Constant Vigilance. I feel it too. That never-ending feeling “Am I doing enough?” The reason that you say you are ‘at capacity’, but more and more things keep getting added to your plate. The energy that fuels a constant renegotiation of our worth in our careers. Constant Vigilance is toxic. And I’m here to tell you, it is NOT yours to carry. 

The truth is that the game is rigged. And we can waste our energy on this vigilance or pivot and invest a much more compelling challenge. This week, I walk you through some signs you may be in Constant Vigilance and how to pivot, if you so desire. Take a listen today!

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Elevating your self-concept is a coachy-phrase that I would eye-roll at until it smacked me dead in the face. In a lot of ways disenrolling from trainee mindset, dreaming big, and having an unapologetic career is identity shifting work. This is a personal episode on my recent shift. I’m sharing because I must – and I want to ignite courage in the rest of us to do the same. 

In this week’s episode of Your Unapologetic Career, I go deep on a year-plus long journey of career redefinition and what it actually looked like on the inside, behind the scenes of what triggered some of my most popular KD Coaching Newsletters. I also share a book recommendation that you absolutely should NOT read if you aren’t looking for career-altering growth. (Don’t do it, Girl!) Take a listen today and come find me on the socials to share your #biggoals!

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Most of what goes into deciding to embark on coaching and then finding the ‘right’ coach for your needs is internal. At some point, you decide that the status quo is no longer going to cut it, and you are ready for growth and development without institutional conflict of interest. That alone is a major step. Then, that’s when I start getting all of the questions in my DMs. How should I choose a coach? How do I know this is the right decision? Again, mostly internal but I do have one major piece of advice. It comes from my own experience with (not so great and absolutely stellar) coaching and it boils down to this: Personality vs. Process. 

 In this week’s episode, I go in on the difference between the two, and why you should be much more invested in one over the other. Now go get some coaching!

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I recognize that my thoughts in this episode go counter to so much early career advice, and I don’t care. I’m leaning in anyway. I care about this so much, because underneath the frenzy to “do anything to get a grant” is something quite problematic - a deep-seated devaluation of your value and worth. And we’re 👏🏾 not 👏🏾 having 👏🏾that👏🏾!

 This week I talk about why you need to use STRATEGY rather than reactivity in the grant game - from the very beginning. 

 Whether you are just starting out on faculty or 10 years into your career and trying to come up for air, this episode is for you!

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So here’s the thing – I get stuck too! There are many ways we can feel stuck in our careers – wrong job, wrong mentor, failed research, and unending rut…. 

The stagnation is exhausting. It’s the place where many many poor choices are born. In this episode, I open up about how I got majorly stuck earlier this year – and went and used my own advice to get out. Take a listen for a peek behind the scenes of my entrepreneurship journey and how this particular tactic to get unstuck is widely applicable to our academic careers! 

 And here’s the video link I reference in the episode! 

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None of us ever want to fail. Ever. And yes, we know ‘failure is required on the way to success’ and all of that nonsense – but still, failure sucks. And because it does, we’ve got some pretty creative ways we are socialized to deal with failure in academic medicine.  

 They are effective - they are just not without consequence. In this episode, I detail the main approaches I see to how we deal with failures like paper rejections and grants not getting funded, and why those may not be the best your best strategy, friend. Listen in today on what these approaches are, what their consequences may be, and what you are certainly missing out on when you’re not paying attention.  

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With regard to opportunities, we get told 2 things: Say No and blame your mentor and Never say Yes right away, ask for time to think about it. So, both of these are reasonable and also horribly incomplete. If you’ve been trying to follow this advice and still at a loss for how to deal with ‘opportunities’ this episode is for you. 

 The truth is that delaying a decision - without a process to make the decision - does not actually lead to a better decision.  In this episode, I walk you through what is missing from the standard advice, signs that you may not have a true decision making process, and a few tangible steps to create your own method of not good or bad, but high quality decisions. Take a listen today! 

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For the busy bee, delegation offers incredible value. It’s become a buzz-worthy resource that’s considered a privilege. But what about when you delegate only to end up with similar stress levels as before?! If you aren’t yet seeing the fruits of your delegated labor - this is for you.

In this episode, I challenge you to rethink the way you approach delegation. We’ll break down how to prioritize the crucial components that you need to establish in order to make the most of any delegation opportunity. The land of milk and honey (freedom to work from your zone of genius) might sound like a dream, but today I’m sharing the first steps on the path to make it real. 

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Facing failure sucks! It throws us off balance and usually into one extreme (Being) or another (Doing).  

 In this episode, I spotlight the need to strike a balance between all the feelings and actually taking action. Often we don’t even recognize which rut we are in. 

 Whether we’re recovering from grant rejection, difficult colleagues, botched experiments or any other kind of ‘failure’ - the principles that underlay a healthy and speedy recovery remain essentially the same. Today, I lay out those principles so you can ride the waves of any career trial and keep you moving toward your success. 

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Listen, there are really no new ideas when it comes to productivity. In fact, pretty much all of them can be boiled down to 3 core elements.  

In this episode, I explain what these elements are and why they are NOT actually the root of productivity struggles. We’ll unpack why although they’re super simple, we find them so hard to implement – and what to do about it.  

C’mon achievers, let’s go not just for success, but *sustainability.*  Take a listen! 

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