So here we are now. From a Specialist to a Sr. Manager in six years. I’ve somehow chronicled all of those on the blog. As I took this role I knew this is what the break-neck speed racing was for. “Okay, so the racing and speed and urgency got me here.” This is what I’ve wanted. But, that break neck speed is now becoming a detriment.

My task is seemingly simple.

Slow down.

Work slower so you can focus more? Sounds like a dream. Don’t I always say good things take time?

But the reality is this is going to be really hard. And I like to talk to you about hard things and be transparent about them. So today I’m sharing the three reasons why working fast isn’t working for me and the specific goals, actionable items, around them.

Working Fast Makes Work Harder
(on myself and others)

My leader told me directly, when I’m working faster, I’m often making things harder on myself. At first, even though I agreed with it, I couldn’t think of a tangible instance where this was true. However, I intrinsically felt that reverberate as it reached my soul.

One of the ways I know I’m still growing into that strategic leader is the way I tend to assume the burden of proof is on me. Surely I don’t just…. tell other people to do things, right? “Am I now the person who reports down and then asks for an update by the EOW?” (I very much always have been that person anyway.) My very tactical side and “we just need to get this done no matter what” personality is having a moment of reckoning. Yes, I do the work, but I do the work that guides the team and offers insights and feedback. I can’t provide that critical eye when I’m the one that is building, testing, reviewing, giving feedback and then presenting. I’m a people leader for a reason.

Here’s an example just last week. I needed to create a deck quickly. Instead of taking a moment to think about all of the resources available to me, I just bulldozed my way into an 85% effective deck. Was it bad? No. Was it hard? Yes. Was it the right kind of hard? Maybe. When I presented to my leader they were able to show me that last 15% I was missing. Oh and guess what? I could have combined a lot of previously created work into one 95% effective presentation with that final 5% of Alissa-feedback.

Goal: Respond to emails slower. Ask more questions. Gather what’s available to you before you begin. Make yourself less available for those small, insignificant pings that distract you from that day’s goals.

Working Fast Impacts My Judgement

Oooft, this one hits hard. Speed, much like a substance, alters your perception of almost everything. Sure, you can do something, but that doesn’t mean you should do something. I can work fast, but I probably shouldn’t because I’m becoming aware of the blind spots it presents. Right now I’m in a bit of a vicious cycle of working fast, reviewing less than I work on it, sending it up and then seeing the opportunities and gaps. Ultimately, I think it’s undercutting my credibility to deliver the work that I want. Not the work that’s being expect of me, but the work presentation, effort and intention that I want to ensure my name is synonymous with.

I’ll never be able to read someone’s mind, but I know my leaders well. And they know reach other really well. So well I think my leader is psychic. The reality is that she has really good awareness and judgement in a situation to understand that is going to be needed. That’s she needs me to step into for her and what I want to step into.

Goal: Show better judgement. That’s it. Literally show better judgement in whatever circumstances present themselves.

Working Fast is Often Unpolished
(for me)

We’ve all been there. You see the duplicated word that somehow Word didn’t catch. And you didn’t catch until you were presenting to leadership. Yeah. I’m finding the more I allow myself to be rushed or derailed from the goals of my day, the more I’m becoming an inconsistent editor of myself.

I think a lot about the people I admire in my organization and in career fields and they all possess an incredible amount of poise that I find connected to their quality of work. Speed doesn’t allow you to polish. (Polish, not perfect. That’s an entirely different conversation.) Slowing down does allow you to have your own polish and inspection.

Goal: Don’t watch tick off the to-do list unless it’s really done right and in the way you know it needs to be done. Not to someone else’s acceptable standards, but to the thoughtful standards I want to be known for.

I’m putting in roadblocks to help me grow both personally and professional this year. Becoming a more intentional person who represents thoughtful, considerate strategy and dialog is who I want to be. And it’s going to require re-wiring my brain and many starts and stops.

If you relate to this, I have good news, we can do be the leader we want to be perceived as. We’re in this role because we have what it takes. But we have to take a step back and unlearn some of the habits we have that got us here that won’t serve us as we enter this portion of our careers.

We’ve got this.

Slowly.

The post Why Working Fast is Actually A Detriment to Me appeared first on Honestly Relatable.

One of those big moments happened recently.

It feels ironic that sometimes in order to have big thing happen you become so busy you can’t share the initial excitement of them and by the time you come back to tell people, you’re months into it. It’s a good problem to have!

I’m now a Sr. Manager of digital brand. Not only do I get to say Sr., that title means a lot to me, but I get to be a Sr. Manager under the person who hired me. Many people asked if I was worried about being with someone who saw me when I was 25, new to the world and was there when I was at my most junior. I wasn’t. It felt like a coming home but a home that knows you have grown and its grown and come into its own.

Did I anticipate staying five years at my organization? No, but I also didn’t expect to have such a diverse array of opportunity here. While my focus has always been marketing, the journey has taken on many forms. Those people along the way are still part of my story today and have shaped a path for me to develop into my own.

For the first time in my career I didn’t walk into a new title and find imposter syndrome waiting for me across the desk. It felt right and I didn’t give it a chance to not. Honestly what I do is nothing I’ve done before but it also very much is always there for me. It’s something I think about innately and trust that the answers and inspiration will come.

Lessons I’ve Learned During this Career Moment

• Good things take time. They really do. And that time will make you appreciate them more.
  
• Only you know your signs of burnout and disengagement. Do a check-in with yourself regularly about how you really feel.
  
• Career growth isn’t just on you, it’s a network of people who advocate for and with you. Sometimes in order to ask for what you’re worth it’s going to be trusting those that they will help you get across the line. Make sure you’re surrounding yourself with the right people.
  
• Those mentors you love and adore? They are also growing.
  
• Blogging has long been part of my work journey. It’s why I often take a backseat here so I can excel at my corporate role, but it’s never left. In fact, it’s how I got here. There’s a lot to be said for letting yourself just enjoy something and see where it takes you.
  
• Growing your team and people management is hard , don’t take your 1:1s with leadership for granted and realize they aren’t just report-outs, but chances for you to ask how to grow and lean into where your role can be highly effective.

I asked for a significant raise with this promotion. Emboldened by the incredible Tori of HerFirst100K and many other financial feminists I follow, I asked for what I’m worth and bring to the table. And that’s where you have to trust someone else in getting it over the finish line what you started. I trusted my boss before, but in that moment she came back to me and told me I had it, I realized what had happened. The growth, the work, the all of it, went into that moment and she took it across the finish line.

As I talked about here, I like work. I really do. However, I am much more balanced and have stronger boundaries than I did when writing that post. The photos in this post are from one of the first in recent time I was truly out of office (OOO) to celebrate a friend’s fall wedding in Napa. I took off three days in a row. That was a huge step for me. Three days where I communicated I am not available.

I left behind the “you are irreplaceable” (which was never true). As well as, “you have to be available because someone else would be and can take your job.”

My mindset is simply this when it comes to taking off time,

“I am enough and I know I have set up my team with the right expectations from myself for what is supposed to happen.”

There’s a Quiet Ease Marking this New Chapter

I work harder than I have before, but with an ease that I didn’t have before. Maybe that’s part of the beauty of entering a new decade. The work I’m doing now is the strategy-setting thought development I wasn’t ready for before, but so desperately wanted to be. But I wouldn’t have known what to do with it had I been given this before. There’s something about 30 that has shifted. For the most part, it’s been a shift into being who I am to the fullest and what I’m now ready for.

It’s October 2021 and I’m already looking forward to planning my first ever spring vacation in 2022. I had a scarcity mindset that if I took vacation in the first half of the year something bad would happen and I wouldn’t have vacation days. So I starved myself mentally for an invisible prize I gave myself for burnout and being stressed about fighting for end of year time off with everyone else.

Working for someone who saw you at the beginning gives you a chance to see and measure the changes within and externally. There’s so much for me to improve on, but in this moment, I’m okay. I’ll get there. I don’t need to frantically search for it, because good things take time.

I don’t find it a coincidence the amount of work I had to do to get here. Not just career-wise but personally as well. I bring myself to work and don’t separate the two. Growing into the person I needed to be an life has aligned itself along with it. I can see the small and large steps to get here. Don’t count out those small choices to invest in yourself or ask life for what you want out of it.

You are your greatest investment. Treat yourself that way in your career, relationships, everything because I’ve learned it really does come full-circle.

The post Celebrating Career Moments: A Promotion to a New Chapter appeared first on Honestly Relatable.

Now that I have my new role, moved to a new home I’ve been determined to find the WFH routine that works for me. No more being distracted by laundry but still taking advantage of the benefits WFH are providing. I’ve learned to really appreciate the time WFH has given me but also learned there’s a reason I need to separate work and home to help prevent burnout.

What A Day of WFH Looks Like for Me

There is absolutely no point in me trying to start working after 8 am. I’ve tried late-start mornings, morning appointments, etc. and they are absolutely the worst for my anxiety. If I am not in my seat or answering emails by 7:30/:45 am my anxiety gets the best of me.

One thing I’ve appreciated about working from home is I’ve learned more about how to better plan my day. For example, I need to start and end my day with creative reviews to help our creative team plan for their day and I can maximize efficiencies.

I’ve also learned not to just sit at my desk to be available. If I have finished for the day, I’m allowing myself to be free to “leave” my office. I’m always available and can easily get online to handle something. If I am struggling with a concept or need to think, I will jump on my Peloton for a 30 minute ride and then finish an evening work session.

You are not going to grow your career by sitting just to be a body in a seat. Advocate for what makes you a better person and fuels your personal and professional life. If that’s asking to adjust your 8-5 to 7:30-4:30, now is the time to ask! Use this time of working from home to find out what truly works for you.

How to Stay Focused Working From Home

I have never struggled with my attention-span until I started working from home. I would be going to the bathroom and 20 minutes later find myself Swiffering the kitchen floor which led to me taking calls while I folded laundry, etc. I’m a tidy person in general but working from home means absolutely nothing can be out of place. Hence why you see me using my Roomba during my workday and allow myself some personal tasks in my schedule.

My top tip to stay focused working from home is 45/15 stretches or 25/5 if you’re just starting out. Because there’s no chit-chat or drop-byes that breaks up your office day, give yourself that little “distraction” break. (And by distraction I mean task switching, etc.) I started using this last fall and it was so helpful to structure my day and allowed me to start training my brain to stay on-task.

When I moved one of the big priorities I had was a second bedroom I could use as a guest room/office. It’s been taken over as an office (it was previously Eleanor’s “bedroom”) and is purely for work purposes. I close the door over the weekend and truly keep it designated for work-only. (At some point this will be converted into a true guest room. The office will be relocated to the loft area upstairs.)

My Favorite WFH Items

My goal is to have absolutely no reason to get up from my desk unless it’s a bio break. Even Eleanor knows not to bother me when I’m in the office, mom is working! Here’s a list of what I use daily.

• My lips and skin get so dry during the day! I apply this lip water mask in the morning and use one of these mists 2-3x a time.
• I love this mouse. I’ve had my eye on it for a while and I finally got it. I don’t know what it is about it, but it feels so cool. You can also get it in sage and pink!
• Buy a new webcam, yours is trash. No really, it probably is. I bought this webcam and several friends have also gotten it for video calls!
• I still write in a notebook during meetings. These are fun to jot things down during quick calls.
• I love glass straws so much.
• My Jabra puck for conference calls. It’s now mostly used for Spotify after calls, but get you a puck that can do it all.
• This throw blanket is light/somehow heavy and perfect for when you just want a little layer of comfort.
• I’ve been wearing blue-light glasses for YEARS! Yes, you are going to love them.

There’s no shame in saying you are having to learn how to stay focused working from home! It’s not easy for most of us who love being in an office. I did not expect to enjoy working from home, but it’s opened up so many new things for me! Best of all is getting to spend so much time with Eleanor and learning more about how I can optimize and streamline my day to be even more effective.

The post How I Stay Focused Working From Home appeared first on Honestly Relatable.