Episode 14 Are you fulfilling your potential at work
In this episode, Sarah dives into the concept of fulfilling your potential at work. She explores what "potential" really means, why timing matters, and how to overcome the challenges of feeling stuck. With practical strategies and real-life examples, Sarah shares four actionable ways to unlock your potential, build confidence, and achieve sustainable career success.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Defining Potential: How to identify growth opportunities that align with your energy and timing.
- Four Ways to Unlock Your Potential:
- Explore and enhance your strengths.
- Develop risk resilience and step outside your comfort zone.
- Create a strategic plan for career development.
- Increase opportunities through curiosity and connections.
3. Practical Strategies: Real-world advice, from mentorship tips to creating a risk recovery plan.
Show Notes:
[00:00:00] Welcome and Intro to Unstuck and Unstoppable
[00:02:00] Understanding Potential: What it Means and Why Timing Matters
[00:03:00] Feeling Stuck at Work: Identifying the Signs and Challenges
[00:04:00] Sarah’s HR Career Example: Choosing Growth Over Stagnation
[00:05:00] Strategy 1: Exploring and Enhancing Your Strengths
[00:07:00] Learning from the Best: Mentorship and Observational Techniques
[00:08:00] Strategy 2: Building Risk Resilience and Mindset Preparation
[00:09:00] Overcoming Fear: Tools to Reframe Challenges and Take Action
[00:10:00] Strategy 3: Creating a Career Development Plan
[00:11:00] Learning Styles and Realistic Time Management for Growth
[00:12:00] Strategy 4: Increasing Opportunities Through Curiosity and Networking
[00:13:00] Recap: Four Steps to Fulfilling Your Potential
Useful Links
Watch this episode on LinkedIn Live
Sign up for Weekly Career Inspiration
Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes
Join The Love What You Do Facebook Group
Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn
Rate & Review the Podcast
If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us reach more ambitious leaders looking to unlock their potential.
If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: sarah@careertreecoaching.co.uk
Transcript
Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,
the podcast for ambitious female
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:leaders who want to create more impact,
income, and influence in their careers.
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:feel connected to their passion
and purpose, but without
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:selling out or burning out.
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:I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach
and career strategist, helping women
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:like you thrive in leadership roles
while staying true to your values.
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:I'm the founder of CareerTree
Coaching and have over 15 years of
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:coaching experience and significant HR
leadership experience to share with you.
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:I know as a female leader it can
be hard to find time to focus
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:on your career aspirations.
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:The day job can be all consuming.
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:Plus, no matter how senior you are,
there are always going to be times
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:when you feel stuck, when you have
self doubt, or feel like an imposter.
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:And that's where unstuck
and unstoppable comes in.
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:Each week I'll be sharing practical
strategies, insightful interviews and
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:inspiring stories to help you boost
your confidence, lead with purpose
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:and achieve sustainable success.
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:If you're ready to stop playing
small and unlock the incredible
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:potential you have within you and feel
unstoppable, you're in the right place.
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:Let's get started.
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:Welcome to episode 14.
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:I'm so glad you're here.
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:And before we dive into today's episode, I
just want to say a quick thank you to the
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:people who've so far left me a review on
Apple Podcasts, which is so, so helpful.
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:And they are fellow travellers, Meadsey,
Hey Jude:
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:you know who you are, I'm sure.
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:And if you've left me a rating
over on one of the other podcast
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:platforms, thank you for that too.
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:It does make a huge difference
to my podcast reaching
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:more people, so thank you.
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:And now, let's dive into today's
topic where we're talking about
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:potential and how you can
fulfill your potential at work.
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:I thought we'd start off to
think a little bit about what is
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:potential, because it's one of
those words that we probably all
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:have our own interpretations of it.
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:These are my thoughts and I'd love
to know if you've got different ones,
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:that it's how you feel about your
personal and professional growth, and
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:what opportunities do you see for you?
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:the thing I would also say about
potential is that it's choosing to
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:focus on fulfilling your potential
at the time that is right for you.
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:We can't in a busy life be focusing
on fulfilling our potential.
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:All the time, because it's
not feasible to do that.
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:And also, if you think about your energy
for fulfilling your potential, it's
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:probably hard to do it all the time.
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:You think about seasons, the trees
and plants need autumn and winter in
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:order to recharge and get ready for
growth periods in spring and summer.
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:And it's the same with your career.
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:It's thinking about when do I
want this kind of growth period?
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:When do I want to focus on growth and
development and stretch and challenge?
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:And when do I just want to embed
things and build my energy and,
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:embrace what I'm currently doing
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:.
If you're feeling like you're stuck and you're not fulfilling your potential.
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:then that can be really stifling.
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:It can feel like you're suffocating, that
you're bored, maybe you're plateauing
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:and obviously then you do want to think
about how do I fulfill my potential
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:because there's nothing worse than
having that sense of being stuck.
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:And certainly my HR career
I made a conscious decision
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:to take a sideways move.
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:I moved to the Red Cross to
get into the voluntary sector,
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:which is where I wanted to be.
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:And in that role, the team
was quite hierarchical.
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:There was ceilings to what you
could do because I'd moved sideways.
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:I was bumping up against that ceiling
and there wasn't really any way I could
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:develop my potential there and add value.
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:And I felt quite stuck.
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:And not hugely motivated.
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:And I didn't stay too long.
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:It served its purpose, but I couldn't
see myself staying there because
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:I couldn't fulfill my potential.
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:I thought it'd be really useful to
share around four different ways
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:you could think about to get that
sense of fulfilling your potential.
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:And like I say, you want to not
necessarily feel like you've got
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:to do all of these straight away.
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:It's about choosing when the time's
right and planning it strategically.
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:The first one is to explore your strengths
because it's an easy place to start
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:because strengths are something that
we're naturally good at and that we enjoy.
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:And, enhancing them is going to
be much easier than trying to
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:focus on something that you feel
that you're not very good at.
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:Obviously strengths can be
character strengths or they
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:could be technical strengths.
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:So skills that you've developed that
you're really good at and that you enjoy.
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:So maybe project management or direct
marketing or, something else that's linked
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:to your function or your specialism.
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:And then I've got a few ideas about
how you could think about enhancing
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:your strengths in order to fill.
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:You could find new ways
to use your strengths.
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:We get stuck in a rut.
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:We do the same things over and over again.
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:Our brains like habits.
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:So pushing yourself to think about
how could I use this strength
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:differently or with a different group
of people can be really powerful.
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:Or you could look at ways to teach
or train, guide, mentor, coach
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:people in your team or your function.
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:in an area that you are strong in.
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:They're probably going to be really
grateful that you're spending
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:time helping them to develop that
particular strength, and it's going
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:to force you to think about, okay,
how do I really use this strength?
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:How can I communicate ways you
could use this effectively?
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:You might want to run a session
on strategic development or
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:coaching or something that you
know you're very strong in.
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:And, you could do it in a wider
context in your organization.
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:You could offer to run a webinar
or maybe a lunch and learn.
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:And again, that will push you to think
about how you use your strength and how
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:you can communicate that effectively.
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:Another way to think about strengths is
thinking about learning from the best.
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:Who do you know in your industry
or in your organization, who
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:you feel has real mastery of the
strength or the skill that you have?
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:And thinking about how
you could learn from them.
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:Maybe that's observing them in a meeting.
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:Maybe it's it's about interviewing
them and asking them how they've
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:developed that strength over time.
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:Maybe it's even asking them if
they would mentor you around
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:that particular strength.
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:I was working with a client and
we were focusing on gravitas, she
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:really felt she wanted to have
more gravitas, to have more impact.
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:And when we were talking about it,
she could identify somebody that
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:she knew who she felt just had real
gravitas that they walked into a
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:room and they just owned that room.
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:And so she started to have
this observational technique
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:whenever she was with them.
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:And then she did eventually start to talk
to them about how to develop that strength
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:and found a great way of reflecting on
her own and what she could take from that
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:and build authentically into her own.
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:So that's one area you could think
about in terms of exploring your
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:potential is focusing on your strengths.
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:The second one is to think about
developing your risk resilience.
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:When you're going to be thinking
about fulfilling your potential,
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:you're probably going to be embracing
activities that are going to make
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:you step out of your comfort zone.
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:And we all know that we
find it challenging to step
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:out of our comfort zone.
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:So by developing your mindset now,
it's going to set you up for success
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:in terms of developing your potential.
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:Preparing that mindset will make
it easier then to take on ways
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:that are going to stretch you.
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:You could start by reframing things.
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:If there's a challenge, you can
reframe it as a learning opportunity.
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:If you get some negative or critical
feedback or constructive feedback,
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:thinking about it as a chance to
learn, not taking it personally.
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:And you could focus on enjoying
the process rather than focusing
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:on getting to the end result.
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:Being more mindful, more present when
you are Developing your potential or
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:an area of your potential and just
recognizing the risk of the opportunity
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:and focusing on the benefit from the
activity or the experience can help
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:you get more ready to take that risk.
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:For example, if you are going to
ask someone to mentor you around
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:a particular strength, recognizing
that there's a chance they could say
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:no, that there's a rejection there
because they might just be too busy.
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:Or have something else on, but focusing
on the benefit that it will give
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:you will help you be brave enough
to go and ask for that opportunity.
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:And if fear does kick in, and it's
likely to, just asking yourself a
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:great coaching question, which is,
what's the worst that could happen?
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:And that often takes away that fear
because you recognize actually, in the
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:grand scheme of things, it doesn't really
matter if they say no, or I can't do
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:it, or I fail or whatever it might be.
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:And then have a risk recovery plan.
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:So recognizing, okay, if something goes
wrong, I know I've got a backup plan.
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:There's another way I can get
that experience or that activity.
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:And asking yourself, will I
remember this in a year's time?
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:The likelihood is no, just helps you
get that perspective on what's actually
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:happening, even though in the moment,
it might feel big and important.
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:Okay, so we've thought about
exploring your strengths.
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:We've thought about developing
your risk resilience.
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:And then the third thing
is to create your own plan.
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:You don't want to wait for opportunities
because they might not come along, or they
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:might come along when you're not ready.
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:So actually having a career development
strategy is going to be useful at.
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:Helping you to be focused about your
fulfillment of your potential and within
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:that being really clear about your goals.
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:What do you want to
fulfill your potential in?
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:Is it your sector?
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:Do you want to be seen more
as an expert in your field?
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:Or is it in your job?
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:Perhaps you want to be a better leader.
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:You want to refine your
leadership skills and abilities.
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:Or is it a particular strength
that you really want to focus on?
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:So is it, I want to enhance my emotional
intelligence and I want to focus on that.
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:Because by being focused, you're
not going to spread yourself too
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:thinly or feel overwhelmed with it.
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:You're clear about what
you're heading towards and why.
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:Then thinking about how you learn best.
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:Are you a visual learner?
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:Are you an audio learner?
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:Do you like to have the theory?
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:Do you like to be in a group?
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:Do you like to learn on your own?
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:Do you like it live?
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:Do you like, time to reflect?
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:What's your best approach to learning?
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:And building that into your plan.
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:And finally, and probably most
importantly, is to think about how you
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:are, within your plan, how you are going
to create time to focus on your potential.
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:Because you will need to prioritize
ring fence some specific time.
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:So thinking practically and
realistically, how can I build this in?
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:And when's the best time for me?
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:If you know your job role is
super, super busy at year end.
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:You're not going to be prioritizing
any professional development or
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:personal development during that time.
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:If you know you have a a quieter
period in the summer, that might
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:be the time you want to prioritize
your potential development.
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:Because you're going to achieve
it more if you're being realistic
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:about when you can focus on it.
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:Okay, so we thought about exploring
your strengths, developing your
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:risk resilience, creating a plan.
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:And the final thing is just
focusing on how you can increase
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:opportunities that are going to
allow you to fulfill your potential.
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:Two things here to think about.
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:One is to be open and tell people
that you trust about what you're
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:trying to achieve so that they
can also help and support you.
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:They can look out for opportunities,
they can signpost you, they can
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:connect you, they can help you
get to where you want to be.
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:And the second thing is just to be curious
, curiosity is a brilliant strength to
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:be engaging when you're thinking about
developing your potential, talking to
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:people looking at different projects
that are happening, thinking about
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:possibilities, asking questions, building
connections, offering support to other
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:people, and just seeing what's emerged.
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:You're going to have your plan
with certain activities highlighted,
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:but being curious and open to
what might appear is also a great
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:way to explore your potential.
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:I know there's a lot in
there to think about.
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:I'm just going to quickly recap.
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:We've got exploring your
strengths, thinking about ways
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:you can do that differently.
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:You can teach or share your expertise.
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:You can learn from the best.
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:Then we've got developing
your risk resilience.
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:Thinking about preparing your
mindset to be open to stepping
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:out of your comfort zone.
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:Then we've got creating a plan.
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:So you're clear about.
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:What area of your potential you want to
fulfill, whether it's in your sector,
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:in your job, or a particular strength
or skill that you want to develop.
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:And we've got increasing opportunities
and being really curious and being open to
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:telling people what you want to achieve.
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:I would love to know how you get on
what you decide is going to be, on
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:your list of things that you want
to try out to fill your potential.
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:This episode is also available to
watch on LinkedIn Live and I'll put
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:a link for you in the show notes.
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:And while you're over there on
LinkedIn, do send me a connection
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:request if we're not already connected.
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:Thank you so much for listening
to this episode of the Unstuck
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:and Unstoppable podcast.
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:I have lots of free resources you
can access on my website, ww.career
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:tree coaching.co
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:uk, and I'll also put
links in the show notes.
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:If you found this episode
helpful, then please subscribe
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:so you don't miss the next one.
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:And please do share it with a
friend and leave me a review
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:and I will personally thank you.
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:Remember, you're capable of more
than you know, shine brightly.
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:Lead boldly and unlock the
extraordinary potential within you.
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:Be unstoppable.