New look, who dis?

Welcome to the first edition of the Work Therapy Newsletter!

We’re bringing you a fresh take on the former, “regularish” newsletter The Upgrade. Work Therapy will be here every Sunday to pump you up for the week ahead.

Career Advice: Follow the Favor 

I started my career producing for a television network. Fresh out of college with a newly minted BA in television and film production, I wanted to tell stories about people creating beautiful and inspiring things in this world. Nearly 20 years later, I am a senior leader for a tech company who runs, wait for it… product operations. Which essentially means, I’m responsible for ensuring our technical teams are running efficiently. What, you’re not seeing the connection from where I started to how I got here?  The TL;DR is: it was a long and winding path. 

“Figure out what you want to do and get a degree in that field”, they said. 

“Work an internship and get hands-on relevant experience”, they said. 

“Take whatever job in your desired field and work your way up”, they said. 

Do you know what they didn’t say? No one said, “your career might not unfold in a straight line”. Had I heard those words when I was 25, it would have saved me some heartache.

If I could go back and talk to myself 20 years ago, here’s what I’d say:

Don’t overthink your first or next role, simply follow the favor. Meaning, align yourself to the people that believe in you and say yes when the opportunities come. You don’t have to know your end game to walk through doors that open and try new things. 

Use your job(s) to discover what you love. With every job, there will be things you like (hopefully), the things you tolerate and the things you don’t want to do. The more roles you experience the clearer that understanding becomes.

Stay open to the twist and turns. If you are committed to learning and growing, over time, you will start to see that the winding road is headed somewhere meaningful. 

Lastly, use your work experience to find your vision.  Figure out who you are, what you stand for, what makes you jump (or enthusiastically roll) out of bed in the morning motivated to take on the day. Then work to align your life’s work to that vision. That may mean you can fulfill that vision through your job or that your job allows you to fulfill that vision in other areas of your life. 

At n’good company, we believe that people thrive when they are connected to their purpose and we are here to support you on that journey. 

The path may be long and winding but at least we are not alone. We are grateful you are here. You’re n’good company. 

We’re not talking about that couch moment, although it’s a classic. This is the part of the newsletter where you get to ask us anything and we’ll share our expertise. Like Dear Abby but for your burning workplace questions, woes and predicaments. 

Speaking of a pivot, our first discussion is how to know if it's time to change jobs or stick it out. We recently discussed this topic on the podcast, so have a listen. 

Couch Moment will be answering your questions every week right here, so if you’re looking for more guidance in this or any other area of work life you can submit a question here.

A recent report by Atlassian found that 72% of meetings are ineffective. Are you shocked? We’re not either.

The good news is that because meeting culture has gotten so bad, there are some simple practices that will quickly get you back into control of your workday.

Here are 3 tips and tools you can start today to improve your meetings:

1. Include a goal in your invite and send an agenda in advance 🤯.

   Seems like a no-brainer but if you’re a leader not using this practice there is a very good chance your team is following your example.

2. Empower people to say “no” to meetings 🚫.

   Give people the agency to determine which meetings are worth their time and watch the quality of meetings improve.

3. Use the To Meet or Not To Meet tool by Atlassian 🧰.

   Normalize using different communication formats to get work done and prioritize quality of work versus the quantity of meetings as an indication of productivity.

Resources Worth Your Click

🎧 The Art of Boundary Setting

🎧 Emotional Health and Its Direct Tie to a Thriving Work Environment 

🎧 Building a Life You Actually Believe In