Amazing If

This week's Squiggly Careers podcast episode features neuroscience expert Amy Brann, sharing her wisdom about how we can use our knowledge of the brain to stay engaged at work. Whether you listen for yourself or to get insight into how to make changes the workplace to benefit others, this week's podcast is an actionable and practical take on an increasingly important area of research for work and careers. Find links and additional resources over at www.amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Politics at work is something everyone experiences and no one we've spoken to yet actually enjoys! It seems like a 'fact of work' that politics is just part of the deal, but if often causes unhappiness, uncertainty and leads to environments where people can't be their best. This week, we've braved the topic and looked into the research to find out what causes politics, whether it's possible to avoid it and how to manage it positively if it feels like your working reality. As ever, we've got lots of resources for you over at amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Coaching is a fantastic tool for your career and personal development, however it’s often expensive and out of reach for many people who would benefit from it. One solution, is to take some of the tools professional coaches would use and apply them to yourself. That’s exactly what this week’s podcast is all about. Sarah and Helen talk through how they self coach and share 4 different tools and strategies so you can get started yourself. The more we can all take control of our development, the better! Lots of resources to accompany this episode over at www.amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Squiggly Careers might be full of opportunity, but they are also full of challenge! Challenge can feel hard and at times it can affect our confidence. Proactively building your confidence support system can help you to build resilient in a squiggly career. In the week’s episode Sarah and Helen walk you through practical steps to build your confidence support system so that you can be at your best, regardless of the situation. Head to www.amazingif.com for resources.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week's episode Sarah interviews special guest Michelle Morgan. Michelle is a social entrepreneur, with a number of awards to her name including EY entrepreneur of the year. Michelle developed the idea for her latest business Pjoys after experiencing first hand what it's like to mentally burn out and sink into anxiety and depression. In this thoughtful and reflective episode you'll hear more about Michelle's story, why mental health at work matters and what we can all do about it. Sarah shares her experience of being trained (by Michelle) to become a Mental Health First Aider and as always we include ideas, hints and tips for how and where you can learn more.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We all know the old rules about your impact being 7% what you say and the rest how you say it. This week, Sarah and Helen take on the importance of language at work, focusing on what you say and how you say it. As well as challenging the commonly held views about the 7% number, they share top tips for making your words and your body language work for you. For all resources, head over to amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What does it really mean to be happy at work and are we setting ourselves up to fail if we expect to be happy every day? We spend 90,000 hours of our life at work, so they feel like relevant questions to discuss. This week, Sarah and Helen review the lastest insights about 'happy work' and share 5 small actions we can all take that can make a big difference to our enjoyment at work. You can find a transcript of the episode and all links over at www.amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Does conflict at work fill you with dread? For many people, conflict is something to avoid at all costs and results in them stepping back and disengaging in conversation. This week, Sarah and Helen talk about tips and tactics that can help to reframe and react differently to work situations where conflict is present. All the resources mentioned and a transcript of the episode can be found at www.amazingif.com/  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Sarah talks to special guest Christine Armstrong author of The Mother of All Jobs. Christine shares how work has changed whilst the needs of children and the world of school and childcare has not changed at all. Christine shares what she has learnt from interviewing hundreds of professional parents who have opened up about everything from the good to the truly awful experiences of parenting. Together Sarah and Christine discuss why combining careers and motherhood can be such a challenge and what everyone can learn from the people who make it work (most of the time!)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Did you know that we are sleeping 1-2 hours less than we did 60 years ago, that over 2/3s of us work outside of our contracted working hours and that on average people lose 6 days of their annual holiday because they don't take them? All of this contributes to feeling overworked and always on. This week's Squiggly Careers podcast looks at home we can press pause and put practical actions in place that enable us to switch-off and slow down. For all resources mentioned, headover to amazingif.com.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Helen and Sarah tackle the subject of inspiration. Where it comes from, why it's so important for our work and how we can cultivate it. They share their own experiences of getting and staying inspired and dig into the research to learn from the experts! Listen to hear their top 5 ideas to increase your inspiration. For all links and resources, head over to amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Empathy is a skill which underpins relationships. Often, it happens intuitively, but there is much that can be done to cultivate more empathic workplaces and this week's Squiggly Careers podcasts looks at the actions we can all take to achieve that. Helen and Sarah explore 3 different types of empathy at work and talk through 5 ways in which we can build more empathy into our work. For show notes and resources, head to amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we're joined by productivity expert Graham Allcott, founder of Think Productive, speaker and author of numerous books on the subject of productivity! Pick-up tips on how to take control of your inbox, your diary and your to-do list and understand how different processes and tools can help you to create simple systems to make your working life a little bit easier! Links as ever will be over at www.amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Perfectionism at work is responsible for increased stress and anxiety and it's a common challenge people struggle with. It can be routed in a fear of failure or a habit of setting unachievable goals and it can get in the way of truely being our best at work. In this week's Squiggly Career podcast, Helen and Sarah take on perfectionism, sharing their experiences and their top 5 pieces of advice for moving towards a mindset of done being better than perfect. All resources mentioned can be found at amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With so many competing priorities at work, setting effective goals and staying motivated to achieve them has never been more important, though it’s not always easy! This week, Helen and Sarah are talking about how to set yourself up for success with goals and their example of what works best. Head over to amazingif.com to access all resources.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Micromanagement is a big frustration for many of us at work. We all don't like it, but so many of us have to work with it. In this week's podcast, Sarah and Helen delve into the science of micromanagement, why people do it and what issues it causes in the workplace. We share our top tips for coping with Micromanagement and also, how to manage yourself if this is an approach that you fall victim. Resources as ever can be found at www.amazingif.com.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, the Squiggly Careers podcast welcomes a special guest! Emma Rosen, author of The Radical Sabbatical, talks to Helen about what we can learn about finding a job you love by exploring multiple career possibilities. Emma took this approach to the extreme by exploring 25 different jobs in 1 year, during her Radical Sabbatical, documenting it in her blog www.25before25.co.uk during this time. We break down what she learnt into set of key insights and actions we can all apply to open up our thinking about future roles and opportunities.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Taking control of your career development is easier than ever if you've got the motivation and you know where to look! This week, Helen and Sarah are sharing their top tips of 'do it yourself' career development and favourite, tried and tested, learning resources. Get a summary of the resources and access the links over at www.amazingif.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cutting through the noise of work, so people hear you and your perspectives, has never been more challenging. It's the people who have influencing skills that are able to counteract this environment. These people gain more control over their career because people listen to their thoughts and take action off the back of them. In this week's podcast, Sarah and Helen dissect what it takes to be good at influencing and identify 5 key tips which make the biggest impact. Head over to amazingif.com for the summary and to access resource links.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We all experience emotion at work. Sometimes it helps us and sometimes it hinders us. This week, Sarah and Helen talk about the positive and negative emotions that show up at work. They discuss concepts like 'emotional labour' and 'emotional agility' and share tips to help you to be in control of your emotions rather than your emotions controlling you. There are lots of great resources this week, so make sure you head over to www.amazingif.com and read the podcast notes for this episode.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.