[00:00:00] Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Awfully Quiet Podcast. I really hope you're ready for this one because I'm planning on calling you out on some of the things that you really should be doing in your career, but aren't doing right now. So, prior to recording this today, I had a little bit of a think about where are you at in your career at the moment and what's happening at the moment.

[00:00:26] And obviously we're approaching the year end. So, you know, starting to wrap up some things at work, starting to get into the holiday mode. And. Potentially even thinking about what 2024 is there to bring, what do we want to achieve? What is it that we want to do in our careers? What are some of the things that we might want to do slightly differently than this year?

[00:00:52] If you're anything like me, those are the kind of thoughts that will happen naturally just as we approach the close of the year. And where I'm at right now, I want to paint a little bit of a picture, is it's a Monday morning. It's, my first day of holiday. I have wrapped up my corporate job, my actual job, last week on Friday.

[00:01:15] And. It's been a tough couple of weeks leading up to this because I felt like I was constantly sick. I had so many commitments, both from a work perspective of getting things across the line, hitting deadlines, getting everything on track to then close off before the holidays. And from a personal perspective, there were just, so many, so many private commitments as well.

[00:01:40] Lovely things, catching up with friends, had my sister's wedding, which was beautiful, beautiful, December wedding. And All of those things were really lovely and gave me a lot of energy, but at the same time, they took a lot of headspace in terms of, getting things done, getting ready for the holidays.

[00:02:03] And, I feel like from a body immune system perspective, it's just when things started to shut down and. This is always a cue for me in terms of like, Oh, it's probably a bit too much for you at the moment. And, that's where I was at. So I felt like I was constantly, you know, not, not feeling well, but at the same time really set on pushing through, really set on getting things, done and dusted as they say.

[00:02:31] And I've just recorded, another episode on, you know, how to tackle the year end frenzy and how to make sure. That you do not fall into some of these same tracks. It was an episode I really needed to hear myself at the, at the time and also the one after which I started to do things slightly differently.

[00:02:50] So, if you feel like that resonates with you, you still hear my voice, has, has taken a toll with these past, past couple of weeks. But if you feel like this resonates with you, go back to that episode. It's episode. So, tune into this one too. Now, as for today, it's a Monday morning. I am in my office recording this podcast.

[00:03:16] I'm having my coffee, the sun is shining. I can't believe the sun is shining. I've not seen a blue sky in so, so long. So I'm really, really excited to. ease into, you know, this, this time away from work and, a little bit more time for myself. And so, just this weekend, I wrapped up my final interview episodes for the year, which were amazing.

[00:03:41] very different, but amazing interviews that are going to come up in the next couple of weeks. And so doing solo episodes still feels a little bit, like a different kind of muscle that's needed and. I've put a little bit of thought into what do I want to share with you? What is it that you may need to hear going into this new year?

[00:04:01] And, setting yourself up for success, as they always say. And there is a piece of advice. That I would give everyone, but at the same time, I know that you will have heard this about a hundred different times in your career by now. It's one of those things that comes up as quotes on Pinterest quite often.

[00:04:25] It's something that everybody is really, really aware of. And everybody has heard a hundred, a thousand times, but I'm going to call you out and say. I'm pretty sure you're not acting on it. I'm pretty sure that this is the kind of thing that deep down, you know, you've got to do, you know, you've got to be more intentional with.

[00:04:47] But you aren't, and so this episode, I want to touch on that. I want to call you out on the things that you are not doing. At the same time, I want to hold you and give you a couple of tips on how you may start to integrate this into your career in the way that is really going to fuel your growth in 2024.

[00:05:17] Now, what am I talking about? I am talking about the fact that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And obviously I'm going to talk about this in a context of your career and the workplace. And so I'm pretty sure you've heard this before. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

[00:05:42] Now, let's take a second here and allow you to think about who are those people in your career right now? Who do you spend the most time with? Who is it that, you know, your first interaction in the morning, you're the majority of your interactions throughout the day. Who are you spending most time with?

[00:06:05] And are they fueling your energy or are they training your energy? Are they supporting your growth? Or are they hindering your growth and let's pause here for a second and just kind of make sure that it sinks in. You can spend the most time on your personal development, on your personal growth.

[00:06:31] You can spend a lot of time learning, educating yourself, honing your skills. Setting everything up for your next career move or the trajectory you are looking to go down in the next couple of years. But if you're not surrounded by the right people, if you're not surrounded by people who help you develop and grow and who fuel your energy, who fuel that excitement, you're never going to get there.

[00:07:02] And it's really dramatic. It's something that as introverts.

[00:07:10] We often don't spend enough time thinking about, and we definitely don't spend enough time actioning what that really means. Now, I want to give you an example a time in my career. Where that became painfully obvious to me that I had an issue with the people I was surrounded by. And I'm going to take you back to a situation in my career where I made a little bit of a pivot.

[00:07:42] In order to get closer to the position I eventually wanted, I always wanted to, move towards the demand side of the business. I work in a big, CPG corporation. So I wanted to really get into the demand side of things and very specifically into brand management, into managing some of these big iconic brands, in our organization.

[00:08:06] And I knew that in order to get there, I would need to. Acquire some on the ground skills and some foundations, some of the basics that were actually going to be needed in order for me to be put on the map in the 1st place, be seen as someone who has the right toolbox or has the right skills to, to actually, you know, gain a position in that field and so.

[00:08:34] So, I needed to make a pivot. and it's actually something that was recommended to me at the time is to pivot into a part of the organization where I would get that on the ground toolbox that's these, you know, this kind of skills that were going to help me develop into this direction.

[00:08:53] All fair and good up until this point, but once I started in that role, I had a huge learning curve in the first couple of weeks, maybe the first couple of months, because quite literally, I didn't know a lot of the things I'm going into this. So, there was a lot of. That, you know, what I was looking for, in terms of building up those skills, understanding how things work, how to deal with customers, how to, you know, do market research, how to work with a lot of these tools that are going to be needed from a marketing perspective, how to work in Excel in a way that I can.

[00:09:39] And so the first couple of months were a huge learning curve for me, but then I felt it drop. I felt my learning curve drop dramatically because quite frankly, and I'm not saying this, in an arrogant way, but I am somebody who picks up on things quite quickly. I, I, I learn quite quickly and. I need this element of learning in my career.

[00:10:06] I need to have that. This is a hard, die hard criterion for me. this feeling, this stretch and feeling like things are, you know, the shoes are a little bit, a little bit too big for me to fill at the moment. And, I felt that drop quite significantly. And at the same time, who I was surrounded by was difficult for me.

[00:10:32] Not that the, the people around me, the team around me, not that they weren't nice, not that I was, made feel bad, quite the opposite, lovely people, people who, had been with the organization for a long, long time, but at the same time, people who had just been in a completely different mindset that I was at the time.

[00:10:54] So there's always going to be a difference between someone who has been with an organization for 20 plus years. And is doing what they're doing for a really long time and what they're there for is they come in and they are there for the nine to five. They are there for, you know, delivering their work, doing great work, but at the end of the day, coming home to their, to their real life, it often felt like to me.

[00:11:19] So, that obviously clashes with. Somebody like me at the time, you know, go getter millennial who really wanted to progress her career and who was there for the win, obviously, who was there to, just kind of get the right skills in place, make sure I learn. To then develop and grow further on and I've always had ambitious career goals, so I was really, really driven and I didn't care about 9 to 5.

[00:11:53] I would do what needed to be done to get the job done and,

[00:11:59] and this created a little bit of, of a gap and a little bit of, an icky feeling for me, not because I wouldn't learn because I wouldn't develop because I didn't like these people I can always have, you know, lovely conversations with, with people like that and I honor that there are people like that in each, in each position.

[00:12:21] Organization, and I'm not saying everybody should be striving to progress. Their career should be striving to develop and grow. And so all of that is fine. But at the time, I realized how important it is for me to be surrounded. By like minded people, like people who feel the same itch, the same drive to progress that saying, okay, come on, let's do this.

[00:12:49] we're here until, we're here until way after 5 p. m. and we're going to make this work and. I do, I started to do a lot of self reflection at the time I started to work with a coach at the time and, what I didn't understand back then when I, you know, years later, and really just within the last 2 years, what I learned about myself, in terms of my personality and in terms of my human design is.

[00:13:16] explains to me why that wasn't a good fit for me. And I'm not too sure how familiar you are with human design. At one point, I really want to do a little bit of a deeper dive episode into What human design means and the different types that there are, and it's really something that I only got introduced to, like, in the past 2 years or so.

[00:13:41] What I found out about myself is that I am a human design projector. And, this goes back to the kind of the energy I have and how I feel in certain environments. And what I uncovered about myself is that from an energetic perspective, I'm this kind of chameleon person. I adapt to the energy in the room.

[00:14:07] There is very little energy that I have by myself. So it's almost like, I think a chameleon is really the best way to describe it and it's how I've always felt with friends and the context I was in, the environment I was in, it feels like I can adapt to various different situations and I will adapt. I don't have the energy inside myself that would root me into, you know, feeling a certain way.

[00:14:40] And I believe that that is the reason why I struggled so much in that. I would adapt to the energy around myself and I would feel that mismatch. I couldn't discern between, okay, here I am now. These are my goals. I am here to do a certain thing. I'm here to acquire those skills and then move on to the next thing.

[00:15:02] I would feel stuck in this, in this situation because it felt to me like it drained me. It felt to me like the energy around me wasn't the right one and it felt like this was never going to stop. So it kind of dramatized, this feeling I had and I didn't have the energy inside myself to just kind of pull myself together and say, come on, let's do those two years and, and crack on with it.

[00:15:31] so, so that's an important thing to notice and, another area in my life where that always became quite. Visible is the kind of friends that I have. I always joke in saying that my one to one relationships, friendships, the people I interact with, I love all of them. The, those people I consider my best friends are spread across the world because after school I've done so much, you know, semesters abroad, I've done an au pair.

[00:16:04] and then I went to study somewhere else outside of my hometown. So lots of different places where I would meet people and where I would always connect with someone, on a deeper level and build those 1 to 1 relationships and today. They're spread all over the place. So, it feels like lots of different personalities and I always joke saying that if they were all together in one room, I don't think they would all get along, but somehow I get along with each and every one of them when I am in their context.

[00:16:39] And so that's the chameleon. I love dipping into those different energies. I feel like I, I do feel like myself. It's not like I'm, it's not like I'm giving away some of that energy, but, I can be around different people doing different things and, and still be myself. And that goes back to this projector energy.

[00:17:04] And like I said, at some point, I really want to do. A little bit of a deeper dive into this because at the end of the day, I feel like we ought to really know ourselves. In order to build a career and the life that we love, that is for us, that fulfills us. And for a long time, I didn't understand that for, for the longest time.

[00:17:28] I thought, well, I'm just going to have to make it work. I'm just going to have to get through this, in order to get to where I want to be now. so that situation was difficult for me in terms of like the people I would see on a daily basis and feeling really drained by it. Now, fast forward to today, and it's not only just today, but I feel like I've made the shift a couple of years ago when I finally moved into the direction and into this part of the business that I always wanted to go into, and I'm surrounded by like minded people, I would not change the team I currently work with for anything because now I am in an environment where I feel surrounded by people who not only inspire personal growth and development, but I also look up to them in a certain way.

[00:18:26] There are many things that I love about them, not just from a professional perspective, but just the way, how they live their lives, where they live, the context they live in. It's a very international team. It's a remote team. That's also another big aspect for me that I'm going to come to in, in a bit of, in a minute, I, I look up to them.

[00:18:50] I'm really intrigued by their personalities and then obviously from a professional point of view, I came into this team a little over a year ago and they knew a lot more than me, about the brand that we work on, about the business. And so I feel like in some ways. They are a step ahead of me, and this is exactly the type of energy that I crave.

[00:19:17] This is what brings me to life. This is what helps me develop and grow. It's the sentiment of, oh, I can learn something from you, but together we are this beautiful collaboration. I can bring in ideas, you bring in ideas, and we're all committed to making this thing work. We're all committed to our careers, our progression.

[00:19:41] But the brand that we work on, we believe in what we're doing here. And so none of us see our jobs as a nine to five, we all see it as something that fulfills us to a certain extent and knowing how that feels and knowing how it can feel to have a team like that is so, so powerful to me and just kind of goes to show that it's worth fighting for because when you're in the midst of.

[00:20:14] An environment and the context that is not quite, that is not a good fit for you. You always kind of tend to, and maybe you don't do this, but what I do is I would always question myself first. I would always think, well, maybe I'm not right. Maybe I shouldn't, I shouldn't worry about my career progression as much.

[00:20:33] Maybe I should have a life outside of my job. and I definitely should, but, you know what I'm, what I mean in terms of like, you try to look for the mistake inside yourself instead of looking for the mistake in your environment. And I encourage you, if you don't feel like your environment at work in your career is the right fit for you right now, is.

[00:21:01] To rethink it and is to look into how can you change that up? How can you seek out relationships, collaborations, team members that are right fit for you, that are going to get you excited to go to work. In the morning. because that's definitely how I feel about my team right now. Like, hands down. This is what I strive for.

[00:21:28] And this is where this, quote, this fact, comes to life for me in terms of like, you are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with. And if that is true, then I'm going places because the people I'm surrounded. I'd love that. And this is exactly the feeling that I want you to have too.

[00:21:54] So what we're doing today and to bring this into a more actionable place for you. I want to share with you five ways of how you can start to surround yourself. With people that help you develop and grow. So how do you realize that in your career? I know what you're thinking right now. You're thinking, well, how am I going to change the team that I'm in?

[00:22:20] How am I going to change the job that I'm in? how can I seek out those people who would actually help me develop and grow, who would inspire me? How, how do I even get access to them? And so I'm going to give you five tips. Some of them are going to help you instantly. Some of them you can do from the comfort of your own home and really, really easily.

[00:22:45] And then some of them require a little bit of work, but it will set you up beautifully going into the new year. And really kind of cultivating who gets access to you, who gets to be in your energetic environment and who gets to shape who you become and the opportunities that you get in the next year.

[00:23:12] So let's dive in.

[00:23:14] So tip number one for how to surround yourself with people who help you develop and grow. You want to think about The content you consume and some of the books that you read, some of the podcasts that you listen to. And I feel like, especially when it comes to podcasts, this is a great way, an instant way of how you can bring more people into your environment.

[00:23:43] That are going to be fueling your growth, that are going to be giving you ideas of how to develop and grow without you having to be in an actual room with them. I often feel like when it comes to podcasting, having someone in your ear feels like they are in your vicinity and it feels like they are.

[00:24:04] Close to you when it feels like you are surrounded by them. So what I do on a daily basis is I go for a long dog walk during lunchtime and I always listen to podcasts when I'm on my way and the kind of people I listen to. Are Mel Robbins. I think Mel Robbins is the number one podcast in my Spotify rep this year.

[00:24:25] I listened to Jenna Kutcher. I listened to, I listened a lot to a German podcast by two German entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs. That's called Fast and Curious. If you are Germany based and you speak German, this is a big, big podcast recommendation, but what I'm trying to say by this is. That those are the people that I regularly have in my ear.

[00:24:52] I listen to them each and every day. And it almost feels like I'm having a conversation with them. It almost feels like they're close to me. And by tuning into those conversations, it feels like I am surrounded by people who develop and, and help me grow. Now, if I think about the average of the five people I surround myself with on a daily basis, those people are part of that.

[00:25:23] Those experiences, those, you know, that, that content I consume on a regular basis is part of what shapes me and part of what fuels my, my energy, how I think, how I act, and the things I know, the knowledge I acquire. So, listen to podcasts, is, is my number one tip of how you can instantly change your environment, how you can instantly put yourself into an environment and into the space of people that are going to be.

[00:26:04] Setting the mood in a way that is going to be really beneficial for you. Now, tip number two, you want to start setting your meetings and looking at your day to day in accordance with who fuels your energy and who doesn't fuel your energy. Now I get that you, it's probably difficult to change your team right away.

[00:26:32] If you feel like you're in an environment that doesn't. fuel your energy, you may, this may not be a change that's going to come from one day to another. But what you want to think about is how do you interact with them on a day to day basis? And how can you potentially foster a calendar and schedule throughout your day?

[00:26:54] That is going to be beneficial for your energy and for the mood that you're in. So if you think about, who do you start a day with at work? What is the kind of meeting that you start your day with? who do you spend most time with? How do you end your day? What does your Monday look like as opposed to a Friday?

[00:27:10] I'm going to give you a couple of examples. I have built some really beautiful boundaries for myself in the past couple of years, based on this knowledge. There will always be people you interact with in your work week that are going to drain the shit out of you, like, honestly, they're going to be, you just want to run away from, but you're going to have these meetings.

[00:27:33] So what I'm trying to do is I don't have these meetings first thing in the morning, really protective. Of my time early morning, and I will often not accept meetings before 10 a. m. It used to be 9 a. m., but I got just a little bit more protective and the fact that I work a lot with people who are based in the UK helps them because they are an hour back so their 9 a. m. is my 10 a. m. So I feel like, That's a good place for me to start just because before that I'd love to be in my own energy. I love to be, I work from home. I love to have my coffee. I love to look through my emails. I love to get ready for the day before I jump into that external energy and before I jump into having conversations with others.

[00:28:25] so that's something that I do and then I will often try and pick meetings. With with people that I know, I'm not going to drain my energy. So someone in my immediate team would put in a 9am or even an 8am. Let's let's be honest. I would always say yes, because I know that's not going to take away my energy.

[00:28:50] Likewise, I will build in breaks. I'll try and try to sustain my energy. I just mentioned the, the lunch walk that I take on a daily basis. So that always helps me. And then, I will think about Mondays and Fridays the most because it's sort of like, starting the week and ending the week. it's always like a space that, I love to protect to, not just, you know, to, to.

[00:29:14] Get things done, which let's be honest is a big part of the reason, but also to, spend some time by myself and yeah, be, be in my own energy, not be. Not be, not be in a space where, I could potentially feel drained or I could potentially lose my energy. Tip number three on how to surround yourself with people who help you grow is you want to become really intentional with what that looks like for you.

[00:29:51] Now I'm bringing you back to the, sorry, I told you about the team that I didn't feel Quite comfortable in a few years back and I did start to work with a coach at that time and one of the exercises I went through was. To create a little bit of a vision for me and not just a vision board in terms of a mood board.

[00:30:17] I did that too, but really think about what is the kind of day I envision myself having as opposed to, you know, what's the, what's the job title? I want. What's the, the, the big shiny thing. What's the, the, the status card and so on. So, none of those things, but, yeah. What is the kind of day you envision for yourself when it comes to your career vision and, the morning you want to have the, when you wake up in the morning, what is the 1st thing you do?

[00:30:49] How do you feel about work? What are the meetings that you're going to have in that day? are you working from home? Are you working in an office? Who are you surrounded by on a daily basis? What are these people like? What is their context? How do you feel about working with them?

[00:31:09] And this is something that I really want you to start asking yourself, if you've got a couple of minutes, hours. on the, in these, this time of the year, the upcoming holidays, maybe you take a walk after having an enormous amount of food during Christmas and it's, bright outside, like it is today where I'm at, and you just kind of think about what are the people that you'd love to work with?

[00:31:37] Who do you envision yourself working with? How do you feel about them? How do they fuel your development and growth? And I feel like. A lot of people don't do that. A lot of people don't ask themselves those questions when it comes to envisioning their career. When it comes to thinking about the kind of job that they want.

[00:31:59] It's always just about the job responsibilities. It's always just about, the job title, the salary. It's never about the kind of people you work with. And at the end of the day, that's going to make or break your experience. You're never going to be happy in a job. We don't feel supported. You're never going to be happy in a job where you feel drained by those around you.

[00:32:25] So, if I'm honest, that's the most important question you can ask yourself when it comes to gaining that career clarity. And making sure you're working towards a direction that is going to be beneficial for you, that is going to be enjoyable for you. So ask yourself the question, who do you want to be surrounded by?

[00:32:50] Tip number four is you want to seek communities. Networks clubs that are going to be putting you in that energy of where you want to be that are potentially going to help you acquire some of the skills that you're looking for. It could be meeting some of those people that you're looking for in terms of.

[00:33:13] If you think about if you've done the prior exercise of, like, who do you want to be surrounded with? You could start to think about where are you going to meet those people? Where are they at? can think about what are the kind of projects they are currently on at work. Maybe those are people who are currently already in your organization, but you just don't have as much access to them because they're not on the same team.

[00:33:37] They're not on the same projects. maybe there are, certain clubs or platforms in your organization that, you know, You can find them there and you could start to move towards them in a way that doesn't require you to move jobs right away or to move teams right away, but you can access them more by being in their vicinity.

[00:34:01] So think about anything that goes on in your organization, anything that you could ask for in terms of the projects that you could take on to get closer to those people. You may also think about classic career networks. where, you know, people might be, meeting in networks that is close to their function.

[00:34:21] Know from a marketing perspective, there are always career communities that are going to be doing both connect you with people in your function and in your industry, but at the same time, they offer a lot of knowledge, a lot of learning experiences that are going to be beneficial for you. So, maybe look for some of those career opportunities and career networks.

[00:34:47] Another thing that I recently found. That I want to share with you here is sports. It doesn't necessarily have to do with your career. but think about, you know, trying a new sport, going out to, to a new class that you haven't tried yet. I've talked about this before. I recently joined a cycling club in town, one of those clubs that people go to and.

[00:35:14] are, you know, cycle in dark rooms together for 45 minutes to really loud music. And, it's just the best experience for me. I can't, I can't put it in any other way. I love it. It is something that I've really come to like as part of my weekly routine in terms of like, I love to be in that energy and, you know, introvert me.

[00:35:39] I don't go into those clubs and like have lots of conversations with people there, but. At the end of the day, I feel like I socialize because I've been with other people for 45 minutes and you may be, you know, smiling, to, you know, give somebody else a smile who is, you know, kind of sweating next to you to the same song, or you might really vibe with the instructor.

[00:36:03] You, you know, give people a high five after the, after the 45 minutes and, you know, kind of, you're in the locker room with the same kind of type of people who enjoy this sort of exercise. And it's not to say that those are exactly the right people for you, or, it needs to be any more than just kind of being in that environment for a certain amount of time.

[00:36:30] But it's something that I feel like we can't underestimate. I think. next to the exercise next to moving next to getting those endorphins it's, it's that energy that I crave. It's the energy in the room. It's the people who, you know, they, they might come from work to, they might have a very similar mindset to me.

[00:36:51] They go there to get a workout in at the end of the day. And it just feels like being in that room and being in that environment fuels me, inspires me, gives me something that I didn't have before, just being by myself. So, in terms of thinking about the people you surround yourself with, even if it's not that close a connection, Think about those kinds of environments.

[00:37:19] It may be a cycling club, it may be a yoga class, anything that you fancy. But think about where are those people who you'd like to be surrounded by. Now, tip number five. And this is also one that you can instantly start to do and definitely want to do in 2024, which is to seek out advice and mentorship.

[00:37:45] Now, I always think about, you know, if you think about the 5 people you surround yourself by and the advice you get at work. You're often, it often comes down to the people you work with and your current manager. That's your current manager, hands down, is most influential when it comes to your next move, when it comes to your development.

[00:38:10] And what we often forget in that is that we can also become a lot more proactive in who shapes our growth. We can proactively seek out and ask for career advice. We can ask for mentorship opportunities and you don't have to go out and say, will you become my mentor? just go out and ask for career advice.

[00:38:34] That's exactly what I did,, in my last job. And it actually landed me. My, my current job, is I've sought out advice from somebody in the organization that would later become, my boss would later become my manager. And. If you think about it, in the current work setting that you're in, the current organization that you're in, or the current, your, your workplace.

[00:38:59] I bet you, there are people who you admire, there are people who you consider role models. Somebody who has done what you would really like to do, somebody who's in a position that you'd really like to be in. Why not talk to them? Why not reach out and say, look, I'm so inspired by your career growth, by your trajectory, by the things that you do.

[00:39:25] Would you mind spending 30 minutes with me and for me to ask some questions and some advice on how I could potentially achieve the same thing, or how I could potentially go down that road? And I bet you nobody's going to say no to that, especially if it's in the same organization. I feel like people are, really willing to share advice, especially when it comes to career advice, even if it is outside of your organization.

[00:39:54] and, and, and, you know, it may just be people on LinkedIn that you follow and that you, that you find really inspiring. It may just be a company, an organization. That you're always like, Oh, I'd love to work there. Just kind of seek out people who already work there and ask them to have a connection, ask them for advice, ask them to, you know, for, for 20 minutes, 30 minute coffee chat.

[00:40:19] I feel like that's the most underrated thing that people never do in their career. They always feel like they're stuck with their current team. They're stuck with their current manager. There are so many people out there that you haven't connected with yet. And it always, it always feels like this formal thing of like, well, if I reach out to them now.

[00:40:42] You know, what are they going to think? What am I going to say? How am I going to come across? Bullshit. Go ahead. Reach out. I promise you, as long as you, as it comes from a genuine place, as long as you come from a place of being truly interested in them, It's going to be a win win because everybody likes that everybody likes to share about, you know, their career trajectory.

[00:41:07] Everybody likes to give advice, especially to someone who is genuinely interested. So, I just want you to go out and do this 1. It's going to help you cultivate that inner circle. It's going to help you, you know, get close to people who have done what you want to do. And it's ultimately going to be such a huge career driver in ways that you Are not going to be able to see yet and that's the beauty of things like, when I reached out to this person in the organization who I really admired, I had, you know, we had a lovely conversation.

[00:41:45] She gave me a couple of tips. I acted on those tips. things progress. Well, after that. And then two years later, she has a job opening on her team that I'm really interested in and I apply and I get the job and I wouldn't have known that initially. And maybe I would have gotten the job, even if I hadn't connected beforehand, but you never know.

[00:42:08] It's. It's so beautiful, the things that can happen once you start to actively seek out the kind of people you want to be with at work. So stop feeling stuck with the environment that you're currently in and start appreciating the fact that you can do so many things to instantly feel better, to cultivate that circle, and to think about who is in your vicinity, who gets access to your energy.

[00:42:38] How can you manage that and how can you fuel your growth? Based on who you spend the most time with and who you give the most of your energy and your headspace and your sanity. I hope that you took away some actionable advice today. I hope that, some of these things stick with you. During the holidays and definitely into 2024, I would love for you to let me know how you feel about those five ways to surround yourself with people to help you grow.

[00:43:11] I would love for you to share your experience. This makes it a lot more of a two way conversation and yeah, more than anything else. I hope that you get this feeling in 2024 of being surrounded by people you just vibe with by people who you look up to by. People fuel your growth, who inspire you. It's the most beautiful thing in the world.

[00:43:41] It's the most beautiful and powerful thing that can happen in your career, and that's what I wish you. Thank you for tuning in today and ah, I'll see you next time.