Claire Seeber is a globally accredited leadership and career coach, speaker, trainer and author, and has years of insights about what really goes on inside workplaces. She knows all about the hustle and grind culture that even the most disciplined EA would be forgiven for getting swept up in.
Here, she talks to Executive PA about how to build a career that lets you to thrive…
“You only have to walk the halls and listen to conversations in most organisations to know we operate in a world that wears ‘busy’ as a badge of honour.
The conversation often goes like this: ‘Hey, Sally. How are you?’ Then: ‘Soooooooooo busy. It’s crazy right now, isn’t it?’ Followed by: ‘Oh, I know, me too. I’ve been working every night this week and on weekends. It’s just hectic.’
In a world that seems so focused on being busy, it’s critical we remain deliberate about finding strategies that target our efforts for better results if we want to thrive in a happy career. Here’s how…
Know why you do what you do
To remain enthusiastic about your work (even in the most uncertain working environments) you must know your ‘why’, or the reason behind your role. I call this your positional purpose.
When you know your ‘why’, you can deal with almost any ‘how’. Essentially, when you know why you do what you do – and what truly matters to you – the bad days, the setbacks and the inconveniences don’t bother you as much. Instead, you can rise above it and keep going.
Understand your strengths, and find ways to leverage them more
In my book, I talk about the effort, expertise and enthusiasm formula being at the heart of a happy career. Essential to this formula is knowing your unique gifts and strengths. Then becoming more intentional about how you leverage them in your day to get outcomes more easily.
For example, if a superpower of yours is organisation, how could you weave it into your day more to help you be even more impactful in your role? How could this skill support you in getting outcomes for yourself and others more easily?
Find your inner meerkat
You can embrace a career built more on happy and less on hustle culture by consistently adopting what I call a meerkat approach.
But what does this mean? Well, when we embrace our inner meerkat, we are consciously taking
a moment to look up and look around us at what is happening in our organisations now. What is a priority right now? Where can you best position yourself to add the most value in this moment?
Your inner meerkat helps you be strategic. And it helps you invest your limited time more deliberately in ways that will generate the best return.”
