Would you like to know the single biggest mistake I made in my career?
 
I waited.
 
Waited for the right opportunity to speak-up in meetings.  Waited for my boss to notice my work.  Waited for my organization to invest in developing me.
 
Can you relate to the wait?  We all do it, but do you need to?
 
Here are 3 things that may keep you stuck waiting:

• Optimism bias is encoded in the human operating system, it’s the reason you get back up when you fall down (metaphorically speaking), AND it is also the reason you may be waiting for the perfect moment (it’s coming, you can feel it…).  So, how long have you been waiting for that “perfect” moment?
• A prevalent mindset often taught in childhood is; if you are good at something other people will notice, and unless others notice, you must not be good enough, so keep working hard!  This is the birthplace of “I’m not enough” thinking, and is complete BS, but when you’re a child you don’t question it, and then with time it just becomes a part of how you operate as an adult.
• My employer will invest in me.  This one comes in 2 belief tracks; the first is your employer knows more than you do about your gifts and will “direct” you where you need to go by sourcing/offering appropriate development.  The second is it’s your employer’s responsibility to pay for your professional development.  Both are career-killers.

 
So, what's the opposite of waiting?
 
It’s the brave career.  
 
The reality is, opportunities go to those who don’t have “wait” as a default setting; professionals who are brave, who use waiting strategically and make the right moves, for the right reasons at the right time in the right ways.  
 
These professionals enjoy their dream careers because they know three vital things:

• There is never a “perfect” time to do anything.  You do need to be strategic in your timing, but waiting until all the stars align is the path to… well, waiting.  Being objective about what you want, and how best to get it, empowers courage and re-routes your optimism bias from “I’ll wait” to “I can do this!”
• You are enough just the way you are.  There will always be signals from others that you can interpret as flaw and lack, but leaving it entirely up to those around you to recognize your amazing skill and potential is putting too much pressure, and power, in the hands of others.  Dream careers are forged through the ability to accept failure as part of learning and the persistence to be noticed for the right reasons, which includes advocating for yourself and your career desires.  
• Your organization is the last place to seek guidance on your career.  Yes, there are people there who can help shape your thinking (your manager, HR, a mentor), but they are consultants on this journey, you are the one accountable for deciding what you want to do with your one precious and remarkable life. You let your organization know what you need for development AND if they are not in a position to support it, invest in yourself.  You will never regret it.

 
I have my dream career today, I make a meaningful and positive difference in other people’s lives every single day, but what if I hadn’t waited?  What if I had invested in myself sooner?   How many more people could I have helped then?
 
Honestly, sometimes that keeps me up at night.
​
Learn from my biggest career mistake, don’t wait; the time is now to be brave with your career and make the investments you need to bring all your amazing gifts into the world.  
 
That’s the dream, right?
 
You deserve your dream career.​

I’m not going to lie; I LOVE not having to commute to an office.  
 
Since the beginning of the pandemic my productivity has gone up a lot, and that isn’t just busy-ness, that is solid value-add; I can support even more client’s and their career aspirations when I’m not on the road (and searching for parking) 2+ hours a day.  
 
This was a big AH-HA for many professionals during this unprecedented circumstance.
 
However, there is an ugly back-spin to this virtual world, and it comes at the expense of your well-being.
 
You are given less opportunity to be playful at work.
 
No joking around in the coffee room, no being pleasantly surprised when your boss decides to participate in “ugly sweater day” (and then really commits to wearing the most tragic of sweaters for the whole day, even in client meetings). 
 
Even when your organization offers these opportunities for play while working remotely, you may not be interacting with your boss that day via video conference, and hearing about their ugly sweater on a Teams chat is not the same as seeing your boss walking around the office in outrageously clashing colors.
 
You just don’t have the same access to play at work that you did while in the office AND, play is really important for your career:

• It allows you to see yourself and others in a very human light, building more compassion and “social glue” between you and others helping everyone to work better together.
• Laughter releases chemicals in your brain that reduce stress and fight fatigue.
• You build more trust and respect with others when you share important moments at work, and play creates those moments more reliably than almost any other circumstance at work.
• Play is a strong signal that you are not alone at work, boosting feelings of belonging to this team and your organization.

 
Feeling isolated at work?  When was the last time you played?

You can create play for yourself by taking breaks and looking for light-heartedness in other ways; I've never watched more quick video clips of stand-up comedy throughout the day then I have during the pandemic as a way to get a genuine laugh during my work day.
 
But what is really needed to blast feeling isolated or depleted is shared fun with your team-mates.
 
Here are some options to consider bringing to your virtual workplace:

• One organization I hold in high esteem has opted to do a specific weekly meeting “camera-off” so participants can take the meeting while walking outside, or at least sitting on their deck or patio; listening to the buzz about having this as an option shows how welcome this shift is and adds a more relaxed atmosphere to the meeting.
• Promote things like Star Wars Day (May 4th) and Daquiri Day (May 1st, or the day the pub patios open up where you are – there is a poem that applies here:  “Hurray, hurray, the first of May, today is Daiquiri Day!” and then invite everyone to socially distance from their local for an out-of-the house social gathering at the same time, if not all in the same place).  Silly?  Yes, that is the whole point.
• Run simple things, like the ugly sweater contest with options for more visibility, like changing profile pictures (internally) to include the item, or shifting it to multiple days of virtual festivities, like an “I’d rather be here… video conference back-ground week (placing a picture of the location of where you’d rather be then stuck at home), so more people get to be exposed to each other in the fun.

 
Having more fun at work is an important (though often over-looked) way to more deeply connect to what you do and who you do it with …and now that we have seen more of each other’s pets, families, interior décor and lounge-wear then we ever thought we would, maybe it’s OK to spend more time being a little silly on-line together too.

​I took a dream job at a big global company.  Up to that point I had worked in increasingly larger organizations, but their smaller size (less than 1,000 employees) meant they all shared two things:  They had a lot of heart, and they were under-resourced.  I was not getting the opportunities I was looking for to develop my career.  I had great experiences at all of them, but I wasn’t growing.
 
I LOVED my time at the big global company, they were a fantastic organization, but there was one flaw in the dream:  I had an invisible boss.
 
Not only was my boss located in another country (same time zone, thankfully), but they were an incredibly busy person, completely consumed by meetings and travel, almost never in the office and juggling many competing demands.  I learned two things really quickly:

1. I never wanted to have their job.
2. I was going to have to fend for myself.

 
It was a big disappointment to me, because I’d purposefully targeted what I thought was a resource-rich environment for development.   Looking back on it, having to find ways to thrive in that circumstance was an opportunity for career development in itself.  I learned a lot of things, but here are the 2 key take-aways that helped me to thrive with an “invisible” manager:
 

1. Ask. Ask. Ask for what you need.  In the beginning I did not have the context or the contacts to get things done effectively in my new job.  I needed to learn more about the organization, the challenges it faced, the client group I was working with, etc.  and I needed to get into the right meetings.  To do that I let my invisible manger know what I needed in a carefully worded series of e-mails.  While my manager was unable to support me directly through time together, what did happen was a flurry of e-mails connecting me to all the people who could help.  A peer who understood both the business context and the client group and who had the time to share that with me, acting as a resource when I had questions.  Warm introductions to key players and internal contacts whom I would need to work with, so I could take the initiative and set up time with them.  I never got what would be considered a consistent “one-on-one” with my invisible manager, but I did get support when I asked for it.  
2. Leverage the “village”.  Even with an invisible boss, I was never truly on my own.  I had internal clients I supported, clients who offered me invaluable feedback and suggestions that helped me to develop my strategic thinking and communication skills.  I had local leadership in the site-office where I worked, who were not my “boss”, but with whom I worked closely and benefitted from their expertise and guidance.  I had peers, mentors and a mentee, all of whom shaped my evolving way of working for the better through conversations and seeing things from different perspectives.  It takes a village to thrive in a complex working environment.  Even when your boss is physically there for you, building internal professional connections is key to supporting your ongoing professional development whatever the circumstance at work.

 
I credit my time in that organization with helping me build skills and awareness that still support me in what I do today (even though what I do now is very different).  Which points to the importance of finding, and using, ongoing coaching (formal and informal) as a way to keep your stress levels down, and your professional effectiveness at peak performance.
 
Of course, back then, career coaching wasn’t a thing.  Looking back, I would have invested in a coaching program (if one had been available) as another way to thrive in an unwelcome circumstance because the big investment I was making in moving to that multi-national was in myself, and I knew I was a great investment.
 
And so are you.

What’s the one thing in your job you could lose that would make you a very happy professional?  And how would it feel to never have to do that task again?  Go on, dream a little bit.
 
Hold on to that vision, because there are clear ways to step out of work you are bored with today.  But, before we go there, let’s look at some the excellent reasons you should move away from tasks you’ve “out-grown” at work:

• You likely took that task on when you were new in your role and were on a learning curve; several months (or years) later and your skills have grown, meaning you can take on more complicated, value-add work.
• When tasks no longer hold challenge or learning for you, they can either become comfortable places to “rest” at work (you can’t be 100% super-charged all day, that isn’t healthy), or these tasks are annoying reminders that you are not valued at work.  Check in and see which it is, because you only want to work yourself out of what is no longer serving you (and keeping some predictable, comfortable work on your plate is OK when it lets you recharge for the more interesting-to-you work).
• You know you have more to give, and you feel passionate about putting it to work where you are today, but your manager may not see it the same way, yet.

 
Full disclosure, there will always be routine work in every job that isn’t exciting to do; the goal is not to get to 100% juicy work (80/20 is a more realistic split).  The goal is to ensure you highlight your skills and readiness to support increased value-add work so both you and your organization can benefit. 
 
So, have you identified one or two things you’d be happy to lose from your job description?  Here’s how to do just that:

• Consider why this work needs to be done (what is the value-add for your organization?) The work you’ve identified may be complex, but it is also likely predictable, making it ripe for re-thinking.   Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it can’t be improved, automated, or even eliminated.  You may need to consult others and look at this from multiple perspectives to understand what is possible with this routine work.
• Document it.  When you are getting ready to move any work to a new person, the first step is to have a complete set of simple instructions on how to do it well.  This makes moving it a much easier sell to your manager, who is weighing the risks of having someone new do something your team or organization relies on.  Your boss is more likely to say “yes” to moving this work when the risks in doing so are minimized.
• Your manager not biting on moving it to someone else?  Then consider the risk of having only 1 person (you) able to do this task, and work with your manager to understand the value of having more than one of you trained (and good) at doing it.  At the very least it may get this off your plate some of the time (and you gain valuable experience in teaching someone else how to do it).
• Think like a business.  When you took on this task your salary was likely lower, significantly lower if you’ve had a task assigned to you for several years.  However, your salary has increased over time (do the math) and that changes the “cost” of having this work done.  Consider helping your boss see the value of having this work re-assigned to recognize the relative value (vs. cost) of completing it (tread carefully here, you don’t want to make it sound like this work is beneath you, or someone else is less valuable than you are at work).

 
All of these options can help you move boring things off your plate at work, but the most important part to getting this done is making sure you have a strategic upside to offer.  Demonstrating to your manager what value-add you can bring to other critical work (or how you can take on more of the challenging work you have today) is key. Here again, you’ll want to highlight the opportunities for the business in considering this change, keeping it de-personalized and ego-less.
 
It’s important to shine a light on the work you do from time to time and evaluate if it is the best use of your evolving talents and skills.  If you think your boss is doing this, keep in mind how busy they are…do they really get the “thinking” time needed to assess if everyone is optimized in their roles?  Not likely.  You need to advocate for yourself, or risk letting this happen by chance.  Of course, if you have really bright co-workers with lots of potential who advocate for themselves than even chance won’t help you.
 
Think about it; what is the worst that could happen in advocating for what you know you are ready to do?

​Innovation is the key to staying relevant.  That is true in technology, services and products and it is also true in your career.
 
However, innovation also requires you to do old things in new ways or try new things you’ve never done before.  This can be hard to do.
 
From a career perspective it means being flexible and open to new ideas and ways of working.  We were all tested on this with the pandemic when (overnight) we switched to working virtually, or saw workspaces change with new protocols and an altered look (plexiglass and masks being the “new black” in 2020).
 
It required something new of each of us to find our way in this altered reality.
 
Doing things differently doesn’t always feel very comfortable, even when you’re doing it for all the right reasons.  It can be hard to feel good about making changes that are uncomfortable, draining you of energy and good will.  But (the pandemic aside) it is not good to get overly comfortable in your work and career.
 
Because you get bored. Your skills go stale.  You don’t grow.  You may even become less relevant (or irrelevant) to your employer.  Did you know you can still be run off your feet with work and be bored at the same time?
 
Yup.  And when that happens, it usually shows in your work.  It’s hard to fake caring about something you just don’t care about anymore (procrastination, lack of attention to detail, rushing to get it over with…).
 
So, consider doing something new for your work and career.  Start small, learn a new feature in the software you use every day (like knowing how to reverse ALL CAPS without retyping – highlight the text and hit SHIFT + F3 - you’re welcome).
 
Learning new things, innovating, being creative asks you to do something very important.  It asks you to believe in yourself, to take a small risk, to stretch your thinking and for that small price it gives a lot back.
 
It gives you something to feel really good about (yeah, I’m the boss of my typing, even when I accidently hit the caps lock key four sentences ago… again).  It shows you what you are more than capable of doing.  It helps remind you that you are a dynamic human being who isn’t standing still but is moving toward a future that you are getting ready to meet head on.
 
Doing something new isn’t about big, monumental things like getting an MBA, it’s about staying flexible in your thinking, so you keep being curious and don’t put up with the little things that hold you back (especially the ones in your control).
 
What new thing can you do today?  
 
I bet doing it will make you feel good and is an important step in investing in your relevancy at work.