My So-Called Career: April Update

My So-Called Career
April Update: A little glow up

Hallo!

I hope you’re all well and those of you in the UK/Europe are enjoying the lovely Spring weather, and of course, Bank Holiday season.

Welcome to those of you who have recently joined us - Lindsay, Rebecca, Rosemary, Claire, Rachel, Ali - it’s a joy to have you here.

This is the debut edition of a new format for these newsletters that I have been mulling over for a while, inspired by the wonderful Hannah Ray, who used a similar approach when we worked together back in 2017 and which I really enjoyed.

I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback so please don’t be shy!

So without further ado…..

Hello and welcome to Five Things

Five carefully crafted nuggets of so-called career gold from my inbox to yours.

Each month I will be sharing 5 things - a short update, a reading recommendation or two and a chance to win, something I’ve learned or stumbled upon, a tool or technique you can use in your day to day, and a person or business who has inspired me in some way.

I would love to hear any tips, recommendations and inspirations you’d like to share with the MSCC community -- I will enter the names of everyone who sends me something into a quarterly prize draw to win a free power hour coaching session with yours truly so hit me up if you’re feeling lucky.

I hope you enjoy!

1) My So-Called Career Update

I have been busy working on some new materials based on the Careers Cuppas, with the amazing Abigail Edge turning my mildly chaotic thoughts into clear and structured content to help you navigate your own so-called careers. Watch this space for exciting updates on this…

Very excitingly, I have been celebrating my biggest year ever since launching My So-Called Career in 2018 - more clients, more subscribers, more workshops and more impact than ever before 🎆🎇

A huge thank you to everyone who played a part in that - however big or however small. You are all AMAZING!

2) Reading Recommendations

My reading recommendations this month are all about parenthood…. In my humble opinion these are three must reads for anyone who has, or is considering having children, and because she is an absolute hero of mine, I am giving away a copy of Joeli Brearly’s amazing book The Motherhood Penalty below.

Two days after she informed her employer that she was pregnant, Joeli Brearley was sacked from her job by voicemail. She went on to launch Pregnant Then Screwed, a charity that supports tens of thousands of women each year. The Motherhood Penalty is fearless, funny, and full of facts to help you when you need it most.

THE MOTHERHOOD PENALTY GIVEAWAY

To quote Viv Groskop, this book will give you “everything you ever wanted to know about working motherhood - and a whole load of stuff you really didn’t want to know (but ought to).”

I have a signed copy after meeting Christine at an event and being so blown away by her that I had to fan-girl!

I don’t know any parent who has read The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read and not found Perry’s wise words have a positive impact on their parenting. Practical, logical, compassionate and incredibly interesting. What is not to like?

3) What have I learned?

That it will take an estimated 136 years to reach gender parity - perhaps because even those with an interest in equality still largely focus on fixing women rather than fixing a broken system.

4) Tip/Tool to try

Research suggests that taking time to reflect is a fantastic way to boost performance and self awareness - even just 15 minutes a day can make a huge difference.

When we are busy, it can feel counterproductive to take time out, but at risk of sounding like a smug tw*t working smarter does generally trump working harder.

If you want to build a reflection habit, try making time to answer these three questions either every day, or every week:

1 - How did I succeed?

2 - What did I learn?

3 - What can I do to make tomorrow/next week even better?

Once you have a habit in place, you can start to mix up the questions you ask to further develop your self awareness.

5) Inspiration

I am inspired by boxers Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano who will make boxing history this month as the first female fighters to face off at legendary venue Madison Square Garden.

According to a Sport England survey from 2020, 17% more women boxed regularly in 2020 than in 2015, while Boxing England said there had been a 65% growth in female membership since 2017, despite the pandemic.

The UK’s first legal women’s fight took place 23 years ago, and female boxers still experience stigma and stereotyping in male-dominated clubs so it's fricking awesome to see Taylor and Serrano’s fight generate interest on a level with male fights, with presale tickets for the 20,000-capacity arena selling out quickly.

I have boxed on and off since 2008 so this feels all the more satisfying.

I hope you found these 5 things helpful.

See you again next month!

💌 KEEP IN TOUCH 💌

I would love to hear from you. You can reply to this email - I love email and always do my best to reply promptly. Or connect on Instagram: @socalledcareer

If someone forwarded this to you and you’d like to receive more from me every month, you can sign up here:

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And Finally…

Thank you to Marla for sharing her thoughts on our work together. This was such a wonderful email to receive.

If you would like some support making changes in your so-called career, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash