The way you spend your day….

Estimated read time: 1 minute

I want to check in with you about how things are going in your job.

I know you struggle with burn-out, overwhelm, and what to do next. You keep thinking things will change if you just work harder, take on more responsibility or give the changes in your company more time. Being stuck is a total drag.

These struggles have me thinking about a funeral I attended for a colleague from my corporate days. He worked hard, sometimes staying at the office on Christmas Eve, traveling internationally, sacrificing for the company and putting many things off “until retirement.” The church was simultaneously crying and laughing hysterically at the stories his children told of the things their dad was finally doing in his retirement. He was just beginning to enjoy all the things he had worked for when he died 2 years in.

When I hear you say, “I’ll wait until next year. Maybe things will get better on their own,” or “I can put up with anything until my kids are out of college,” it breaks my heart. Time is short. Your life is valuable. The time to bring back joy, balance, health, and meaning is NOW. Retirement is too far away. Even next year is too far away.

This quote makes me think of you everyday:

How you spend your days is how you spend your life. ~Annie Dilliard

You are the one with the power to make things better for yourself. Waiting for your company to make things better for you is only going to make you another year older.

If you are:

• waiting to see if things will get better on their own;
• procrastinating on making a change because you’re scared of the financial consequences;
• skeptical that things can ever be better in your job;
• wishing you had the roadmap to professional fulfillment,

Let’s hop on the phone. Email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com to schedule a session with me.

I promise you they can be better. Don’t wait another year to create your life and work on your terms. The time to be happy at work is now.

We’ll spend 30 minutes creating an inspiring and empowering plan for things to be better NOW.

Whether we end up working together or not, I can't wait to connect.

Happy Halloween!

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

Is anxiety running you? There is a way out.

Estimated read time: just under one minute

You can be free! And keep your job. At the same time.

I hear from many people that their anxiety about work runs high. The economy is bad. They've lost their mojo. They feel stuck, pigeon-holed. They don't know the way out of the rut. Does this sound familiar?

My client, Todd, was run by anxiety. He was short-tempered in meetings, and his team's performance was suffering. He believed that only a buttoned up, carefully controlled version of himself was welcome at the office. That belief was stifling his creativity and happiness, and the stress of stuffing important parts of himself was coming out sideways. The anxiety was killing him and his team.

Working everyday from anxiety is never going to get you what you want. Certainly, it affects things like your sleep and fun, but it also affects your performance and engagement and therefore your opportunities, promotions and at the end of the day, your money. Todd turned his anxiety around, and you can, too.

In coaching, Todd created practices to manage his anxiety and took risks to bring the creative, funky parts of himself to work. He got familiar with his own unique processes and strengths. As a result, Todd's anxiety was gone. He became physically active again. His team got happy and productive. He became a vital, positive contributor in meetings, and his director couldn't believe the fast turnaround.

You can learn to manage your anxiety to take charge of your life and choices again. You can find meaning and bring joy and creativity back to your day.

If you feel ready to lose the anxiety and claim your success, let's hop on the phone. In 30 minutes, we'll create an anxiety-busting, creativity building strategy that will send you back to the office transformed. Email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com to schedule a time with me.

I can't wait to connect.

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

Worried that you're in the wrong job? Maybe. Maybe not.

Estimated read time: A teeny bit over one minute.

I want to share a story about a client who struggled with a mirco-managing boss, how to balance being a mom, and wasted energy every day asking if she should stay or go. She was exhausted and just wanted some damn clarity. Sound familiar?

Katie came to me unhappy. Her manager was unresponsive and then, he micromanaged her. She loved her team and the technical challenges of her role. But, she no longer cared about the company's products and craved meaning in her work. The money was good, but the hours sucked. As a single mom, she needed more time at home and to top it off, she dreamed of ditching the corporate gig to become an artist.

She was torn. Should she stay or should she go now? (Insert 80s soundtrack.) Should she choose the money or the time? Should she find a new job with better hours, create her own art business, or stay with the stable, "responsible" thing?

Can you relate, to the jumble of priorities and the feeling of having no real choices?

So, what's the answer? Getting clear about your non-negotiables and making choices will enable you to have everything you want.

When you define your non-negotiables, they rise above everything else and act like a north star that guides every decision - even the question of whether you stay or go.

Here's how it works using Katie as our example:

In coaching, Katie’s non-negotiables became crystal clear: 1. daughter; 2. salary and benefits. Katie’s decisions became clear, too, which enabled her to take action. In the end, Katie changed jobs to an organization with a great manager, a meaningful purpose, an awesome team, AND she has better work/life balance. She sells her drawings for fun. She sacrificed a bit of salary to create the work and life she wants and is happy again.

Just like Katie, you can have everything you want once you are clear about your priorities. Let's get on the phone and get clear about you want. We’ll quickly identify your top non-negotiables, answer the question, “should you stay or should you go,” and strategize your next move.

Christina

P.S. If you are ready to stop wasting your energy worrying if you should stay or go, hop on the phone with me. We’ll get clear about your priorities and strategize your next move. Email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com. P.P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

Let your rebel flag fly AND succeed in a corporate job. In fact, it's vital!

Estimated read time: 2.5 - 3 minutes depending on your reading speed

The Muppet Yip-Yips can make you successful at work, too!

Let's jump right into a story this week about the amazing results you get when you let your unique, rebel flag fly at the office.

Meet Matt. (Matt is my client's REAL name. Matt said this morning, "I’m happy to hear my story is helpful for others" and is ready to "take the plunge" to share it.)

Matt didn't get to pick me as his coach. I was hired by his company (a large, multi-national financial firm) to coach high potential managers, and the HR team matched us up. Matt's management felt that things were crunchy with his team. The ways he was interacting in meetings wasn't always, shall we say, productive. Shared anxiety was affecting his team's performance.

As Matt and I started working together, it became clear that much of the anxiety was stemming from him. (Yup. He's the leader. Makes sense.) We quickly uncovered three things:

1. He is deeply creative and has an elephant's brain. It's a groovy circus in there - full of connections, hilarious metaphors, and a steel trap memory.
2. He believed that only a buttoned up, carefully controlled version of himself was going to succeed as a corporate leader. He literally visualized a wall on his commute to work where he turned off big parts of his identity in order to become the person he thought would be effective at the office.
3. He ran his life on a tight timetable and set of expectations that was making Matt all work and killing his sense of fun.

Our work was clear: expose the beliefs that were holding him back, uncover the amazing way he already operates, leverage those funky, rebel-y mental processes to bring him success at work, get clear about what he wants in all areas of his life, and teach him how to take care of himself.

If anyone had been a fly on the wall in our coaching sessions, they would have wondered what the heck we were doing. We talked about the ninja on his shoulder, used Sesame Street as a point of reference (yep, the alien Yip Yips), and cleaned out the metaphorical clutter in the attic of his brain. He did homework: meditation, turned off all of his clocks for a weekend to enable him to experience his own pace, and experimented with ways to open up at work. We had a blast.

At the end of 6 months, Matt had worked diligently in coaching to grow himself and created real, practical results for himself and his team. He quelled the anxiety. He lost weight. His team got happy and productive. (In our final status meeting, his boss commended the amazing change in Matt and his employees.) His retention was secured. He started exercising and hosted grilled cheese lunches for his group at his desk. He took walks during the day when he needed to clear his mind. And, (I LOVE this part), he went to a concert with his new open attitude and met the love of his life. They got married a year later. His success has led him to be courted for a new challenging assignment full of interesting risk and potential. Giving himself permission to be his full self created real, lasting, tangible results.

I asked Matt to comment on this story and here's what he said today:

"One thing that came to mind in reflecting on our time together...was the magnitude of the positive impact you had on my life centered around you guiding me on how to get out of my own way. I had and others had 'everything necessary to be successful.' (I remember you repeating this a number of times in our sessions). You cheered me on as I tackled that mental clutter, associated fear and uncomfortableness with the 'unknown and hard to describe,' and helped me realize the value in being my genuine self (and how much easier and fun it was to be)."

I can't make this stuff up, Christina. When a client does something incredible for themselves, I still shout with amazement from the rooftops, "this shit really works!" And it sticks. Matt and I worked together years ago, and the changes he created are still true today.

You deserve to be happy at work. You deserve to understand the fun and funky ways you operate so you can leverage them for your success. You deserve to feel like what you do every day matters and brings you a sense of meaning and joy. (Ok, most days. Some days are still gonna suck. Not gonna lie.) You deserve to let your rebel flag fly loud and proud.

Let's get your rebel flag in the air and get you happy at work. Hop on the phone with me for 30 minutes. We'll strategize your personal situation and transform the way you're thinking about your leadership and your work. Email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com to set up a time to talk.

Seriously, this shit really works. (I hope my mother-in-law doesn't read this. I promise I don't teach my kids the "s" word.)

Christina

P.S. Please forward this email to anyone you think could use some support or consider a session for one of your employees. Being fully yourself is vital to your success. P.P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.