Hi, and welcome back to the Awfully Quiet Podcast. I am so excited for you to tune in. A special welcome for those who are new here. I am completely out of my mind, baffled at the analytics this week. I've had so many downloads on the last episode with Nadja Gabriel on projectors in human design in the corporate world.

And I'm just so thankful for everyone. coming on to the podcast, listening to the episodes, I did not believe that this episode would fly like that, just because it's such a niche topic. And going into this, I had thought, well, human design is something that hardly anybody knows about. And then going specifically into one of the types was quite selfish from my perspective, because I am a projector type.

And I often struggle with how, you know, how to deal in the corporate world as a projector, quite frankly, also in the business world, but I'm perceiving a lot more content on projectors in business than I do projectors in the corporate world and in the workplace. So. This episode was solid gold for me, just having that conversation with Nadja, who I consider an absolute guru when it comes to anything projectors,But, but then I didn't expect that, there would be so many of you tuning into this episode.

It's testament to the, beautiful and strong community that Nadja has built. So if you're here from that past episode, welcome, and I'm so glad you're tuning in again. Today's conversation is about something that. I am still struggling with, and I am still on a journey on, but I keep receiving it. Time and time again as career advice that I really need to take to heart.

And that is all about what it means to play the long game in your career. What it means to build a career for longevity, instead of going for the quick fixes, instead of going for something that feels good in the moment, instead of going for something that looks good. On RSVP and on LinkedIn. So if you feel like you may be somebody who struggles with that as well, who is looking to, build a career for the long run and set yourself up for success.

This episode is absolutely for you. Now, my career has been anything but a quick fix. So I should probably know better. I literally spent the last seven years. Working towards my dream position, the position I have today, and I've recently done an episode of how I pivoted various times in order to get to the role that I have today in my corporate job in brand marketing.

As a brand manager. And it's taken me quite a while, even though that was the dream all along. And oftentimes I had career advice been given to me, along the lines of, you know, it's important to build that breath. It's important to build the foundation. It is really, really important to, you know, build the network.

and be patient and it's going to come one day. And I always felt that that was very, very unsatisfactory to me. Like I'm the kind of person I know what I want and I want it now. And even better. So yesterday, and that's often the expectation. That I have going into something new. That is the expectation that I have going into a career ambition, going into a career dream that I've set out for myself.

And so it's really, really difficult for me to accept that it's going to take a while, it's going to take a couple of years and looking back, if somebody would have told me it's going to take seven years for you to get into a European brand manager role. I may have not gone for it anymore. I may have lost.

interest in it, because it is quite the journey, isn't it? And looking back now, I'm just so grateful for all the turns I took, for all the experiences I captured along the way. They did make me who I am today. And now I often need to remind myself moving forward of applying that same patience, applying those same muscles, that same mindset to what I want now, to what I'm now envisioning my career to be in the next five to 10 years.

So what I want to cover today So what I'm going to do now is I want to cover some of the traps that you may be falling into when it comes to quick fixes versus the long game. So I'm going to cover three quick fixes, traps that you may be falling into. Then we're going to go into career success stories that may surprise you.

And then we're going to cover off five behaviors. To start playing the long game, what are the five things that you should be doing in order to shift your focus from the short term to the long term in your career? Now let's dive in to three quick fix traps. This is So we're going to cover three traps that you may be falling into when it comes to quick fixes in your career.

Number one is instant gratification, something that makes you feel good and accomplished in the moment, but certainly doesn't help you in the long run. I'm going to give you some examples. This may be taking on a high workload to get praise. It may be doing it all as a badge of honor because doesn't that feel good right now?

It's like putting in the work, like putting in the effort. you're spreading yourself thin, you're all out of energy, you're exhausted. But at the end of the day, You get recognition for that hard work. Somebody taps you on the shoulder and tells you, Oh, I'm seeing all your hard work right now. You're doing super, super well.

Thank you for your resilience. Thank you for, maintaining such a high workload. Now, we all know that this is something that is. Instant gratification. We know that this is something that, may not set you up for the future in the way that you think, because it may just not be sustainable for you.

Another example is going after a certain job title because it would really feel good right now to have accomplished that job title same with any sort of status things like status cars, a particular office, or a. Job that would just really look good on your CV right now. A job that would really make all your friends from school jealous on LinkedIn.

Like whenever you feel something like that come up, whenever you feel like, Oh, this would, this would really look good right now, but it may not be the thing that makes you feel good. You may be falling into a trap of, Oh, this is instant gratification. I want to feel better about myself right now. And I'm going to grab whatever I can to make that happen.

Trap number two is you're lacking the career clarity. You may be thinking, I can't plan my career anyway. And I hear that very, very often when it comes to the topic of career clarity. It's like, Oh, I'm not gonna, I'm not going to do a career plan or I'm not going to have like a career ambition because at the end of the day, it's all going to turn out differently anyway.

And I do agree with that. Oftentimes things don't work out as planned in our careers, same as with our lives, but it's still really, really important to know the direction that you're That you're going in. It's still really, really important to know where you're headed because only then will you be able to make decisions.

Only then will you be able to differentiate. Something that is a quick fix, something that is an instant gratification versus something that is really aligned with what you want. So that's a, that's a second trap right there. If you don't really know where you're going in your career, if you don't really know where you're headed, you are setting yourself up for failure.

You are setting yourself up for those quick fixes and you're not really playing the long game. You're not really setting the foundation in order to play the long game. Quick fix number three. You're taking shortcuts. You're trying to get there faster than others did. Now this is one that I would often fall into because I love to be the youngest one.

Back when I was in school, all the way back to ground school and then high school, I would always be the youngest one. And that made me feel very proud to a certain extent because it felt like I was ahead of the game. And going into my, the early stages of my career, I would be the youngest, HR business partner, in the team that I started out with.

And that made me feel really good because apparently I was ahead of myself there. I was younger than the others on the same level. And that for some reason made me feel really good about myself. Now, As my career progressed, and certainly at this stage right now, I am not the youngest anymore. There are people in on the same level as me.

There are peers next to me who are younger than me. Hell, there are even people younger than me who are higher up the ranks. And If I look at my latest endeavors around, the career platform that I've built at subtle careers and the podcast that I've started. There are so many younger podcasters than me who are way more successful, way ahead of the game.

And that trips me up. And I start thinking about how am I going to get there faster? How am I going to do this? How am I going to get this from zero to a hundred in a matter of weeks or months? And whenever I have these thoughts. I remember, Oh no, this is a trap. I shouldn't be thinking like that. This does not set me up for success.

This does not trigger the right actions. It doesn't trigger the right behaviors. All it's going to do is build up pressure that I'm going to succumb to because right at this stage, if we stick with the podcast example. All I'm here to do now is get better at recording, is get better at this ability and building that muscle to speak into a microphone and for it to make sense for me to become a better interviewer, for me to create content and audio experiences in a way that's going to resonate with you in a way that's going to land.

My message for those out in the world who are awfully quiet like me, but equally ambitious and want to go places in their career. That's what I'm here for at the end of the day. So looking at everyone else out there with a podcast is not helpful for me. and looking for a shortcut to get there faster is not helpful for me at this moment.

And I hope that helps you kind of realize how often you think to yourself, I'm going to get there faster. I'm going to be the youngest. I'm going to be, going to be the fastest. And when it comes to our career and when it comes to something that we want to build for the future, that's not a helpful behavior.

What we want to make sure is that we set the right foundations, is that we build the right muscles over time. And if you're really honest with yourself, The people you look up most to, the people you consider successful in your life are probably the ones that have taken the time to build the muscles, that have taken the time to achieve mastery, that have taken the time to really develop and grow and have not been looking for the shortcuts.

Now that leads me into Some of the success stories I wanted to share with you when it comes to playing the long game. Now, I have looked this up beforehand because I really wanted to know who are some of the very, you know, successful people out in the world who have played the long game rather than looking for a quick fix.

What are those examples? Who are these role models, these cases, maybe even celebrities? And I was surprised at the number of hits that I got back and at the sort of caliber that I got back because it's most often those very, very popular, famous people we know front and center, but we only really know them from being super successful.

Like some of the people, that I got back were Warren Buffett. Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, and obviously they are super, super successful. Like, there is no arguing that they have built a really, really strong career for themselves. My favorite one, and that's the example that I'm going to stick with for a minute or two, is Taylor Swift.

And there is no arguing with that either. Taylor Swift is probably one of the most famous, one of the most successful people in the music industry, in the NFL, in the US, in the world, at the moment, and very deservedly so. But this woman has also overcome. some hardship to make that happen. And this is sometimes what we forget when we see all those reels on Instagram.

Of the Eras tour, by the way, I'm going in July. Let me know if you are going to, this is what we forget when we see all the documentation, all the media articles, everything that's being said around Taylor Swift at the moment. When we see her on stage, when we see her play the stadium tours, that this is.

Like 13 years, maybe even more in the making. She's been doing these stadium tours for more than 10 years. It's not the first time she's doing this.and she's literally built All those capabilities, everything that makes her unique and successful from the ground up. Like, she's been out with her mom, visiting record labels and leaving her demo there from when she was a teenager, when she was 11, 12, 13 years old.

She's been, writing music from a very, very young age. And my mom, That's one of the things that differentiate her today is that her music, her copywriting, her songwriting is very, very unique to her. She's always had that ability to, put her thoughts on paper, put her feelings on paper and express herself in a way that was truly unique.

And that is so something that stands out about her. Now, she's been honing those skills over years and years and years. There have probably been times when she has faced hardship when she has faced difficulties. She certainly had a time when she has faced quite a bit of adversity from a public perspective.

and now all we're looking at is today. All we're looking at is the success today, all the awards, all the attention, sold out stadiums. And I believe she's the perfect example for somebody who has played the long game and who continues to play. The long game and I can only get inspired by that. So. What I want to do now is I want to lead you through five crucial behaviors that I believe are going to help you play the long game in your career.

Are you going to set yourself up for success? And whenever you feel like stepping into one of the traps that we just went to, like You know, trying to, going into instant gratification, no career clarity at all, and taking the shortcuts and the fastest road whenever you can. Like if you feel yourself falling into one of those traps, you can remind yourself of these behaviors, go back to these behaviors.

Now, behavior number one. Is investing in learning and development is investing in getting better at what you really want to be good at is prioritizing, honing your skills, prioritizing education wherever you can and building the expertise and knowledge that Are really essential for sustaining your career over time.

It's really building something that's different, similar to songwriting. It's something, if that's something that you really want to be good at, you want to do that every day. You want to look for opportunities to advance yourself, to make yourself better. For me with marketing. I knew early on that I wanted to take all my boxes when it comes to education.

I wanted to have a bachelor degree in marketing and communication. I wanted to have a master degree in marketing because I knew I wanted to get into programs and into companies that were going to require That level of education, and then it obviously didn't stop there. So I'm always looking for ways to build experiences and build capabilities and skills that are going to set me apart from everyone else.

And I think that's really important for you too. Now, this is one where you have to be patient. This is one where, gratification, where praise, where, fame to a certain extent don't come overnight. Maybe not for a really long time, but honing a muscle and honing a skill is something that's going to return to you.

In the long run. I really, really believe that. Behavior number two is setting a long term goal and vision. This is really, really important. And I said earlier that you obviously want to make sure that you have career clarity, that you have a direction that you want to go in. Now, I believe that you always have to stay flexible when it comes to the exact next steps that you're going to be pursuing.

Because As you will probably say, not everything that you set your mind to works out. Not everything that you plan is going to materialize and that's absolutely fine. But you want to know what your vision is. You want to know what your overall ambition is in your career. Where do you see yourself in five years?

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? And all this is a question that you dread, but You know, make it a thing, make it, take some time, go somewhere quiet. I know you love that, as do I. Go somewhere where you feel in your zone, go somewhere where you feel happy. To me, this will always be places where they serve extremely good coffee, where there's a very slow vibe, very quiet environment.

I'm just going to sit down with my thoughts and I'm just going to envision. where I see myself and where I see my career going in the next couple of years. What often helps me is going on Pinterest too, is like, looking at, you know, some of the things I envision. And you may be thinking, you know, what am I going to find on Pinterest about my career?

Like, isn't this just like outfits and, you know, workout inspirations and recipes, but you know, that's what it is. Your career in five to 10 years time is. Your lifestyle, your behavior, what do your mornings look like, where do you get your coffee, where do you work, do you work from home, do you go somewhere to work?

What, when are you going to get your workout in? Are you going to go to a cycling class before you start work? Who are you working with? What do the people look like? What's the kind of coffee you drink during the day? When do you stop working? When do you come home at night? What does this look like? So it's almost like building that, that future life out and just kind of envisioning what you see yourself doing.

And that's an important distinction here. It's not. Who do you want to be? What's the job title that you're going to be pursuing? What's the status that you want to have? What's the office that you want to unlock by then? It's about what do you see yourself doing? How many people do you interact with? Are you in back to back to back calls or does your day look different?

All of these things are such important questions. And so driving career clarity does not mean you have a position. That you're gonna strive for in the next five to 10 years. It looks like knowing the direction that you're going in. It looks like really knowing what are the skills, what are the capabilities that you want to be really, really good at.

What does that mastery look like for you? And how do you achieve that? So that's behavior. Number two, being really in tune with what you envision for yourself in your career. Behavior number three. Oh, you're not going to like that either. I know I didn't. And it's building the right relationships. And the network, and I'm going to promise you right here, right now that we're going to do a lot more about relationship building and networking on this podcast.

I'm looking for, you know, the right people to support me, bring this to life because I would not consider myself a great networker. Like I would even, I would even dread. networking events. Like if I know that something is a networking event, I'm not going. If somebody calls something a networking lunch, I'm not going because I love a lunch.

I love a lunch with two, three people that I can have a conversation with. I don't like a networking lunch where I'm gonna, you know, eat food, standing up speaking to strangers like, no, no, no, no. So we're going to bring this to life in a way that. You can really take something away from this, but for the time being and where I want to start in terms of behaviors is acknowledging that your network is super, super powerful, but it's not always this big, scary thing that you make it out to be.

You can start with a network that you currently have. And arguably, there are already quite a few people in your network, like you will have gone to school with somebody, you will have studied with somebody, you will know people from previous jobs, you will know people from your current job, from your company, you have friends and family, don't think that they are not your network, they are all part of your network.

Of your network already. So it's really about starting there and acknowledging who you already know, and how might they help you? What are some of the ways that you benefit from these conversations? How do they bring value to you? And what's the value that you can bring back to them? I know that that is a really important unlocker for us.

Introverts is realizing that. Networking is not just looking towards what can I get from you? What, you know, how can I, you know, sneakily push myself into a conversation with somebody and leverage that for my career? It's not just about leveraging. It's about a value exchange. How can you help me? How can I help you?

And we're going to make that a lot less cringy than it sounds. But Investing into a network, investing into time spent building relationships in the workplace, in your career is something that right now might feel like a lot to ask for, might feel like a lot of effort, but in the long run, it's really gonna, you know, return back in spades.

Every job that I got so far, and The job, that I always considered my dream job, the brand manager role was a role that, where it really helped me to build a network, where it really helped me to reach out to the right people at the right time, understand when positions would open and have a foot in the door when they did become available.

So, There is a lot of evidence to show that building relationships and building that network helps us, but it's not that you have to go from 0 to 100. It's a muscle that you build over time and that you should be honing, something that you need to be aware of when you go into your next work week. Now.

Behavior number four, resilience and adaptability. Now, what does a long game look like? And we've had those examples of celebrities and Taylor Swift. There is likely going to be some adversity that you will be facing when you play the long game. Now there are no instant wins. There are no shortcuts.and that sounds like you're going to need some patience.

Right off the bat, you're going to need to be resilient. There are going to be times when it's not going to be easy, when it's going to be really tough to stay the course, to keep doing what you're doing, to keep investing, to keep honing your skills and to keep placing one foot in front of the other every single day.

I've been there and I've done that. And what fueled me? was always this long term ambition, this longer term vision that I'm working towards, but also realizing that I'm on a journey here. I am not here for it all to happen instantly. It's not overnight. And I've taken some comfort in some of these stories from other people that I deem to be successful of like knowing it's not all happening at once.

And every once in a while, there's going to be some hardships, I'm going to have to be vulnerable and it's all going to come together in the end. Always believing into, it's all going to be fine in the end. And then behavior number 5. And this is closely connected to, you know, having a vision, knowing where you're going, knowing the direction is also knowing what drives you.

What are some of the values that are really, really important to you? What are some of the signposts along the way? What are some of the You know, criteria that you want to use moving forward whenever you make decisions. So, one of the values that always drove me and that I really resonate with is this element of being courageous, stepping out of my comfort zone, stepping into something that feels like a stretch for me.

Like, we always have the saying that in Germany that, you step into bigger shoes than, you currently have. I'm not too sure that makes sense. It's stretching yourself out of your comfort zone. We'll stay with that. And, this is really important to me. Like I'm, I'm only getting excited when I'm stretched to a certain level.

otherwise I'm easily getting bored. And I know that as long as I stick to that value, as long as I stick to that as a criteria for my career, there's always going to be something that I can take away. There's always a learning to take away. There's always a skill that I can hone. There is always somebody I can connect with.

So as long as I stick to that, as long as I stick to what I know is important to me in my career, I can play the long game. I'm not going to get bored. I'm going to find what's going to help me grow along the way. So what I want you to start doing is to try and understand what are your values? What is really, really important for you?

What are the top five criteria of a job that, you know, must be met in order for you to feel fulfilled in order for you to feel fulfilled now, not in the long run now. And those become your foundation. Those become your basis. That you're going to be working from moving forward. Now, let's quickly recap.

Now, what I believe is really, really important for you to take away is that you're always going to be triggered. You're always, I think that's what our bodies do. That's what our mind does. This is what we're trained to do. At some point during our evolution is to go for what's easy and all too often, you're going to be confronted with somebody who was really, really successful.

Somebody who got there really, really fast. Somebody who got there in a really, really young age. And you're naturally going to compare yourself and you're naturally going to have these, these triggers and, this. urge to fall into those traps of instant gratification, of taking a shortcut, and of doing something that feels really, really good in the moment.

You want to come back to these behaviors in order to ground yourself, and in order to take that next step. Daily step by step that's going to be needed, set long term goals and a vision. That's number one, invest in learning and development. Number two, number three is building relationships and a network.

Number four is appreciating that it's going to take some resilience. It's going to take some patience. There's going to be hardship. And number five is being in tune with your values, with your assigned posts, with your key criteria that are going to make you happy now. And in the long run. Now, I hope that you leave this episode feeling inspired to set yourself up for the long run to set yourself up and play the long game in your career.

Where is it that you want to go? And what are the behaviors that you really want to lean into over the next couple of weeks and months to make that happen? Now, I'm right here with you. I often need to remind myself of this. So let's just be in it together and appreciate the fact that we're all here to learn and build beautiful careers for ourselves.

Thank you so much for tuning in today and I'm going to see you next week.