✨Five Shiny Nuggets of So-Called Career Gold!✨

✨MSCC Library✨

No book giveaway this month, but I have these doozies on my reading list for August so watch this space next month.

If you have any recommendations for the MSCC Library or contenders for a future Book of the Month then please let me know. I am particularly interested in broadening my knowledge of work and career aligned books by black and brown women and non-binary people.

✨Tip To Try Out✨

Ever found that your great intentions for your weekends or annual leave tend to disappear into a magical folder called ‘later’ or ‘tomorrow’ which you open only when you have no time left and go back into work feeling like you’ve somehow failed at relaxing properly?

A study reported in HBR suggests that passive rest and recovery is less effective at making us feel good than being intentional about how we are going to spend our down time.

That’s not to say you should rigidly schedule every second of your time off, nor to suggest that you should eschew watching TV or sitting in the sun reading, but having a plan for what you want to achieve and how you are going to make that happen can boost your happiness by up to 8% and leave you less vulnerable to doomscrolling or dicking about with things you don’t value.

🎇What 3 things do you want to make space for this summer?

🎇What do you need to do to make sure that happens?

• Do you need to block out a day in your diary?

• Do you need to book tickets in advance to make sure you’re not disappointed?

• Can you get someone else involved to keep you accountable?

Mine are reading the books above plus a novel, finishing a sewing project I’ve been working on and getting out of London at least once a week.

I’d love to hear what you are planning, and how you can be sure of making your plans a reality.

✨Links To Learn From✨

“People think happiness is a privilege, or a by-product of success – but it can also be a goal.” Maeve, 19

I loved this Guardian article by Elle Hunt on how our ambitions are changing both post pandemic and across generations.

“It isn’t so much that people have less ambition, but that their ambition is changing – from being about career success first, to work-life balance” Julia Hobspawm

The FT covered ‘the slow work movement’, highlighting strategic career procrastination; the idea that slower and more intentional career advancement gives you more time to channel into the activities you find most rewarding - seeking conscious progression rather than the external validation of promotion.

This edition of the Squiggly Careers podcast with my new hero Jennifer Moss taps into the same trend - thinking about what we want to be known for and making choices at work to allow for that. If we don’t make those choices, we will be at the mercy of what other people want from us.

✨MSCC Inspiration✨

It’s a sporting toss up this month between the Lionesses and Serena Williams, who announces her retirement from professional tennis in this month’s Vogue.

These amazing women are inspirations not only to us, but to generations of girls and young women.