Dearest gentle listeners, welcome to a new episode of the Awfully Quiet Podcast. I'm really excited for you to tune in today. this is going to be a little bit of a different one. We're doing a life and career update today, and I'm already slightly nervous and anxious because I have no idea whether this is interesting for you.

I am definitely out of my comfort zone but These are the types of things I always enjoy listening, you know, on other podcasts from other podcast hosts on Instagram. So I'll give it a try. We'll see how it fits. And if it doesn't resonate, we'll never do it again. If it does, you can let me know. you know, what's interesting for you, what, what interests you, any questions that you have.

And then moving forward, we'll see if, you know, if we'll see if we do that again. Today lends itself for a little bit of a life and career update because I'm recording this episode prior to going on a two and a half week vacation. And there's just a lot happening in general, both in my life and in my career.

So I thought, well, we'll give it a try. And. We'll see how it works. So we're to give you some context of where I'm currently at and what's happening this week. As you can probably tell from the intro, it's the season three launch of Bridgerton, which is what I'm really excited about later today to have a little bit of a Bridgerton.

with some comfort food and the latest season of Bridgerton Because frankly, this week was crazy. like I said, it is the last week before I'm going on holiday. That week is usually busy as you will all know, but, this week in particular, I had a last minute work trip come up that ended up being really, really cool and a great opportunity, with lots of great face to face connections in London.

At the same time, as you can imagine, that puts a lot of pressure on the things that anyway need to get done and be ready before you leave for, quite a big vacation. Now, this year in particular from, from a work perspective, you all know that I still very much have a corporate job, a corporate career, which I love.

Like at the moment I wouldn't trade that for anything. I very much cherish the experience that I get to make. I am a brand manager for an iconic global brand and I have, you know, I have a job that I've worked towards for a really long time. And, I'm doing that now for a little over one and a half years.

And this year really marked the first year of where things started to feel comfortable, you know, how it's like in the. The first year in a role is where you do everything for the very first time. And it feels kind of, it feels kind of overwhelming. Most of the time you're hoping to be doing a good job, but you're not really sure.

And a lot of things are messy and, figuring out a lot of stuff on the fly, which Usually works quite well for me. But then again, once I started to really know what I'm doing, I feel a lot better. That's when I personally start to thrive. When I feel like, you know, I know my stuff, I know how to do the things I Get to expand on some of the things and get to bring in some of my own flavors, some of my secrets on some of, you know, how I would potentially do things differently than they were done before.

And that was sort of like the beginning of this year where there's almost like that second cycle of things happening. And that felt really, really good. there were a couple of big moments already throughout the year. It's only may end. There were so many new elements to my corporate job. We've had new management in the team.

We had quite a few face to face connections, big workshops, big deliverables, conferences, and quite a few big presentations that needed to be done and organized and looking back. It was, it felt like a lot, but now, especially with the holiday coming up, it feels like a lot to be proud of as well. And what always helps me is almost recognizing these moments and rather than just moving from one milestone to another, It's to take some time and appreciate what's been done, the amount of work that was delivered.

And even though there are still so many more things to achieve and to do, you know, there's a never ending to do list for everyone, I believe. It's really nice for me to now look back and feel like, ah, quite a few things done already, which feels good. And then there's also a little bit of a career opportunity that came up for me this year within the job that I'm doing at the moment.

And that feels really nice because that literally never happened to me in my career to date. whenever I had career opportunities or promotions in the past. I always had to work super, super hard to get them. I always had to push, apply, interview, prove myself, engage with stakeholders and strangers that I really didn't know before that didn't know me.

And so it always felt extremely hard for me to, Make those moves and those pivots. If you've listened to some of my earlier episodes on, you know, my career journey so far, you will know that I never really went for the obvious next choice. I always went for a little bit of a pivot. I always went into. a slightly different function than I was in before, and that usually means engaging, you know, people and stakeholders and convincing them to take a leap of faith in you that haven't worked with you yet.

And, especially for me as an introvert, that is harder. Then being promoted or getting an opportunity in, in the team where people usually already know you and they, you know, you will have proven yourself and I feel like that it's a little bit easier, but so that made it easy on me, which I do not regret.

One minute, but this year for the very first time, it feels like the first kind of move or a career opportunity that is. earned that is given and is something that is an appreciation of the work that I've done. And it's a great opportunity for me. And, I am, it sounds, it sounds very cool now, but the last couple of months were almost like, very much an up and down of, you know, is it going to happen?

Is it not going to happen? And to this day, there's still a little bit of ambiguity, but overall, what I really feel in my career at this stage, eight years into my corporate career, it feels like there is that little bit of, you know, organic progression happening of like, I have to push less, people see me, people start to see what I'm good at.

and it feels really good not having to push. And that is very aligned with my projector human design in a sense that I can now wait for the invitation and, you know, do what I'm doing and people start to recognize what I'm doing well and, where I'm going. And in hindsight, that is very likely the, you know, the, the fruits now from years and years of, you know, potentially putting myself out there, voicing what I wanted, what I didn't want, sometimes going for things that I was being told I wasn't ready for.

And just kind of like freely reflecting on what it is that I want, where it is that I'm going, what excites me and You know, being, being, bold enough or courageous enough to voice that and to have the right conversations and to tell the right people. So yeah, that finally feels good. It took a while, but that's also what inspires me so much to talk about career progression and to talk about these kinds of more subtle ways of finding what it is that you want, voicing it, finding the right people to support you.

Now. That's what I'm going to say. Is that what's happening at the moment or potentially happening at the moment? Like I said, there is still a little bit of ambiguity with that, but it's all about the right support. It's all about getting people on your side and, kind of strategically making sure that you're being seen by the right people.

And so. Throughout my career, I have always, as an introvert, I have always heard, you've got to be more visible, you've got to be a little bit louder, just tell yourself more and make sure that you have some kind of positive gossip, PR about you in the organization so people know about you. And I never really did that.

I did that in a very strategic one to one way in a sense that whenever I, felt like I really wanted something, I looked into that function, those teams in particular, and then I connected one to one with key stakeholders and kind of made sure that. I built a little bit of a connection from the ground up, but I never really did the usual, you know, have coffee with senior leadership or present in front of large audiences just to be seen and just to be visible and in front of people, which.

I think has always helped me because I know that if I were to present in front of like a town hall or like company gatherings, or if I were to, you know, network at some of those, big corporate functions, it just wouldn't be natural to me. And I wouldn't be doing a good job. I know that if I were to present something in front of a huge audience that I know might not be relevant for any, for everyone, it feels really uncomfortable for me.

Whereas, Presenting something in front of a dedicated group of people who I know this is going to be an added value for, who I know will have some questions for me, where I know I can add, value to them, a whole different vibe. And so those are some of the things I just started to do differently than I was being told.

And they're paying off. And that's what always makes me think, you know what? I want to do something. There are so many different ways to progress your career. There are so many different ways to thrive as an introvert in the workplace. And that's why I'm becoming more vocal about them. That's why I'm You know, really keen on sharing some of the things that have worked for me because I know they will likely work better for you than some of the advice that you're getting in corporate and some of the advice that is out there.

So that's it in terms of career. Now I'm actually going to be taking a big moment to breathe and to celebrate, where I've come to in this year. And, actually. flying out to LA next week with my partner and that has been a long time coming. I have been in LA on a couple of occasions before I've lived in California throughout my studies for an internship in real estate.

Sounds a lot like Selling Sunset, I would say it's like 5 percent like that. And then 95 percent is a lot different, a lot more of a grind job, a lot more of a dirty job than, Netflix makes it out to be, but, I still have very fond memories of living in California. I'm, you know, feel very, very. proud still and very, very lucky and privileged still to have, you know, had the opportunity to do that.

I literally lived in Orange County in Newport Beach, which, you know, 12 year old me having watched the OC and everything, that felt like, it felt like a big career dream then and there. And I often, you know, I like to think back to that. And, I went back in 2017 and then not for a really long time, obviously also because of COVID, we adopted, our dog in the meantime and we sort of like started to, stay more local in Europe over the summers.

we drove down to Italy one year, we drove down to France one year with friends and always kind of took the dog. And, this year is the first year that we're going back long distance and it feels like, like I said, a long time coming and it feels really, really good to, to go back. Lukasz, my partner, has not been there.

Has not been there ever, and so I'm really, really excited to be doing a bit of, you know, reminiscing in old times in L. A. and Orange County, but then also doing a little bit of a road trip and, yeah, unplugging, and just enjoying ourselves and seeing where, where it takes us. And, yeah, it's, it's really a good moment in time for us to be taking a little bit of a break.

we're both very much hard workers. We've done a lot of work this year leading up to May. And we have a little bit of a personal event come up in the summer, which we'll then need to regain some energy for, which is our wedding. getting married in July. I'm a summer bride this year. I can't believe I'm saying that because I literally don't care about any of that.

but yeah, and I can't believe I'm sharing that on the podcast. is that allowed on a career podcast? Please let me know if this is way out of line.and I'm usually not one of those brides that gets really excited about getting married. In fact, We have been engaged for two years now and we're never really ones to like, I certainly didn't have like the perfect wedding in mind or like I'm ready to go Pinterest board to draw from when it comes to planning the day.

we're also a little bit of an, you know, international couple. My partner is from Czech Republic. I'm from Germany. So we have families from two different countries. And there was for a long time, we didn't really know how we wanted to do that. bringing everyone together and, yeah, celebrating. in a little bit of an unconventional way.

Like, I think that's a theme that comes up throughout this podcast is like, there is a way of, you know, how most people do it. And then there is how I want to do it. And it's a lot different. So I'm not this person who's looking to do like, you know,like a dedicated wedding venue and like the, the big, big dress and, the hundred people.

I wanted for it to be small and intimate, like quality over quantity. I'm going to want to have some good champagne. I'm going to want to have really good food. I'm going to want to have my really, really good friends and family, like really, really closest circle. and I think that's what we achieved now.

I think that's what we're putting together in terms of like, what that celebration is going to look like. Thanks. But still, it feels like a lot still to be done. And then I'm also very conscious of the fact that I want to enjoy the day. And as an introvert, as a second line projector, I know that it's going to be overwhelming.

Even, you know, even if it is just 30 people, it's like everyone I dearly love all in one place. I can imagine. is a lot for me. So almost like, how am I going to make that happen? How am I going to really be present, enjoy this day with my partner, but then also enjoy this day with my family and with my friends and make sure it's something that everyone equally enjoys.

And I don't know anyone who's getting married this year or who got married in the last year or is planning on getting married next year. Do let me know how you feel about, you know, conventional weddings and doing things differently. Cause it, frankly, it often feels like if you're, if you're going for a conventional venue, and they, you know, wedding, like everyone does it, it's almost easier than doing something that's bespoke because there is a lot less, you know.

There's literally not a venue that puts itself out there for an unconventional small 30 people wedding. At least not what I found. So it feels like there is a lot more work that goes into doing something that's a little bit different, but yeah, that's happening in the summertime. And yeah, I'm, I'm really happy to, you know, go on this holiday now and to regain some energy.

I feel like that is something that I'm still, still struggling with a little bit, if I'm honest. in the day to day, I'm already quite good at managing my energy, just sort of making sure that. I regained some strengths. I know how, you know, how I need to spend my evenings in order to be back at work the next day and thriving.

I have achieved a great balance with some of the cycling classes that I've started to do at the beginning of the year. And that I keep on talking about, but you know, going out for a workout. Work out in the morning before work really helps ground myself, really helps do something that's just for me, just for my own benefit.

And that's before anyone else comes in. I do that with Lukasz as well. So it feels like a really cool thing to be doing together. And it just kind of creates a really. Good balance, for us throughout the work week, but that being said, what I still sometimes struggle with is this balance between, you know, full on work mode and, you know, launching this podcast at the end of last year, and obviously wanting to make it better and better as I go, launching My course, three day interview prep, that is something that's very dear to my heart.

And I obviously want to build that, course portfolio over time and making sure that I bring, you know, dedicated courses and resources and programs to life for introverts that are based on what has helped me in my career and what I believe helps fellow introverts thrive in the workplace and all that.

And, you know, I'm naturally ambitious and I want to get things done. And I think I have a big capacity to do lots of things at the same time. But I also know that I need to take some time for myself. And I also know that I'm probably better. I'm probably creating a better output. I probably am more effective when I'm a little better, a little more rested, a little more in tune with myself and really take the time to disconnect and recharge.

So that's where I'm definitely on a journey. That's what I'm definitely looking to do in the next couple of weeks. And yeah, throughout the summer. So. I think that's it. I think that's it in terms of Life, career, Los Angeles, California, Bridgerton. We have a good mix of different topics today. So again, I'd love to hear from you if this is something that you liked, if you've got any questions and if not, I'm just gonna never do it again.

Let's see. But yeah, you will still hear from me over the next couple of weeks. I, did record. Some, I have a really good interview come up that I've prerecorded and then, yeah, I'm gonna see you back. In a couple of weeks and you'll obviously listen to the next podcast episode next week. And yeah, as always follow along at Subtle Careers and at the Awfully Quiet Podcast.

there will always be fresh content up there because I just can't help myself so much for boundaries, but yeah. Thank you for listening and tuning in today. I really appreciate you being here and being part of this community. See you next week.