The Call is Coming From Inside The House

Everyone is talking about uncertainty.

The world, the economy, the environment, the job market.

You may have a job, yet you feel the anxiety creeping in.

You jump on LinkedIn and see people posting how they are “open to work” and looking for help to find a job.

You hear rumblings from clients that they may need to pull back.

Executive leaders are only hiring once they have a better idea of how the quarter is shaping up.

I have enormous compassion when I meet with a new client who’s expressed, "it’s bleak, everyone is either pulling back or looking for work…what’s going to happen to my career?” It’s all laced with fear and uncertainty.

When you read LinkedIn posts and hear stories, it’s understandable that you feel uncertain.

I know it may feel true to you, but it’s not true that everyone is looking for work. It’s not true that everyone is in a holding zone.

Spending 8 or more hours a day working while you feel tremendous uncertainty is heavy and overwhelming.

The brain is not wired for this level of prolonged uncertainty.

Your brain is doing what it’s supposed to do. To protect you.

I call it lighthouse-ing.

You see some negative things, and you begin to feel anxious. You have a stressful day at work. Your brain naturally starts to seek out other negative things so you can “be prepared” or “get ahead of it.”

You are flashing a huge beacon of light to root out any danger. This is normal, except that you only focus on the negative.

Of course, you're freaked out.

Sometimes the call is coming from inside the house.

Whether you have a job or are looking for what’s next, I want you to take inventory of what you tell yourself.

Here’s what I want you to do to get back on course.

1. What is the current story you are telling yourself? What are you ruminating on? Is it helpful? Or hurtful?

2. Ask yourself what the belief is behind what you are thinking? How is it kicking your confidence and performance?

3. Reframe any past negative experiences. You may be thinking that the last time you were downmarket, you were unemployed. I get it. That sucks. Is there a reframe here? What did you learn? How to network? Did you find more life-work balance? Pivot your career? Look for the growth opportunity here. A truck drives around NYC with the words AFGO, no URL or phone number. I always laugh because it seems to show up right on time when I need it. And AFGO stands for “another fucking growth opportunity.”

4. Look at your data—the hard facts. Get them down on paper. Decide what you want to think about the facts. Do you need to give yourself some financial forgiveness? Please do it. And find the way to get to the AFGO.

5. Keep you and your career separate. You are not your career. You are you. Your career is what you do for cash, to make a difference, to do meaningful work, and/or for intellectual stimulation.

6. Tell yourself a new story. Visualize and dream up what you want. And please spend at least as much time here as you do with your negative thinking. We do this because it helps to map our actions to our aspirations.

7. Stay away from the Crabby Abbys and the Negative Neils of your world. It’s drama, and it’s not helpful. This means people, media, social platforms, etc. Your head is not in the sand. You are clear of marketplace conditions; however, you are not dwelling on them. I often silently say, “Thanks for sharing, but do not receive this information.” It’s data. See #4 above. You get to choose.

Friends, this is how you manage your mind.

This is how you align your mindset and actions to your aspirations.

This is how you navigate turbulent times.

You manage your mind and know the call often comes inside the house.

Ready to build a career strategy and create your next career chapter? I can help. Schedule a free strategy session HERE, where we will dig into your goals and what’s possible.