Squiggly Shortcut: 3 Ways to Feel Less Stuck When Work Feels Uncertain

0:00Hi, you're listening to one of our Squiggly Shortcuts. These episodes are designed to be super short and easy for you to action so you can fit lots of learning into your week. And today I want to talk about how to respond when work is feeling really uncertain. And we're getting lots of feedback from our Squiggly Careers community that this is quite a lot of people's reality right now, whether that's because of the economic environment or because of changes in roles because of technology. Lots of people are feeling a little bit uncertain about their work. And the risk is that in a context of uncertainty, people feel like they've not got a lot of control.

0:38They feel a little bit stuck. They start to feel like it's a knotty moment in their squiggly career that they don't know what to do with. And we always want you to feel like you've got control over your career development. It can be hard to feel like you've got complete control over your career. we want you to feel like you've got choices and options and you can create some control in your career development. So three ways in which you can respond if your work is feeling a little bit knotty, a little bit uncertain right now. The first thing is to focus on what you do know. So in uncertain situations, it can be easy to worry about all the things that we don't know.

1:16We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what people will think. We don't know what means for us. And that can be a bit overwhelming and distracting. But it's better to focus on what you do know. So you do know about the impact that you've had. You do know about some particular topics and skills and things about the business. You do know certain people. That is really a foundation for your confidence in a context of uncertainty. So really ground yourself in, what do I know? The second thing is to use uncertainty as a bit of a trigger for learning. So one thing you are in control of, you are always in control of, is how you learn, who you learn from, how you approach your learning.

1:58And so in this climate where it might feel quite uncertain, think, well, who could I learn from? Who's been in this situation before? Who's in the same situation as me? What skills could I invest in that could help me beyond this situation? Learning is something that you are in control of. There'll be lots of things around you that you might not feel like you have, but learning is one thing that you do. So perhaps create a bit of a learning list. Think about who you could talk to, what topics you could learn more about inside and outside of the organisation, because you have more choice over that as well.

2:31And the third thing is to fast forward into the future. Now, that might not feel like something that is easy to do at the moment because the present might feel quite hard. But if you can think maybe 12 months from now and fast forward and think, how do I want to feel when I look back at this moment? So let's imagine the uncertainty that you are feeling as a result of a restructure and you're not sure what it's going to mean for your role. Fast forward 12 months from this moment now, imagine you then, think how do you want that version of you to feel about how you responded to this situation maybe you want that version of you to feel proud because you use it to make new relationships maybe you want that version of you to feel that you actually use that to explore another area for your career create a new possibility that feeling is likely to be more positive than the one that you might be experiencing now and if you can fast forward your feelings that can help you to think about what can I do differently now?

3:33Sometimes we talk about this as sort of mental time travel. It stops you feeling so stuck in a situation. So let's just recap three things you can do if you're feeling an uncertain situation right now. Focus on what you do know, use it as a trigger for learning and fast forward to connect with a different feeling. So I hope that gives you some ways to move forward if you are in this situation right now. Please do get in touch with us if you need some additional support because we've got over 500 podcasts and we might have done something that could be helpful you can always email us or helen and sarah at squigglycareers.com thank you so much for listening bye for now