Are You Prepared?

This past November, a ginormous storm hit the Pacific Northwest where I live. It was what meteorologists called an extratropical 'bomb' cyclone storm with gusts up to 101 mph and pressure drop to 942 millibars.

Massive trees littered every roadway like toothpicks. Five people died and more than 953K people lost power for 1-7 days. Insurance companies were in a tailspin calculating the losses.

Nobody was prepared.

(The saving grace for our family was plethora of backpacking gear and a gas stovetop. Here's my husband cooking dinner using a headlamp and lantern during our 5-day power outage.)

When we think about being prepared the default is for things like natural disasters...an earthquake, tornado, hurricane or for us, a bomb cyclone.

But in this newsletter, I'm not talking about natural disasters. I'm talking about preparation for your career. (I suppose some of you might consider your career a natural disaster, but that's a conversation for another day. :-))

In last week's newsletter, I talked about the sticky phrase of "Choose Your Pain" which is the reality that we all choose our "pain". It's either the effort of doing the work now or the pain of regret later.

But there's something that happens when we think about doing the work. We often don't actually take action to prepare for the next career move - not because we don't want to or don't think it's important...

Because there's some level of confusion or uncertainty. 

In this week's newsletter, we're going deeper on how to be prepared in your career and remove the confusion and uncertainty.

The Saboteurs 

Let's get this out in the open:

Even though you logically know being prepared for the promotion, finding the new job, rebounding if a layoff happened, standing out in the interview (fill in the blank) is important...

We rarely get around to doing it proactively.

WHY?

In the spirit of keeping things simple, I'm going to highlight four saboteurs of preparation:

1. The "I don't feel like it" Saboteur aka Discomfort

Getting prepared for anything in life requires work. Work that's important but not necessarily urgent. 

Feeling unprepared? That’s actually a clue.

We have the discomfort of doing extra thinking, planning, fine-tuning, detail gathering when we'd much rather be spending a weekend evening with family or friends. 

We have the discomfort of not knowing and bumping up against not knowing where to start or what to do. That can risk triggering false beliefs like 'not smart enough' or looking stupid.

📌 Research published by the Association for Psychological Science suggests that embracing discomfort is key to personal growth. 

The reality:
✔ Every new challenge feels uncomfortable at first.
✔ Being stretched means you’re learning and evolving.
✔ You don’t need to feel 100% ready. You just need to start.

For more tips on overcoming this discomfort, check out last week's newsletter Choose Your Pain.

The bottom line?

Reframe discomfort from something you avoid to something that's telling you it's time to pay attention.

2. The "I'll do it later" Saboteur aka Procrastination

You’ve probably told yourself:
❌ “I'll go for that promotion when I feel more experienced.”
❌ “I’ll launch that business when I have more time.”
❌ “I’ll speak up in meetings when I feel more confident.”

But here’s what you already know: 

That moment never comes.

Another way to think about procrastination is a concept called the “Readiness Fallacy.”

It’s the belief that we need to feel ready before we take action.

But research—and real life—prove the opposite:
✔ Confidence grows through action, not before it.
✔ 66% of professionals regret not asking for a raise, neglecting work-life balance, or staying too long in a job. 
✔ Neuroscience supports this: stepping outside your comfort zone is essential for learning and growth. 

You don’t become ready by waiting. You become ready by doing.

For 7 Hacks to Overcome Procrastination, check out this article. My personal favorite is #7: Optimize Your Environment. If I have deep thinking work to do, I'll leave home and work from my favorite coffee shop.

Think about what would work for you, and do it: Now.

3. The "I can't/don't" Saboteur aka Storytelling

If you've worked with me long enough, you've been coached on the skill of overcoming mental narratives, or stories. You know the ones...

❌ "I don't know what to do"

❌ "I don't have all the detail"

❌ "I don't have the time"

❌ "I don't know how"

❌ "I don't need to do this right now"

The problem with these mental narratives is that we automatically believe them. Rarely, if ever, do we pause long enough to ask if they're based in fact, if they're true or if they're even remotely helpful.

The answer is typically NO to all of the above. 

In my newsletter "Why You Lack Confidence" I talk about the saboteur of story in more detail. 

For now, catch your thoughts when the stories arise. Question them. And if they're not serving you or the preparation you need to finish,

Press delete on them.

4. The "there's too much" Saboteur aka Overwhelm

If you haven't already read the book, You Are A Badass At Making Money, go to Amazon or your local library right now and get it. This is a hilariously entertaining and mindset blowing perspective on making money. 

In chapter 8 Decisive Action: The Choice Of Champions, author Jen Sincero hits on overwhelm. Not from a tactical "here are the 5 steps to overcome overwhelm" perspective but from a mindset perspective.

This was one of my many mindset blown moments in this book. 

It's easy to use overwhelm as a coping strategy. Or as an excuse.

We'll tell our friends or co-workers we're overwhelmed and they'll say "Oh, me too" or "Oh, I get it" like being overwhelmed is a badge of honor.

What we don't realize is that when we go to overwhelm (or any other excuse) we're giving away our power. 

Jen aptly, and humorously, says "overwhelm, just like calm, is a state of mind, and all you have to do is choose which party you're going to attend"

Here's the more helpful definition of overwhelm she provides that enables you to take back your power:

Overwhelm: When you make the unhelpful decision to stop breathing, lose perspective, and forget you're in control of your life.

So the next time the beast of overwhelm rears its head, remember you're in control of your life - and choose whether it's the party you want to attend.

Where To Prepare 

I thought about this list for a while because there are so many places you can take action on. But I do not want you defaulting to any of the ugly saboteurs above.

So, I decided to give you a baker's dozen checklist with 13 items you can cover one-by-one.

They are in priority order and if you get stuck on any of them, or if uncertainty or confusion sets in, that's what we're here for.

There three mindsets that get you unstuck: 1) be curious, 2) embrace a love of learning, and 3) be willing to ask for help.

Need more detail or help? Ask your questions here. 

Here's your Baker's Dozen Career Prep Checklist:

1. Values: know your core values and how to use them to describe and differentiate your leadership style. 
2. Strengths: know your superpower strengths and how they enable you to make a bigger impact in the business.  
3. Career Criteria: know what is most important to you in your career and how to make job role and career decisions based on these.
4. Quantifiable Impact: pull together your quantifiable detail to provide validity of achievements and wins. Include $$, %, #, KPIs, etc.
5. Positioning: have a one-sentence value prop summary that describes who you are professionally, what you do, and how you do it.
6. Your Story: write your elevator pitch and practice telling and selling it so others have clarity in the value and impact you provide.
7. Resume: write (or hire to write) an updated branded resume that clearly and concisely communicates your experience and achievements. 
8. LinkedIn: write (or hire to write) a powerful profile that positions you as a strong leader and tells your story in a compelling and engaging way. 
9. Networking: identify a list of 25-50 contacts and a connection plan for yourself that is aligned with your career priorities and timeline.
10. Networking Conversation: plan how to ask for time with colleagues, what to say and how to communicate confidently and concisely.
11. Confidence: stop any mental narratives that decrease your confidence level and practice reframing or deleting them.  
12. Exec Presence: ask for input from a trusted peer on how you show up. Research and build the qualities, skills and habits of great leaders.
13. Interviewing: plan and practice your interview answers and skills needed to differentiate yourself and instill the highest level of certainty.

Bottom Line: The Power of "Now"

If you take nothing else from this, take this:

🚀 Now is the right time.
🚀 Now is when you build the skills.
🚀 Now is when you create the opportunities.

🚀 Now is when you ask for help when needed.

You don't need you to be perfect. 

You need you to start.

The Weekly Career Edge

What's Your WHY? 

Here's a small but mighty secret: If you haven't defined your WHY this could be the very reason why you don't have the motivation to move forward preparing for your next career goal.

What do I mean by your WHY?

Your WHY is the core reason you’re pursuing a new job goal, next level promotion or pulling all the data together as a career insurance policy for yourself.

✅ Your WHY defines the goal that matters most to you
✅ Your WHY is the deeper emotional driver that motivates you

✅ Your WHY keeps you going when you feel like quitting or when any of the saboteurs rear their ugly head

Your WHY should make you cry.

Okay, that's slightly facetious, but here's what I mean:

You know when you've locked into your WHY when you feel emotion rising up.

Once you have this, we recommend writing it down and putting it somewhere you’ll see it regularly. The next time you put off the important task of preparation, take a look at your WHY.

I'll wager this is all you'll need to get going again. 

A great resource to uncover your WHY is the website 7levelsdeep.com

You’ve got this.

Julie

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