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00:00:01
227: The Politics of Career Changes - Charlotte Blair
83 Plays4 months ago
Known as the coach's coach, Charlotte Blair is someone who believes in living each day to the fullest, aiming for ten out of ten types of days, every day. As an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and one of Australia’s most experienced Gallup Accredited Strengths Coaches, she loves helping people find their passion and purpose, and play to their strengths. As the founder of The Strengths Partners Charlotte works with individuals, teams and organisations across the world to help them discover and use their strengths to meet their goals. She is dedicated to helping people get career unstuck and love work again, like she did herself. She also has a new book Career Unstuck (Grammar Factory $32.95) outlining a clear path to career fulfilment.
In this podcast, hear from Charlotte on:
1. How has changing careers evolved in your own working life? From staying in jobs for years or life to making leaps into new jobs or sectors every few years, what is the new normal?
2. Is seeking purpose at work always necessary and surely this is often driven by a life-stage or even a degree of privilege? Please share your views.
3. How can people get unstuck at work and life? Are they always integrated?
4. Not everyone is made for corporate life or running a business. How can you guide people to find what is best for them and understand how to get there faster?
5. What is the cheer squad we need for success in this area?
6. Takeaway: What is your final message for us on The Politics of Career Changes?
Connect further:
https:www.thestrengthspartners.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotteblair
Book Weblink: https://www.careerunstuck.com.au/
POE LISTENER OFFER: Hey podcaster friends. Please note we have a new updated link for the 30% discount code for my Zencastr offer if you decide to use that platform as your own podcast recording and hosting place – even transcripts and videos included. For a 30% discount on your Zencastr platform subscription and to get podcasting faster, use this VIP Link: http://zen.ai/thepoliticsofeverything30
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Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the politics of everything. I'm Amber Danes, your host and podcast producer. This is a half hour of power podcast dropping every week where I unpack the politics of everything from money to motherhood, nutrition to narcissism, startups to secularism, the environment, quality and much, much more. Our guests are seasoned in the field of topic of their choice, even if you've not heard of them yet. This is a nonpartisan show. So while I love exploring varied views and get a buzz from a healthy debate of ideas, this is not a purely blue, white, green program. Please subscribe, tune in and enjoy the politics of everything.
00:00:46
Speaker
Known as the Coach's Coach, Charlotte Blair is someone who believes in living each day to the fullest, aiming for 10 out of 10 types of days every day. As an international coaching federation professional certified coach and one of Australia's most experienced, galloped accredited strengths coaches, she loves helping people find their passion and purpose and play to their strengths. As the founder of the Strength Partners, Charlotte works with individuals, teams and organizations across the world to help them discover and use their strengths and meet their goals. She's dedicated to helping people get their career unstuck and love work again like she did herself.
00:01:20
Speaker
She has a new book, which is just in this area called Career Unstark Outlining a Clear Path to Career Fulfillment, and I'll warmly welcome Charlotte to The Politics of Everything. Thank you very much for having me. Podcasting remotely can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Since day one of The Politics of Everything, I have relied on Zincasters all in one solution to make the process quick and painless, the way it should be for those of us who just love great content and want to get our ideas out into the world. If you know me, I'm obsessed with quality in terms of my guests, my sound, and everything about my show has to be great the first time. I'm Time Paul. It's so easy to use Zencaster. I'm not tech savvy and you don't need to be either. There's nothing to download. Just click on the link and off we go. Zencaster is all about making your podcasting experience easy and with everything from local recording to automatic post-productions now in their toolkit,
00:02:13
Speaker
You don't have to leave your browser to get that episode done and done fast. I have a special offer for you and I hopefully you can experience what I have with Zencaster. Go to zencaster dot.com forward slash pricing and use my VIP code, the politics of everything, all lowercase in one word. to get 30% off your first three months of Zcaster Professional. How good is that? I want you to have the same easy experiences I do for all my podcasting and content needs. It's time to share your story. ah Okay, young Charlotte, what did you want to be as a kid and kind of did it did you get there? i I love this question and reflecting back, I kind of go, well, maybe I sort of got there. So when I was at school, I either wanted to be a policewoman or a PE teacher. ah Being fairly dyslexic and not loving the education system, being a PE teacher meant having to go to university and doing more studying. So that kind of didn't quite happen and I had a really expensive habit of horses and I had to fund that so I actually got out into the big wide world. ah Being a police woman didn't decide to venture off down that route but i I guess if you think about shaping where I am now in a way what I do when I'm coaching and facilitating sometimes there's a little bit of teaching that goes on in there but ah never never in the never in the PE field.
00:03:38
Speaker
Oh, that's interesting to know. Thanks for for playing along with that question. Obviously, um the topic today is around you know changing careers. And we know many people at many stages of their life will have different careers or different types of work you know relationships. It could be starting businesses and then going back into corporate. It could be the opposite. How has changing careers evolved from your perspective over the time that you've been obviously in your working life, your career life? you know There was years ago, people stayed in jobs for years or for life. Whereas now we know that, you know, the generations that are coming through now, the big the leaps into new jobs or sectors every few years seems pretty normal. And it's not necessarily frowned upon like it was when I was starting out my career, where I felt like if I had anything less than two years in my CV, I'd almost be blacklisted.
00:04:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's a really interesting one. I remember reading a research piece by Gallup on how millennials want to work and live. And they came up with this list of millennials want purpose, not just a paycheck. And they want a boss, not just a coach strengths, weaknesses. And then actually a lot of people said, yeah, well, we want that too. You know, even the boomers wanted that, but you know, in their day it was. Yes, probably frowned upon to jump from job to job. um And I actually love it when I talk with organizations when I'm in doing programs, you know, like NAB or Australia Post, and you find out their tenure has been 30 years or more. I love that. But i when you ask the question, what keeps them there? It's often the company, the culture.
00:05:07
Speaker
And the variety of jobs, so I think even if somebody isn't a job for a long time, it's often the variety and they got to do lots of different things in that job. If I think about my own journey, I guess what sort of triggered some changes for me, as I mentioned, I i didn't go to university. i'm I jumped out into the big wide world. I got a job in horses. I had lots of jobs on the side, waitressing. I did some temping. I found myself at um Canon UK, initially in the kind of admin side. They moved into training a little bit. So that's that kind of circle back to training. And then I moved into sales and I spent seven years there. And then I found myself with the gift of the gab or being told I had the gift of the gab. That's where I just like talking a lot.
00:05:49
Speaker
and found myself in telco sales and IT sales. And then it wasn't actually until I did the Stephen Covey seven habits that got me talking about what my mission and purpose in life was. Did I then pursue a shift into something else? So I'm not sure that there's necessarily a new norm. I think it's different for everybody, but I do believe that it's less frowned upon when people are making lots of jumps. But I think if we kind of like circle back to why people make maybe lots of jumps, it's potentially because they're not fully engaged, they're not getting the opportunities to develop and grow like they would. So kind of some of that research that Gallup did on millennials, people are looking at that and saying, yes, I want that too. And I do think the pandemic
00:06:37
Speaker
has had a sort of big impact on and having people re-evaluate what's important to them and whether it's working from home or the type of job they do. So yeah, I'm not sure there's a new norm yet, um but I definitely think things are ah changing and evolving. and ah just Just to further on that, I mean i don't know anyone that will plans to stay in a job for 10 plus years anymore. I really don't. like Maybe unless you're the CEO of the organization or the founder, most people don't of see that as a sign of you know something they aspire to that I speak to. I think that's the reality now.
00:07:14
Speaker
I think it is. I think the one thing I find sad and this might be controversial is when somebody says, oh, you know, in order to make partner or in order to get this role at KPMG or a big four or something like that, I have to stay here longer. And ah me personally, I think that's a little bit sad. I think if you've if you've got the the skills, the talent, the willingness to learn, is tenure really important in being able to and do but what what you want to do, do great work. Yeah, it's interesting you say that, but then I guess it comes into things like experience and of course it's culture. So if that's the culture of an organization and it is about mileage and and and having certain, I guess, KPIs that you meet before you can achieve that, maybe that's just part of some of those organizations.
00:08:01
Speaker
ah you know ways of doing business, if you like. i think I think it is, watching the telly this morning, and Sky News and what's going on in the US, you look and go, gosh, look, you know it's all white, older men going into the politics, and why is that type of thing? We're not today's story about that today.
00:08:18
Speaker
We digress. I like this idea of purpose at work. i Probably the former journalist in me always cringes at buzzwords and it does feel a little bit like purpose is a bit of a buzzword. Is it always necessary to do your best work, to feel aligned, to be happy in in your job or your career? Surely, this is sometimes a life stage or even a degree of privilege thing if you like. like you know you You've paid your house off. You can find your purpose. You don't have to, you know like you say, do the hours at the job that's necessary to to climb that corporate ladder. Sometimes, I think, for me personally, I think about purpose and I am a deep thinker, but do I love what I'm doing all day every day? Definitely not. and I run my own business, so there you go.
00:09:01
Speaker
ah yeah you're You're right. um I think it is a buzzword or people can cringe at that word and it doesn't need to be this sort of big grandiose statement. Like you you know you gotta have yeah exactly you wake up every day bouncing in a bed, you know, and not you talked about 10 out of 10 days, I get that, but not every day is going to be one of those, surely. No. No, but I love asking the question of people that I coach and work with on a scale of one to 10, how much do you love your job? And love can be a um contentious word as well. Some people are like love. Well, some people don't like that word, do they? Correct. Particularly, I'm thinking, you know, certain generations would find that too woo woo.
00:09:40
Speaker
Yeah, correct. So change the word love to whatever, you know, like, enjoy, whatever whatever you want. But I think when I asked that question, whatever the reply is and your number, you got to go, are you happy with that? So on a s scale of one to 10, how much you love your job? And if it's ah ah a eight. Are you happy with that eight? And if yes, great. If no, what can you do about it? But the amount of people that I have spoken to who say it's a three or a four, and that's what prompted me to write the book because I just think that's really sad. We work you know over 80,000 hours in our lifetime, I think you have to at least you know enjoy or connect with you know what you're you're doing. So for some people, purpose is not ah necessary. Now, I like what you said about privilege. And even if I think about, you know you mentioned paying off your mortgage, when I was in IT sales, yeah, I want to earn as much money as I possibly could so that I could pay off my mortgage. And I remember when my children are younger, they're very late teens now,
00:10:42
Speaker
I remember my manager saying to me, well, you know, Charlotte, what about career development? I'm like, I don't want any career development at the moment. I just want to focus on doing my job, going home, looking after my children, spending time with them. It wasn't probably until I moved to Australia, paid off the mortgage. That purpose came to mind a little bit more and it circled back to that COVID course that I went on of talking about what's your mission and purpose in life? And how do you want to be remembered at your 80th birthday party when people are celebrating? The thought of somebody saying, oh, sure, I was good farm, but it works in IT, filled me with dread. So I kind of went, what is it that I do? Is it because of the cliche stereotypes that people just think that you're boring and dull? um that Maybe, maybe. But also then I started to think about, well, what is it that I love about my job? What would I give myself out of 10 for the job? and
00:11:34
Speaker
I found myself feeling a little bit irrelevant in some of the things I did, filling out spreadsheets, filling out systems nobody ever looked at. What did a really great day at work look like to me? um How could I do more of that? and And that's what got me thinking about, you know, do i do I want to make a career shift at this point? Do I want to be doing something different? If I love connecting with people, being with people, like it was a really weird scenario that when I thought about my best at work was actually when I arranged a Lunch over the sydney olympics where people bought their own dish of their country of origin together and people were connecting and i love just standing back watching people connecting with each other and i was like. o How can i do more of this it's not necessarily about oh i'm gonna be an event planner but it.
00:12:16
Speaker
It did get me sort of connecting back. Now, I think we circle back to, does it need to be purpose? No, but you've got to under, I think you do need to reflect and think back of going, how happy am I doing what I'm doing? If I'm not engaged, I'm watching the clock and I'm coming home and I'm whinging to my partner and my family that I don't love what I do, you know, at least understanding what your values are and what that daily look, that great day work looks like, what your purpose is, what your strengths are. Kind of helps you. Do you know, research last year by Gallup found that over 80% of employees they surveyed were open to a new job or looking for a new job. Now, and that's quite staggering. And and when they researched and asked more. I mean, I don't, yeah, so I'm not, I was gonna say, where does that sort of sit in terms of, you know, where that might've been a number of years ago, um in terms of that number? Like, is it not? It was last year's research. So Gallup being a polling company, it was last year's research. So yes, you know, previously,
00:13:14
Speaker
It might be different reasons. Yes, could have been as a result of Covid. But when then dug a bit further, people were saying, yeah, they were looking for more purpose in their work. And I think purpose is going to look different to different people. But yeah, and that's the other thing. And there's not sort of like. Yeah, one way to do it is there. I think that's the thing. ah Purpose to me sometimes feels like a certain thing that so it's almost like happiness. It's semi elusive, but it's sort of, you know, if you're feeling mostly okay about it and you do feel like it's ticking enough boxes. Surely that's enough. You know what I mean? I think sometimes obsessing about purpose can be a little bit like counterproductive in my experience.
00:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, correct. you know I remember research Marcus Buckingham did and he said he interviewed a load of chambermates at one of the big hotel chains and they felt that they were connected some way to purpose because they were enabling holidaymaker to have a great holiday by you know leaving a little folded up towel beautifully on the kids bed or you know sort of creating a great experience for them. They felt that that was something that they loved doing now. I wouldn't want to be a chambermaid. That wouldn't give me a sense of purpose, but it gave them a sense of purpose. I think back to work that I do with a ah company called Hologic. They are you know one of the leading medical device organizations around women's health. Every single person in that organization is connected back to the company's purpose and feel like they're making a difference as well. Now, that might not be important to everybody, but it is to some people. And again, I think it comes back to identifying
00:14:50
Speaker
what's most important to you and are you happy with a five out of ten day or yeah do you strive for more of a ten ten out of ten day and therefore how might you go about doing that? but ah We have this thing in our house over dinner, we sit there at dinner and my son now says to me, on a scale of one to ten, mum, how was your day? It might be an eight out of ten. What would make it an even better day and then we just explore what that looks like. so Yeah, absolutely. I get that. And I think those conversations are really important for the next generation. How can people get unstuck, as we call it, or your your book is sort of titles allude to in work and life. I mean, ah work and life always integrated. I guess it comes it's sort of a link on from this purpose question, because some people, you know, the whole I work to live, not live to work kind of, you know, bump a sticker from the 90s. I mean, that sort of always runs through my head.
00:15:39
Speaker
But for some people that's very integrated, you know, if they if they're feeling stuck at work, they might be feeling stuck in other areas of their life and vice versa. What's your sort of view on that? Yeah, I think you're right. I think it depends. I see more people that maybe have a family or a partner at home. And if you're miserable where you are and you feel stuck where you are, you probably take that home. And then what's the impact of that? Whether you're bottling it up and you never talk about your work or whether you're sort of it detached at home or you're moaning that you hate your job, you know what's the impact of that? So I think there are linkages, but if you we think back to how many hours of our life we are at work, I think there is some integration there. But when you think about you know how you get unstuck, I think understanding why you're stuck in the first place is useful. Now, whether that be you know what I refer to as the shitty boss or the bully boss or toxic culture that you're working with or lack of freedom or autonomy and what you get to do, maybe there's no growth and you love learning. You're an avid learner and that you're not getting that growth.
00:16:43
Speaker
Maybe there's a little bit of burnout because you are working too hard. Maybe there's a little bit of imposter syndrome. So I think understanding what is keeping us stuck is the first place to sort of getting unstuck. I know our mind, well, I know in terms of research and talking to people, mindset can be a big one. Some people have different views around money, for instance, or I can't change my job or I can't move from here because I've already sunk costs, for instance, into becoming an accountant or I have to pay the mortgage or I'm not qualified to do that. So a lot of people have beliefs that are not helping them. I think so, you know, if we know why we're stuck, reevaluate our mindsets.
00:17:30
Speaker
Get imagining, get creative in imagining what could be possible. If you're not happy doing what you're doing, let's imagine what you would love to be doing. Understand what your values are. I'm a big fan of Simon Sinek's Know Your Why. That helps of connecting back to things like purpose. if If purpose is too big a statement, you know your why maybe. What are you passionate about? What's most important to you at work? What are your non-negotiables? Then I um bias on this because I'm a strengths coach, but I think discovering your strengths is pretty critical to that and knowing what you do. What would be an example of our strengths? Because is it kind of what you do or how, like you say, for example, and is is a simplistic as, I'm a great writer, so therefore I'm going to be a journalist. Is it that or is it more your values
00:18:17
Speaker
and your strengths in that. So it might be empathy and those sorts of things. I mean, just to unpack that a little bit, what does the strength piece look like? So I think we start with talent first and talent is a naturally reoccurring pattern of thought, feeling and behavior. So if you're somebody who loves communicating, whether that be in the written word or the verbal or pictures, you have a natural talent, you are drawn to doing that. And the more that we invest in it, and practice and add knowledge, skill, and and experience to it, then it becomes a strength. So one of mine as an example is Activator. So I'm just somebody who's fairly impatient. I love getting moving. I love getting groups moving. And there's a theme throughout my book of taking action. Little you know little steps, but taking some sort of action. So I try to inspire and nudge other people to take action. That's a talent that I've got. and At school, my school reports, so Charlotte talks too much.
00:19:12
Speaker
Now that's something that I've got to. I think we're very similar. Like I don't want to be like an echo chamber here, but I'm identifying in myself. I call my action bias. That's my thing. I just, I feel like that's where I feel like I'm most at ease with what I'm doing and I can help others in that way as well. That's definitely my alignment piece. Yeah, so it's a natural thing. Now sometimes these strengths can get us in trouble. They can become our weaknesses like talking too much or pushing people too hard. But there, you know, there are assessments out there you can take, whether it be Marcus Buckingham stand up or Gallops, Clifton strengths, or you just look for little talents, but I think they're different to skills. I think they're different to values. There are lots of different assessments out there, like Herman Brane looks at how you think and things like Mars Briggs and disc look at personality. But I think your strengths come back to that, how you naturally think, feel, and behave, and then, you know, kind of How do we fine-tune those so that they're helping us, not hindering us?
00:20:14
Speaker
It leads into my next question. Of course, not everyone's made for things like corporate life or even running a business. you know There's that kind of idea, oh, well, you should start your own thing if you're not happy at work. It's not everyone's bag, right? My husband's definitely not that person. ah I'm the entrepreneur. He would rather move jobs than necessarily start his own business. How can you guide people to find out what's better than a certain time in their life? And of course, some ways get there quicker because obviously time is money, but also you don't want people to sort of I guess meander and and not necessarily find where they should should be too late because I think people sometimes then just get even more stuck if they don't feel like it's working for them. Yeah, correct, correct. I mean, your other question about how do you get unstuck, I mean, I think one of the other things is about finding mentors and a kind of tribe that's going to support you. and And one of those may well be a coach. Again, it might sound like I'm biased here because I am a coach, but
00:21:10
Speaker
I have a coach. I had a coach to help me write the book. I had a book writing coach. I ah love is the coach's coach has a coach. Sorry, that's a lot. well Correct. So um I think everybody needs a coach if you feel stuck because they're good at holding up the mirror. They're good at you know digging into the unsaid. They help you sort of you challenge by asking some questions and get you to sort of think and reflect. and Yes, if they're a mentor as well or a consultant, they might give you sort of tips and advice, but kind of coming back to this piece about running your own business, it's funny. I remember my husband when I was at this stuck stage in my own career saying, well, why don't you start your own business? And I was like, no, I'm a corporate beast. I've lived in big corporates all my life. I'm never going to start my own business. And it wasn't until we sort of set up in partnership, I'm on my own now, but we set up in partnership initially.
00:22:03
Speaker
I couldn't imagine going back now, quite honestly, Amber. ah Yeah, I call myself unemployable because I've done my own thing longer than I, I've been in incarnations of my own business. I've had a couple of businesses for 16 years. yeah So yeah, that's longer than I worked for anybody. Yeah. So, you know, I think it's a case of testing the water. I mean, that was one of the other, the other sort of chapters in the book. And one of those tips about how do you get unstuck is test the water and a coach or mentor might help you do that. You know, dip the toe in, see what's going on. If you want to jump full in, that's that's that's great too. um But if you're if you go, well, do I want to do i want to run a bizo my business? it' It doesn't need to be expensive to get a business. You know, upper money, I think people visualize that, oh, I've got to get investment and I need all these systems. And it's like, you don't if you're a sole trader. And it depends on It depends what type of business you have, right? Like your service based or your like products. And of course, if you want to scale globally, there's all those pieces to it. So that doesn't, that doesn't necessarily float everyone's body. No, but I mean, I was walking the dogs yesterday with my son and he's just left university and was talking about, he believes his circle of friends and generations don't think that they want to go into corporate life, but he's not experienced it. So how does he know yet? You know, he says, no, we want, we want a bit more flexibility and freedom and you know,
00:23:23
Speaker
he's looking at studying in the animation space and maybe that's more boutique things but I i do believe in sort of testing the water and and seeing but having mentors and coaches to help guide you like I didn't know I wanted to be a coach and facilitator until I had um a mentor in that area and the more I found out the more I loved it and the more I kind of grew wanted to know even more but If you'd asked me a year before, could you imagine yourself being a coaching facilitator? I'd be like, what do they do? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. And I also think that timing is everything, like just even hearing you talk about your son, but also yourself, like
00:24:03
Speaker
you know sometimes yeah you you can't imagine. I never planned to run my own business. It's not like I come from an entrepreneurial family at all. My dad was an academic um and my mother worked in admin. and we just I didn't grow up with that kind of you know influence, but certainly I've grown into it and I think it's it's worked from for where I'm at with my life, with my children, and all the flexibility that I i need and want. so That's sort of how I've recalibrated my view on it. It's not something like I was born to run a business. It's certainly not like that for me. Yeah, I don't wonder how many people are doing what they studied at university as an example. How many people are, like coming back to your first question, how many people are doing what they wanted to be when they grew up? And there's a lot of people that have lots of different jobs, careers in them. And you're right, it depends on your lifestyle. Same, even as I call them, you know?
00:24:52
Speaker
yeah Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I did my corporate schtick. It's in there. And do you know what it actually does serve me now because a lot of my clients are corporates and I understand where they're at, understand their time constraints, understand you know how they need to be communicated with. All those pieces have actually really helped me as well. So it's not a waste of time, I guess is what I'm saying. Yeah, correct. And I think the fundamental question is, are you happy doing what you're doing? Is there more? Do you think I wish I could, I wish I did? I would love to well explore what those things could be. don't Don't regret the things you haven't done. Exactly, exactly. The idea of a cheer squad is interesting. Why do we need this for success, do you think, as we're kind of navigating our career and maybe having various incarnations and changes and getting unstuck? Yeah, again, similar to you know where a coach might
00:25:44
Speaker
help support you and ask you questions. Mentors are great ways of also holding up the mirror, asking you great questions. you know Cheer squad, whether that be, like my husband or my whole family are amazing. Cheer squad in terms of my business, writing you know writing the book. I think we cheer squad each other. So I think having a cheer squad at home that's there to support you and back you. When I did start my own business, you know my husband was 100% behind me and we had a little bit of a you know full back money if if needed. Having those mentors is really useful, but I think it is important to have a ah pick and mix, be it formal, informal, friends, people that you can reach out to.
00:26:29
Speaker
I think a number of people fear reaching out and asking for help. Oh, they might say no, or or they're too busy. um I think by the other token, sometimes people can reach out a lot and say, oh, can I can i pick your brain? So I could spend all day with people that would reach out and say, well, can I just pick your brains on this? How did you go about doing that? So there is something in there about be prepared to sort of pay. some of your cheer squad. I'm a beekeeper on the side and I 100% pay my bee mentor to come along and help me initially when we got started, help check the bees and understand what I'm doing. And he's giving his time. ah you know I expect to kind of pay for that time. It doesn't need to be a huge amount. Yeah, I agree. Recognition. Just because you love what you do doesn't mean you should do it for free, right? Correct.
00:27:18
Speaker
great some Fabers and coffees and picking your brain, I understand. and I've learnt the hard way why that sometimes is not so fruitful. Yeah, so you know if youre if you're going to have a cheer squad, don't expect that everybody's going to willingly give that for free. it needs I think there needs to be some sort of fair exchange, whatever that looks like for that for that other person and giving back. I think really the you know the the cheer squad is just people behind you saying you've got this, you can do this. and Help build your confidence as well if you are having any of those limiting beliefs or those imposter syndromes, they're the people that will go yeah you know you are pretty good at this.
00:27:55
Speaker
or yes, you can do this, or yes, we can help you. So i I think it's critical. And I think the more you can sort of reach out and say, can you help me in this area? But being mindful that you may need to pay for it as well, you don't ask, you don't get. Absolutely. I agree with that 100% from my own experience. What's your favorite business tool at the moment? It could be as simple as ah like an app or you know something that you do in your in your business or your daily life. And how has it helped you? Well, we touched on the first one. I think my initial response to this would be a coach. I think having a coach is is critical, but we sort of talked ah about that. But i I wished a lot of the apps that I had were all integrated into one because I feel like I have so many apps. I think one of the other ones that's really helped me and that I love, and I think maybe you used as well, is Cannondly. That's one of my favorites so that people can just look and see. Yeah, that's changed my life.
00:28:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's such a simple thing in some ways. It's like a post-it note, like 40 years ago. Why didn't I think of that? I'd be a multimillionaire. yeah um But the idea that, yeah, i don't like even these podcasts, like when I did the seven years ago, I don't even know if Helen Lee existed. I didn't know about it. You'd be back and forth. These are the dates I'm available this time. And then the time they got back to you, on I'm sorry, that's not available now. That's been booked. yeah you're on You're in Queensland time. There'll be all this kind of stuff. yeah And there would just be like five emails to book one podcast. Correct. So I think we're both of us being time efficient, activated people. It's like one of those good things where you just go, here we are, this is what I'm free, book it in, boom, time saved. Yep. And I just block it out if I can't. And likewise, I expect other people to do that for me as well. Your biggest life lesson so far and why? Biggest life lesson is absolutely advice from my mother. It was what's the worst that can happen. So to me, it's about being bold and giving it a go and jumping in.
00:29:50
Speaker
Because really, what is the worst that's going to happen? whether and we We moved from the yeah UK to Australia with the whole family when they were younger. A lot of people say, oh my gosh, that's a really big, bold move, but I'm really glad I did it. Changing careers, there were some you know bold moves there as well. ah Sometimes it's about asking that question as well. So I think my biggest life lesson came from my mother of what's worse can happen. The other things she used to say that I've already mentioned is you don't ask, you don't get. So I think there are two lessons probably from my mother. Yeah. And it's sort of like tried and true advice, isn't it? But I think it's good, that simplicity. And if you can hear someone's voice in your head that you love and respect, it often like can guide you into, do I do this thing or do I not? um And that's it. It's it's kind of like quite binary in that sense.
00:30:36
Speaker
How do you find success these days? For me, personally. yeah ah These days, that's ah that's a ah ah good add-on there. I think it's most important to add that in there. because what looks you know so I know for me, most of the people I speak to, what you thought what success looks like in your 20s, the fast car, the big pay packet, the nice job title, all that stuff. isn't always the things as we get older and mature that we value and how we define success for ourselves. So I'm just curious to know where you're at and how you look at yourself, particularly when we're talking about wanting more 10 out of 10 days than not.
00:31:10
Speaker
Yeah, i it it does come back to that. Do I love what I'm doing? Or am I fulfilled, energized by what I'm doing? Am I getting closer to those 10 and 10s? A 10 out of 10s utopia, a lot of people might go, well, I never give anything out of 10. It might be a nine and a half. There's always room for improvement, but is the number where you would like it to be so for me success is if every day my kids ask me that question i've got a week that is over eight out of ten each each day type of thing i might be one days a eight and other days and nine but if if i'm getting a lot of those bad days and i haven't had one for years.
00:31:48
Speaker
that is what I would class as success. I mean, yes, you're right, I've got a nice house, paid off a mortgage, touch wood, you know, we have families, great, healthy, kids are good. So, you know, that's other elements of success. It might look different if that was an issue. But for me, thinking about, am I enjoying what I'm doing? The same at weekends, you know, have I had a productive social life as well? yeah yeah Yeah, loving doing what I'm doing. Am I enjoying potting around the garden, walking the dogs, making out with friends, I kind of comes back to some of those goals like what's what is the goal and the plan that I've set out for myself and am I achieving that and I think this comes back to well maybe purpose what what do you want to be doing are you doing more of that whether that be spending time with the kids going to the gym having time to do my paddle boarding, whatever that looks like, are you able to achieve that where you are now based on you know your career and your life? So I think it comes back to your goals and your plans. I like that. A final message for us on the politics of career changes.
00:32:51
Speaker
Well, I don't think you have to change your career. It could be a case of you could job craft to achieve more of the things that you like doing at work. So coming back to the ask yourself the question on a scale of one to 10, how much do you love? Like, you know, what do you get paid to do? What little tweaks and changes can you make around that? And if you don't like the number, then think on that. Can I job craft? Is there a side hustle? Maybe I could get back to my school and my community, but have a bold conversation with yourself and have a conversation with other people that fundamentally take some action. Absolutely. Such a great conversation. Lots of people to marinate there. If you do want to connect further with Charlotte, of course, to some details on the show notes. Until next time, take care.
00:33:38
Speaker
Thanks so much for listening today. If you've enjoyed the politics of everything, I thrive on your feedback. So please add a short review and share the podcast with your network through Apple, Spotify and all the usual suspects. I'm always on the hunt for new and diverse guests. So if you or someone you know has a fresh idea, you're busting to get out there, please email me at Amber at AmberDanes.com and my crew will get back to you very soon.