“Next week!” and Other Lies I Tell
A client and I were talking yesterday about her long-term goal of consulting and eventually working for herself. She’s starting a new job soon, and she already has ideas about what she might build alongside it. She is full of excitement about so much possibility.
The dreaming is the part of my work I love most.
As she was talking, though, I found myself thinking about how easy it will be to put those ideas down once the new role begins.
I asked, “What will you do when you get comfortable?”
Because I just watched this happen to me.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been settling into my work with Broda Coaching. It’s good work. It’s the kind of work I wanted more of. And by the end of the day, I was tired (and I still am!).
I still wanted to write. I still wanted to show up on LinkedIn and keep building my own business. But most of what you saw from me had been scheduled in advance. My energy was going toward the work right in front of me, and I kept telling myself I’d get back to the rest of it soon.
It’s not lost on me that I missed my last two newsletters.
Weeks passed. Then this past Friday afternoon, I finally gave myself room to think and write. New posts came together. The idea for the Monday Market Brief (more on that below!) took shape.
None of those ideas had disappeared. I simply needed space to hear them again.
It reminded me of something I talk about with job seekers all the time: networking feels especially uncomfortable when the first time you reach out to someone is when you need help finding a job.
So what if we practiced reaching out when we didn’t need anything?
When you’re happy in your role, you can reconnect with an old colleague because you genuinely want to know how they’re doing. You can meet someone whose work interests you, share something useful, make an introduction, or show up for a conversation. You can deepen your skills and get involved in a community without needing any of it to produce an opportunity right away.
That’s part of investing in your career, too. You’re building relationships while they have room to grow naturally. And when the day comes when you want to make a move, you won’t be starting from scratch or reaching out only because you need something.
I needed this reminder myself. Making plans for SF Tech Week next week and AfroTech at the beginning of November, attending a virtual event last week, working with my own executive coach, and getting back to writing are all ways I’m investing in my business and my community while doing work I enjoy right now.
Your version doesn’t need to be a packed calendar. It could look like:
⇢ Checking in with someone you haven’t talked to in a while, with no ask attached.
⇢ Introducing two people who might enjoy knowing each other.
⇢ Joining a conversation in your field because you’re curious.
⇢ Keeping track of what you’re learning and accomplishing in the role you have now.
If you’ve just started a new job, settle in. Enjoy the relief of being where you want to be. Then, when you have the capacity, make a little room for the people, skills, and interests you want in your life beyond that job.
The danger isn’t that you stop wanting those things. It’s that you get so busy with the life in front of you that you stop making room for them.
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📌 Listen! There’s good reason for my sleeping on $5,000 a night.
📌 Being rewarded for doing great work...with more work?! Errrmm. No.
📌 Blue collar. White collar. New collar. +1 for roles that care more about what you can do than where you learned to do it.
📌 Still only looking at LinkedIn for roles? It’s time to broaden those horizons, my bb!
Quietness is so often mistaken for disengagement, when it can actually be evidence of deep listening, careful thought, and a desire to contribute something meaningful rather than simply something immediate.
There is real power in learning to trust both your voice and your natural reflectiveness. You don’t have to sacrifice one to strengthen the other.
Let's talk about the importance of quiet leadership.
Introducing the Monday Market Brief
There is A LOT happening in hiring right now. Between the headlines, reports, LinkedIn advice, and everybody’s hot takes, it can be hard to tell what actually matters for your job search.
So I’m doing the sorting for you.
Every Monday at 9 a.m. Pacific, I’ll share my Monday Market Brief over on LinkedIn: one headline worth your attention, what it means for job seekers, and one practical thing you can do with that information.
No need to read 47 articles before breakfast. I’ve got you.
Want to catch it each week? Head to my LinkedIn profile and, in the words of Anita Ward, ring my bell (in the upper right-hand corner)!
I want you to simply check in with yourself occasionally: Is there something I still want that I’ve stopped making room for?
A good job can be part of the life you’re building. Keep a little space for the rest of it, too.
And in a couple of weeks, I want to talk about a related question: how do you know when getting comfortable has turned into staying somewhere longer than you want to?
As we head into the heart of autumn, travel in grace, knowing you are surrounded by love.
Work with me 1:1 → Step into a focused alignment experience to clarify your direction and intentionally reposition your leadership. I’m currently scheduling for October and have 2 spots left!
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