Squiggly Careers – Details, episodes & analysis

What does it actually take to go from good to great at work — and is "mastery" even the right word for it? In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from The Big Think's collection of articles on mastery, and make it feel a lot more relevant to everyday squiggly careers than the word itself might suggest. They explore two big ideas: how to master your response to tricky situations (think: the passive aggressive Canva comment, the "I'll just do it" default, or the unexpected tears in a meeting), and how to master your ability to succeed — including how elite athletes think about risk and failure in a way that's surprisingly useful for anyone with an ambitious goal. 🎯 What You'll Learn How to move from a default response to a deliberate decision — and why that space in between is everything– What elite athletes do differently when things go wrong (and how to apply it to your own goals)– Why naming your version of success — and stress-testing the risks — makes you more likely to actually get there– How to reframe failure as a data point rather than a verdict on you 📚 Resources Mentioned The Big Think newsletter The Big Think — Mastery collection For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

90% of us think we're good listeners — but we retain about 20% of what we hear. In this Squiggly Shortcut, Sarah shares five practical ways to close that listening gap, starting with the one thing most of us never even notice. 🎯 What You'll Learn – Why listening isn't just about words — and what to pay attention to instead – How the pressure to respond is the biggest enemy of good listening – Why repeating back the words someone uses can unlock a whole new conversation – What a no-interruption meeting feels like — and why it's worth trying with your team – The simple summarising habit that will make you a noticeably better listener overnight 📚 Resources Mentioned Episode 319 — Listening with Kate Murphy You can also find Kate Murphy's book I Never Said I Was a Good Listener via your usual bookshop. For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? Download our free career tools 1.Sign up for our Skills Sprints 2.Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools 3.Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s episode comes to you from a very snowy New York, where Sarah and Helen are launching the US edition of Learn Like a Lobster - in the middle of the biggest blizzard in ten years. Despite battling icy steps and snowy conditions, they’re diving into a topic that could transform how you approach ideas at work: prototyping. Borrowing brilliance from Nesta, Sarah and Helen explore a practical 4-part framework to help you move from “this might be a good idea” to something tangible, testable and useful. Episode 541 🦞 Learn Like A Lobster: 🇺🇸PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn 🇬🇧 Amazon UK - https://bit.ly/46lj8Av 📚 Resources Mentioned Say the Hard Thing Scenario Planner - https://www.saythehardthing.ai/ Learn Like a Lobster Profiler - https://www.learnlikealobsterprofiler... Nesta Prototyping Framework - https://www.nesta.org.uk/toolkit/prototyping-framework/ For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 🦞 Join the Learn Like a Lobster Sprint: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNQl9gsac8BXnWe2qoGuHkLKwsygjP_Ma&si=l7kODG3JpopH0Irz 📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction 📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the third episode of the Squiggly Career Stage Series – 5 days of podcast episodes and practical tools to help you succeed in your career. We’ve focused on 5 stages where we know people need some extra squiggly support and in today’s episode we’re looking at Squiggly Career Setbacks, to help people stay resilient when things go wrong. Sarah and Helen share their insights on career setbacks and interview three people to learn from their experience; Amy Schoenthal, author of The Setback Cycle and Mary & Ken Okoroafor who share their personal setback story. You can download the free Career Stage Guide to support this episode at https://www.amazingif.com/listen/career-setbacks For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024 3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail 4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the second episode of the Squiggly Career Stage Series – 5 podcast episodes and practical tools to help you succeed in your career. We’ve focused on 5 stages where we know people need some extra squiggly support and in today’s episode Helen and Sarah are looking at Squiggly Career Returners, to help people build career confidence after a break. Sarah and Helen share their insights on returning and interview two people to learn from their experience; Julianne Miles MBE, Co-Founder and CEO of Career Returners and Mila Fadeeva, who returned to her career in Strategy & Operational Excellence after a 10 year career break. You can download the free Career Stage Guide to support this episode at https://www.amazingif.com/listen/career-returners For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024 3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail 4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the first episode of the Squiggly Career Stage Series – 5 podcast episodes and practical tools to help you succeed in your career. We’ve focused on 5 stages where we know people need some extra squiggly support and in this episode Helen and Sarah are looking at Squiggly Career Starters, people who are looking to learn and grow in their first job. Sarah and Helen share their insights on this stage and interview two people to learn from their perspective; Yemurai Rabvukwa and Sarah Gregory from social mobility charity, Upreach. You can download the free Career Stage Guide to support this episode at https://www.amazingif.com/listen/career-starters For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024 3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail 4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Small talk is part of lots of the meetings and moments that we experience at work and most of us don't enjoy it! This week, Sarah and Helen discuss why small talk matters for connection and how to approach it. They share 'small talk starters', the importance of listening to what is said (instead of being distracted by what you want to say) and how to transition from small talk into what needs to come next. To use the PodSheet that supports the episode, head to amazingif.com/listen (00:00) Introduction (00:54) The hatred of small talk (07:10) The quick connection approach (09:24) Different small talk practices (10:26) Small-talk starters (20:55) Half listening vs whole listening (27:12) When to stop the small talk (35:15) Final thoughts For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024 3. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Awareness is a key skill to support your squiggly career but one that can feel hard to improve. This week, Helen and Sarah talk through 3 different types of awareness; self-awareness, situational awareness and relational awareness. They share ideas to assess your awareness and special actions you can take to improve in any area where you might have a gap. (00:00) Introduction (01:07) The different types of awareness (02:27) Self-awareness (09:53) Situational awareness (18:43) Relational awareness (28:45) Final thoughts To use the PodSheet that supports the episode, head to amazingif.com/listen For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024 3. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Helen and Sarah are talking about how to use scenario planning as a tool to increase your career resilience. They work through a matrix that you can apply to your career to spot different situations and take proactive action to mitigate risk and maximise opportunity. (00:00) Introduction (01:25) Benefits of scenario planning (04:57) Part 1: a sample matrix (07:07) a) best case - promotion (08:54) b) worst case - redundancy (10:33) c) unwanted - changing role (13:15) d) hopeful - job-crafting (16:22) Part 2: why wait?... (17:17) a) best case - sponsorship and skills (18:46) b) worst case - create connections (20:09) c) unwanted - look sideways (21:44) d) hopeful - shadowing (25:02) Part 3: AI add-on (30:09) Final thoughts To use the PodSheet that supports the episode, head to amazingif.com/listen For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024 3. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Feedback is a powerful tool for career growth, but it can be hard to give and to get. When learning becomes the priority, feedback becomes much easier and more effective.   This week, Helen and Sarah explore three ‘stop and start’ practices to make feedback more impactful. Whether you’re giving or receiving feedback, these actions can help you to reset your approach and focus on growth. (00:00) Introduction (00:53) Feedback and learning (03:41) Three stops and starts… (06:38) ad hoc vs always on (12:18) strengths vs weaknesses (21:28) outsourcing vs owning (27:48) Final thoughts   More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 1. Read our latest Harvard Business Review article 2. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint 3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools 4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices