Squiggly Careers

Outsourcing your thinking to AI erodes the value of your contribution and means you are less likely to make a distinctive difference. Using AI as a thought-partner is a skill which can help you to refine your thinking, communicate more clearly and spot gaps before you share your perspective with other people.

In this shortcut, Helen talks through how you can use AI as a thought-partner for your career, your weekly work and the relationships you build to help you to be at your best.

🎯 What You'll Learn
- how to use AI as a squiggly career coach
- how to use AI to help you reduce overwhelm and find focus
- how to use AI to better understand your stakeholders and adapt your approach

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: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do we design a career that lasts a lifetime without running out of energy? In this episode, Sarah talks to world-renowned expert Lynda Gratton about how to navigate a multi-stage, 100-year life. This episode of part 1 of 4 in the 'Career Well Spent Series'

Drawing on Lynda Gratton's groundbreaking research and her new book 'Living the Hundred-Year Life', Sarah and Lynda discuss what it really means to design a multi-stage career, and what your balance of productivity and nurture threads reveals about your current career design.

🎯 What You'll Learn

– How to manage the tension between productivity and nurture

– Why 'calm' is often our weakest thread and how to rebuild it

– What the pivotal 40s mean for the future of your career

– How to use AI to amplify your human strengths

– Why curiosity is your most important career skill

– How to run small experiments to test new career paths

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: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you struggle to speak up in meetings or find yourself watering down your ideas? Assertiveness isn't about being the loudest person in the room; it is built through small, daily actions.

In this episode, Helen shares simple actions to increase your assertiveness.

🎯 What You'll Learn
– How to quash qualifiers like "maybe" and "just"
– The power of being the person who creates clarity
– How to offer alternative perspectives to stop groupthink
– Making a habit of offering a question and a suggestion
– How to identify and fix your default assertiveness mistakes

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: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you feel like you were never meant to master just one thing? It is time to move beyond the traditional career path and embrace the potential of an M-shaped career.

In this episode, Helen and Sarah explore what it means to develop mastery across multiple areas.

🎯 What You'll Learn

– Define the M-shaped career model and why it is a competitive advantage

– Identify your existing areas of deep expertise

– Learn how to connect the dots between seemingly unrelated skills

– Use reflective questions to map your own M-shaped development

This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Post-it® Brand. If today’s episode sparked an idea, stick it down, find out where to buy Post-it® products at go.3M.com/squiggly

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: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/

3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod

4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you find yourself constantly checking your phone or email instead of focusing on your most important work? In this squiggly shortcut, Helen shares practical ways to beat distraction and reclaim your attention.

Drawing on Nir Eyal's research on becoming indistractable, they explore what it really means to develop this skill, and what your default response to it reveals about you.

🎯 What You'll Learn
– Identify your personal distraction downfall
– Understand why you are attracted to distractions
– Learn why avoidance triggers procrastination
– Audit your environment for high-attention work
– Master the "not yet" rule to build focus
– Find the best timing for your deep work

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: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/
2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/
3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod
4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices