make sure you set a very clear goal. Setting clear goals is really crucial for deep work. Before you start working on a task, take time to set a clear goal and define what it is specifically you want to achieve. And when you're thinking about that, it has to be important that there is an end point. It can't be, work on my website. It should be more like, I want to complete all the copy for the homepage of my website. This will keep you inspired and focused and motivated throughout the tasks. But overall, all I'm talking about is developing better habits. Better habits will help you achieve deep work easier. And this might include creating a consistent morning routine, getting enough sleep, color coding your calendar, having certain days where you do deep work and certain days that you don't. All of these are just better habits to help you work more efficiently and in a way that works for you. Achieving deep work is crucial for maximizing productivity and completing tasks. Focusing on what you are doing and nothing else ensures that you can do the task well and therefore, it comes to get more and in a better way.

Thank you for listening. This is Janice at thecareerintrovert.Com, helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your week.

And welcome to the travelling introvert. Today I'm going to talk about deep work. And the reason this has come up is because a lot of the time I talk about how introverts need time to recharge, and back to back meetings suck, and very rarely now do we have time for deep work because we are in back to back meetings. And so I want to talk about the real benefits of deep work and what that entails, because all the time that you're these days, we're getting distracted by notifications and email and social media. And as a result, the ability to focus on a single task for, and I'm going to say the word extended period of time, but these days, I know, anything over 20 minutes has become a rare skill. However, the practice of deep work, which is the ability to focus intensely on a single task for a significant period of time, is really, really important. Okay, you have increased focus. Focusing deeply on a task when you train your mind to concentrate on one thing for an extended period, you'll improve your ability to focus on other daily tasks in your life, not just the ones that you're actually thinking about that this is going to be deep work.

And what most people, most introverts find is there is enhanced productivity. If you get the time to do deep work and get to engage in deep work, it will significantly improve your productivity because focusing deeply on a task makes you more likely to complete it quickly and accurately. And it means you'll be able to accomplish everything faster, freeing up more time and brain space for other tasks or activities. Part of that means there'll be a better quality output. Deep work really allows for this, because when you just focus on working on that single task without distraction, very importantly, without distraction, you get into a flow state. And so giving that task that attention and time that it needs to be completed, means that your work will be of a higher quality. You'll come up with more ideas because you're just concentrating on that thing and giving it thought and time. And it will result in greater job satisfactionand even recognition from colleagues or superiors. But regardless of that, you will find your quality of work will be better because of having the time to have deep, uninterrupted, focused work. And because of this, you'll probably have improved job satisfaction.

When you can focus deeply on a task, you're more likely to experience a sense of accomplishment because you're not just confetting from one thing to another thing to another thing and bouncing around like a pinball. You will experience this sense of accomplishment because you focus deeply on one task and can completely go, Yes, this is done, which in turn leads to a more positive outlook on your life. And so therefore will lead to more positive job satisfaction. Even if you don't like the job, it's okay. Also, it helps reduce stress. Deep work reduces stress levels by eliminating those distractions and allows you to focus solely on a single task. Because being distracted is stressful, so as a result, you will reduce these feelings of overwhelm or being overworked, and therefore this will improve your overall wellbeingand help, possibly, prevent future burnout. Deep work also provides strengthened creativity in problem solving. It helps you develop your creativity and problem solving skills when you allow yourself to focus on a single task. You will fully immerse yourself in the problem or the task and explore various solutions and develop innovative ideas, resulting in more effective and creative problem solving.

And there is greater learning and retention. Deep work promotes better learning and retention of information. You give your full attention to the material where you are studying or the skills you are trying to develop, and that focused attention allows for more effective learning and retention as your brain can better process and consolidate the information. And of course, there's time management because you'll get better at prioritizing essential tasks and eliminating time wasting activities and increased resilience and heightened self awareness. Because you'll be accustomed to doing a single task and overcoming distractions, you'll be better able to handle unexpected obstacles. Deep work has numerous benefits that improve your work and personal life. So just think about how that might work for you and why it's so important for you to carve out that time. Thank you for listening. This is Janice at thecareerintrovert.Com, helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your week.

And welcome to The Traveling Introvert. Today, I am going to talk about some myths that I've heard around personal or self development. And I hear these a lot from organisations, I hear these a lot from humans, and so I want to just talk a little bit about them. Self development or personal development is the process of developing or improving yourself through various growth strategies, techniques, and time. When you engage in self development, you might set goals, learn new skills, and engage in personal reflection. And this helps you become a better and happier human, which overall is the point. Self development will improve your life. Through thoughtful and intentional action taking, great things can happen. You might learn how to manage stress. You might develop better decision making skills. You might develop better methods of communication. You will learn a lot about yourself. Just because you've lived with yourself for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years doesn't mean that you know everything about yourself or where things stem from. And also, we change as humans over time. You will also, in that self development phase, practice self acceptance. You might also practice self love, allowing you to gain more confidence and be more compassionate towards yourself.

Through focused self development, you probably end up accomplishing more of your goals, but in a way that you least expect it. You'll build positive relationships and develop better communication and problem solving skills. All of these traits will improve your life by allowing you to achieve more of your goals. They will assist you in making better decisions that align with your principles, your morals, and your values. So to sum it up, self development provides the necessary tools to help you grow as a human, and therefore, making your life better. But one myth is self development is expensive. And that really depends how you look at self development. You taking the time out to meditate for one minute a day t hat's free, that's not expensive. There are levels, but not all self development is expensive. Some folks will tell you that it requires expensive classes or workshops. The truth is there are many free or low cost options available. There are books, online resources, and podcasts totally related to self development. People will tell you self development is time consuming. You don't have to spend every waking moment on self development to reap the rewards. The truth is small daily habits like, for example, the meditating for one minute a day can lead to significant personal growth.

Reading or practicing gratitude or walking for 15 minutes a day can significantly improve your life over time. They don't necessarily have to be time consuming in one day. Something else I hear is, Oh, well, I don't have time for that, or That's selfish. There's so many other things that I could be doing, so many other ways that I could be making an impact. And so you might feel it is selfish, or people might tell you it's selfish to spend so much time or money, or brain power on self development. And the truth is, self development benefits not just you, but everyone around you. You could become more productive. You could become more empathic. You could become more effective with professional development and personal development and growth. Therefore, it's not just about you, it helps others. And another thing I always hear is, Well, this person did this one thing and it worked for them, so it's going to work for me. One size does not fit all. The great thing about self improvement is everyone's different, everyone's unique. So you can tailor it to meet your needs at the time. Just because your neighbour spends an hour at the gym every day doesn't mean that you have to.

A rabbit diet might work great for your co worker, but not much for you and your body type. The key is to figure out exactly what you wantand research ways to obtain that. Choose the way that best fits with you and your lifestyle. If you find it doesn't work, that's okay. It's an experiment. Pick another method and try again. Improving your self development isn't all that hard. Making small changes slowly can give you just as good, if not better results, than jumping in at the deep end. It's just individual. The first start is just getting started and to recognize that there are some myths surrounding this topic and ignoring them will help you over the overcome any misgivings so you can put yourself first. Thanks for listening. This is Janice at thecoury introvert. Com, helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your week.

On this episode of The Traveling Introvert, we speak to a successful entrepreneur who runs a podcasting business. Patricia shares their journey of building their business from scratch without a strong tech background and how they manage to indulge in something they love. The conversation revolves around the importance of making connections and attending events, as well as the challenges of being an introvert, as the speaker prefers one-on-one conversations to big gatherings. There's also a discussion about the evolution of the podcasting industry and how one can get started. The episode concludes with valuable insights on self-care, the importance of taking breaks, and having conversations about the division of labor at home. Tune in to get tips on how to make connections and build a successful podcasting business as an introvert.

Patricia Q Jenkins values focused energy and giving her full attention to people or tasks at hand. She finds introversion to mean focused attention on what's important and can become overwhelmed and scattered if pulled in too many directions. Patricia struggles with large groups and the dynamic energy that comes with them, preferring instead to connect with individuals on a deeper level.

[00:00:47] Introversion = focused attention on what's important. Large groups drain energy.

[00:02:57] Self-employment as a podcast creator is satisfying but challenging, with the risk of burnout if not managed well. Building a brand and receiving recognition is an amazing feeling.

[00:04:24] Plan breaks even if you're not busy. Take public holidays off and have someone to discuss business with. Don't work on holidays.

[00:05:44] Make time for self-care and indulge in hobbies unrelated to work. Communicate with partners about division of labor at home. Attend meetups and business meetings to build connections, even as an introvert.

[00:08:46] Meeting her partner led to becoming an expat, a traveling spouse, and building a podcasting business. Meeting a kind lady while in the US who understood the expat experience was also life-changing.

[00:11:13] Person says no to many social activities, especially crowded ones, due to living in a small place and not wanting to introduce themselves to big groups. Energy levels dictate whether they attend events.

[00:12:38] The writer loves meeting new people but prefers one-on-one conversations because they can give it the energy and thought it deserves. They find it more restful and relaxing.

[00:13:54] Overwhelming experience at Podcast Movement led to seeking a quiet space in lady's bathroom.

[00:18:31] Podcast editing requires minimal equipment and misconceptions about earning exist, but friendly competition exists and entry barriers have lowered thanks to innovative software.

[00:20:47] The origin of the sandwich is unclear but it may have been invented to allow a gambler to continue playing while eating.

Topics covered in the podcast episode:

1. Limitations of Traditional Onboarding Processes

- Reliance on static resources

- Lack of consideration for individual learning styles

- Accessibility issues

- Lack of efficient search options

2. Challenges Faced by Introverts in New Jobs

- Dealing with new people, systems, equipment, and ways of working

- One-size-fits-all approach to onboarding processes

- Importance of setting clear expectations and boundaries

3. Strategies for Success in New Jobs

- Saying no to prevent overloading

- Setting boundaries and expectations

- Making an impression in a new organization

- Importance of work methods and software used

4. Challenges in Managing Change When New Employees Join

- Expectation to absorb a large amount of information in a short period of time

- Pressure to pack in many tasks during the first 100 days

"New Jobs and Introverts: Starting a new job can be extra stressful. But it can be especially hard on introverts, especially in organizations that are more extrovert leaning."

— Janice Chaka [00:00:00 → 00:00:51]

The Importance of Accessible Learning: "Very rarely do they take into account the person's way of learning, and very rarely do they make the content accessible in multiple different ways... It makes it hard to go back and digest or reaffirm something or look something up."

— Janice Chaka [00:00:51 → 00:01:41]

Onboarding: "A lot of organizations don't take into account the massive change they do really bad change management when it comes to new humans joining the organization."

— Janice Chaka [00:01:41 → 00:02:37]

"The Danger of Overcommitting in a New Job: You take on too much work. You set unrealistic expectations. You feel like you are not doing as much as you could or you should because of whatever expectations you or the organization might have upon you."

— Janice Chaka [00:02:37 → 00:03:12]

Setting Boundaries in the Workplace: "You probably don't have any deep time work, deep work time. And that can be to work or to just take in all the information that is being thrown at you. And so many times people say, oh, it's okay. We're not expecting you to know all of this, but really they kind of are."

— Janice Chaka [00:03:12 → 00:04:06]

Setting Boundaries: "Letting people very clearly know your preferred learning styles, your preferred communication styles, what that looks like, your times of working and not working, or, you know, what happens if there's an emergency or an extra project comes up, setting boundaries of not overloading yourself because you want to learn and you want to do things right."

— Janice Chaka [00:04:06 → 00:04:57]

And welcome to the traveling introvert. Today, I want to talk about new jobs. Who this? So one thing I've noticed with people in general and especially introverts is starting a new job can be extra stressful. Now, we know it's stressful for everyone. You're starting a new job, new people, new systems, new equipment, new way of working, new, new, new, new, new, new. But it can be especially hard on introverts, especially in organisations that are more extrovert leaning. And this comes across in a couple of ways and for a multitude of reasons. A lot of organisations, when they're thinking about onboarding people, they have one way of doing it, and mostly it's death by PowerPoint, or here, watch a bunch of videos, or here's a bunch of PDFs. Very rarely do they take into account the person's way of learning, and very rarely do they make the content accessible in multiple different ways. They won't have the video with closed caption and a transcriptand an audio only version that you can listen to. A lot of the time it's this way and this way only. And not everyone takes it information that way. It makes it hard to go back and digest or reaffirm something or look something up.

In fact, a lot of the times when organisations do create onboarding processes, it's very hard to just search for the specific thing that you might be needing or the question that you might have. You have to try and think the way you think the person who wrote the software or the program or the way that you're putting it together works. Not only that, a lot of the time you'll be like, Here's all your computer, here's all your staff, here's all these people you have to meet, here's a buddy, so you have a buddy system, and here's some projects for you to start working on. And a lot of organisations don't take into account the massive change. They do really bad change management when it comes to new humans joining the organisation. Yes, you want the human to be up to speed as quickly as possible. But let's be honest, we all know there's only a certain amount of information humans can really understandably take in in any period of time. And yes, they might say, Well, here's your 90 day plan or your 100 day plan. And a lot of organisations ask in your interview, like, What would your first 100 days look like?

And they're expecting you to shove 18,000 different things in there. And a lot of the time, especially if you also have imposter syndrome, you're going in, it's a new job, you want to make the best impression possible. So you'll say yes to everything. You'll attend all the meetings because the more meetings you attend, the more information you get, the more likely you're going to be able to understand everything that's going on and not be out of the loop. However, what really ends up happening is you take on too much work, you set unrealistic expectations, you feel like you are not doing as much as you could or you should because of whatever expectations you or the organization might have upon you. You have not been able to set clear boundaries of what works for you and your method of working. You probably have back to back and last minute meetings, and you probably don't have any deep work time. And that can be to work or to just take in all the information that is being thrown at you. And so many times people say, Oh, it's okay, we're not expecting you to know all of this.

But really, they are. So when you are joining an organization for the first time as an introvert, because we are just grateful for a job. This isn't an introvert thing, this isn't any one thing. A lot of the time, we end up being timid about setting expectations and setting boundaries and letting people know how we like to work and what works best for us and seeing how that works in the culture of the organisation that you're in. Letting people very clearly know your preferred learning styles, your preferred communication styles, what that looks like, your times of working and not working, or you know what happens if there's an emergency or an extra project comes up. Setting boundaries of not overloading yourself because you want to learn and you want to do things right. This is the time for you to set expectations. Stop setting yourself up to fail by taking on everything and anything and saying yes to all the meetings. You're doing yourself a disservice, and by extension, you're doing the organization a disservice. When you first start a job, it's the start of a new relationship, and so you get to set the standard of how you want to be treated.

So act accordingly, set boundaries accordingly, and communicate accordingly. Thanks for listening. This is Janice at the career introvert. Com, helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your week.

Hello and welcome to The Traveling Introvert. Today, I would like to talk about perfectionism. This came up a lot in the Imposter Syndrome program that I have. People were identifying the fact that perfection was holding them back or making them procrastinate or whatever it might be. And so perfectionism can be extremely harmful. So really what you need to do is embrace imperfection so you can let go of the need- the deep seated need for perfection. And perfection is a concept that so many people strive for, whether it's in their personal lives or at work. However, any pursuit of perfection is at the very least unrealistic and damaging. In fact, it is hugely important to recognize that nobody is perfect and it is okay to make mistakes and have flaws. And so many work environments don't make you feel that that is a possibility and that causes other issues.

So I want you to talk about some of the benefits of embracing imperfection. Embracing imperfection has many benefits for your cognitive and emotional wellbeing. For example, you will lower your stress and anxiety and improve relationships because you'll focus more closely on the here and now and not on the unobtainable.

Additionally, learning to live with imperfection makes you more resilient in life and your career. You'll be much more innovative if you're not always worried about what others think or whether your idea is just perfect. By understanding and accepting that nothing and no one is perfect, you can focus more on what other important things there are in life and things that are impossible, right? So recognize that perfection is unobtainable, unattainable. You can't do it. No one's perfect. No one ever will be perfect, including yourself. No matter what your other half may or may not tell you, no matter what your cat is looking at you, saying, you're perfect because you're feeding it or giving it scriptures, right? It is vital to accept that fact. Achieving perfection is an endless and futile pursuit, leading to frustration and disappointment. Now those are not positive attributes, right?

The other thing right now is social media. Stop comparing yourself to others. It is super, super easy to compare yourself to others these days, making you feel like you are not good enough. You get to curate what is in your feed on social media, on Instagram, on Facebook, on LinkedIn. You do get to curate it. You could just have a feed of fluffy cats. That is up to you. Unfortunately, comparison is often unfair and inaccurate, which leads to negative self-esteem. It's really valuable to remember that everyone has their own unique strengths and weaknesses and that being different is okay. We're not all the same. That's just an impossibility.

Practice self-compassion. Being kind to yourself is critical. When you recognize that everyone makes mistakes, it's far easier to feel that self-compassion. So instead of criticizing yourself for your imperfections, practice self-compassion and acknowledge that everyone has flaws and you can't be good at everything. And speaking of being good at everything, set realistic goals. Perfection is an unrealistic goal. Therefore, work with yourself and set more achievable objectives. By setting realistic goals, you're going to avoid that feeling of failure or not quite being good enough when you inevitably make mistakes or don't get something done the way that you wanted it done. And all of this is to say, being part of embrace yourself, embrace what is unique about you. And part of that, because we are human, is you have imperfections. It is really important to recognize that your imperfections are what makes you unique and special. Instead of trying to hide or fix your flaws, try embracing them and work with them and see them as part of who you are you are.

When you keep these ideas in your mind moving forward, you'll begin embracing your imperfections, leading to a greater sense of self-acceptance and therefore happiness. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't work on yourself by improving your skills, but you shouldn’t, and you do not need to strive for something that won't happen. Perfection, because that is a futile waste of time and effort.

Thank you for listening. This is Janice at The Career Introvert, helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your week.