Welcome to the Stop Sabotaging Your Success podcast, episode one hundred and twenty-six. I’m your host, Cindy Esliger. This is the podcast focusing on what we can do today to take control of our careers and overcome the inevitable barriers to success that we encounter along the way. 

In the modern workplace, the path to success is now less of a straight line and more of a meandering route, laden with unexpected turns and occasional setbacks. This demands a fresh perspective on career growth, one that embraces the concept of a personal ‘through line’. This ‘through line’ isn’t about meeting the minimum requirements or simply keeping your head above water amidst the ever increasing workloads and tight resources. Instead, it’s about defining a clear personal mission that transcends job titles and typical metrics of success, challenging you to break free from the shackles of mere adequacy. 

In this episode, we explore the temptation to settle for mediocrity, especially when faced with increasing demands and shrinking resources. Because, settling for merely adequate is akin to taking the backseat in your own professional journey. If the goal is to not only survive, but thrive in your career, it’s essential to actively navigate through the squiggly and often unpredictable paths that characterize most career trajectories today. 

By establishing a strong personal ‘through line’, you empower yourself to make bold decisions, recognize emerging opportunities, and continuously strive for a level of excellence that defies the mundane. This approach allows for a career that is not just enduring, but enthusiastically driven by your unique aspirations and values.

It’s normal to occasionally feel like you’re just another cog in the corporate machine, endlessly churning out ‘good enough’ results. Because what’s the point anyway? Will putting in more effort to be exceptional actually make a difference in how quickly you advance in your career? Consider for a moment that you could craft your own career ‘through line’, one that doesn’t settle for being adequate, but rather somewhat extraordinary. It’s about breaking free from the seductive ease of mediocrity and steering your professional journey with intention, and challenging yourself to see what you’re capable of.

Let’s start with the obvious: the corporate world loves a good checklist. Finished task, check. Meet key performance indicators (or KPI’s), check. But while this method offers the comforting illusion of progress, it’s often just a merry-go-round of doing what’s expected. We’re so inundated with demands and stretched thin on resources that doing anything beyond the bare minimum feels like an impossibility. And thus, the mediocrity cycle perpetuates itself, not necessarily because we want it to, but because it’s the path of least resistance.

But, mediocrity is a race to the bottom. Everyone is capable of ‘good enough’. It’s the zone where those who don’t recognize the competitive nature of today’s workplace think they are safe. Yet, in a world where companies routinely lay off the poor performers, playing it safe could be the riskiest move of all. It’s choosing to coast, only to find that it leads to having to find a new place to work when you’re the one who’s let go.

So, how do you break free from this allure of being merely adequate? First, by recognizing that the biggest barrier to excellence is often our own reluctance to push beyond our comfort zone. It’s getting stuck in ‘good enough’ and missing out because we fail to recognize what’s possible. Crafting a career that captures the attention of those who make career-defining decisions requires a refusal to be average. It means not just doing the job, but reinventing how it’s done.

Consider the power of a well-defined personal mission, or what we’ll call your ‘through line’. This isn’t just about career goals. It’s a guiding beacon that transcends job titles and buzzwords. It’s what makes your professional journey uniquely yours. Whether it’s championing innovation, driving social change, or mastering a craft, your ‘through line’ should reflect your deepest professional aspirations and values. It’s about what you want to be known for, not just what you want to accomplish.

But, here’s the thing, defining this ‘through line’ can sometimes only be done in hindsight. We all have to deal with deadlines, budget cuts, and the inevitable office politics. The professional world doesn’t stand still just because we’re on a quest for personal fulfillment. But, rather than letting others determine the route our career journeys take, we must grab the wheel and chart our own course. 

Navigating the squiggly line of your career is an act of boldness. It involves making choices that align with your future vision, even when they’re not the easiest or what would be considered the most popular path. It might mean passing up on a safe job offer to pursue a role that better aligns with your long-term plan, or it could involve taking on projects that stretch your capabilities and expose you to new ideas. You may not know where it may lead, but you’re open to the possibilities.

Sometimes, to truly make tangible progress in our career, especially when resources are scarce, you may need to focus on impact over activity. It’s easy to be busy, or at least appear busy. Anyone can do that, and for many, that’s their main goal. It’s much harder – and infinitely more rewarding – to be impactful. This means prioritizing tasks and projects through the lens of your ‘through line’. 

What will move the needle most significantly toward your long-term vision? What will give you the skills, experiences, and connections that will help you get there? 

So, why is it that we settle for mediocrity so often? Partly, it’s fear – fear of failure, fear of standing out, and maybe it’s the fear of demanding more from ourselves. But, here’s a little secret: everyone’s making it up as they go along. Those who succeed aren’t necessarily the smartest, or the ones who are the most resourceful; they’re the ones who are relentless in pursuing what matters most to them. They’re the ones who manage to stay driven, even when the novelty wears off and the grind sets in. 

So, if you find yourself mechanically ticking boxes and nodding along to the tune of ‘that’s just how things are done’, it might be time to stop, take a breath, and ask yourself: Am I driving my career or is it driving me? Breaking free from the shackles of mediocrity isn’t just about doing more; it’s about doing things differently. It’s about making each step count, not just on your resume, but in the grand scheme of building the career you want to create. 

Navigating the squiggly line of your career can sometimes feel like you’re trying to read a map in the dark, without a flashlight. Yet, there’s a potent tool often overlooked by the average worker bee: the power of setting clearly defined, objective success criteria. This isn’t just about knowing what to aim for; it’s about carving a path that prevents you from drifting aimlessly along with the tide of daily tasks. And let’s be honest, it’s about ensuring that you aren’t just another puppet where someone else is pulling the strings. 

Have you noticed that most of us are terrible at defining what success looks like? We vaguely aim for things like ‘improvement’ or ‘growth’. But, what do these buzzwords even mean? Without concrete metrics, these aims are just nice ideas that we may or may not ever achieve. Who’s to say? We need to nail down what success looks like in measurable terms. Think numbers, timelines, specific outcomes – things you can point to and say, “Look, I did that!”. This isn’t just about being a stickler for details; it’s about avoiding the existential dread of working without knowing whether any of it actually matters.

Now, with clear metrics, every task you undertake can be assessed against these criteria. Does attending yet another meeting where nothing is accomplished move the needle on your progress meter? Probably not. Maybe it’s time to reconsider how you spend your valuable time. 

And let’s face it, in the chronicles of your career, do you really want the highlight to be that you attended all your meetings on time? Wow, isn’t that impressive? I think you’d rather be the one who drove change and made an impact – not just the one who showed up and took up space at the table. 

Establishing objective success criteria does more than just keep you aligned with your goals; it also serves as a personal accountability check. It’s easy to blame external factors for lack of progress, but when your success markers are clear, the onus falls squarely on you. Isn’t it better to be in charge of your failures and learn from them, rather than always wondering what went wrong? 

When we let others set our course, there’s no need for tough decisions, no worries about choosing the wrong goal. But what a perfect recipe for a midlife or mid-career crisis when you realize you’ve not been climbing the ladder of your own dreams, but simply advancing someone else’s agenda. And trust me, discovering you’ve been using the wrong ladder, after all that effort, is a tad bit demoralizing. 

Accountability means owning your own career trajectory. It’s about making decisions – yes, the bold and scary kind – about what you want to achieve and determining how you’ll get there. It’s about not waiting for someone to hand you the perfect role or the next big opportunity. If you don’t take charge, be warned: someone else will, and they might not give a crap about your career aspirations or even that you have any.

So, how do you avoid losing your sense of purpose in the grind? Start by being brutally honest about what you want from your career. This isn’t about what looks good on your resume or what would make your parents proud. It’s about what makes you tick, what challenges you, and what aligns with that ‘through line’ we’ve talked about. From there, set your success metrics around these aims. Make them so integral to your daily work that even on a dreary Monday, you can see how your tasks contribute to these broader goals.

Then, challenge the status quo. Just because things have always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the only way, or even the best way. Innovate in your role. Propose new ideas that align better with your metrics. When you redefine your position with outcomes that matter to you, your daily grind might just start transforming into a meaningful pursuit. 

Remember to communicate these goals and your progress towards them. Let your manager know what you’re aiming for and how it aligns with the team or company objectives. This isn’t just about boasting; it’s about making your intentions known and taking control of your narrative within the company. It’s about changing from being a passive participant in your career, to being a proactive change-maker. 

Mediocrity is a trap. It’s a tyranny all its own, and the only way out is to strive for brilliance, even when it seems like an unrealistic, if not impractical, quest.

Many of us think that seasoned professionals simply climbed a straight ladder to success. What we don’t realize is that their paths were more akin to doodles on a napkin, where the dots connected only in hindsight. This should be comforting, because it means that while you may not have it all figured out now, neither did those who made it to what you see as the top. Their careers are squiggly lines that zigzagged, looped, and occasionally backtracked. Embracing this can be liberating and daunting, at the same time. But mostly, it’s a reminder that the most interesting careers are not linear, but shaped by emerging opportunities and evolving skills. 

Now, let’s talk about resisting mediocrity. It’s cozy in the land of ‘good enough’. But brilliance is where the magic happens. Think of it this way:  nobody remembers the person who did exactly what was expected, where the best that can be said on their performance review is ‘adequate’. No, we remember the disruptors, the innovators, the bold risk-takers who saw a different path and did what it took to make it happen. 

So, how do you resist the tyranny of mediocrity? You strive to create work that is not just good, or even great, but downright brilliant. It’s about pushing beyond your boundaries, constantly learning, and adapting. It’s about being so passionate about what you do that it infects others with excitement too.

Here’s three key questions to ask yourself to help determine your next career steps: 

1. What am I genuinely interested in? Not what you think you should be interested in, or what would look good on your resume, but what gets you fired up. This is about understanding what drives you. Can you align your career with these interests, or at least intertwine them? Often the things we’re curious about can lead to new and emerging opportunities we hadn’t even considered before.
2. What skills do I possess that are both unique and in demand? This is where you take stock of what you bring to the table that’s different from what everyone else is offering. These can be technical skills or those referred to as soft skills, like leadership and communication. Understanding where your strengths lie and how you can meet the demands of a shifting job landscape are crucial. This question helps ensure that you’re not just following trends, but leveraging your real talents in areas of interest.
3. What emerging opportunities or trends excite me? The world is not static, and neither are career opportunities. The jobs that will be available in five years might not even exist yet. By paying attention to trends in your field – or even outside it – you can anticipate where the demand will be next, or at least give it your best guess. Maybe it’s keeping your technical skills up-to-date or anticipating a shift in consumer behavior, but aligning your career path to these changes can position you as a forward-thinking player in the game. 

Each of these questions isn’t just a checkpoint, but a launchpad for deeper reflection and strategic planning. By answering them honestly, you’re not just plotting a desirable career path, you might just be scripting your next career adventure. 

While much attention is given to strategic planning, skill acquisition, and networking, the emotional aspects of navigating a career – especially one that refuses to settle for mediocrity – are often underestimated. As you strive to carve out a unique path, the journey can be psychologically taxing. You’ll face not only external pressures, such as increased demands and limited resources, but also internal battles, including self-doubt, fear of failure, and the stress of uncertainty. 

Building emotional resilience becomes a cornerstone for those who successfully break free from the ‘good enough’ mindset and pursue excellence. This involves developing a deep understanding of your emotional triggers and stress responses, and equipping yourself with the tools to manage setbacks and disappointments. Emotional resilience enables you to sustain motivation over the long-term, navigating the highs and lows of career development with agility, and continue pushing boundaries without burning out. By fostering this resilience, you’re better prepared to handle the inevitable twists and turns of a non-linear career path and can remain steadfast in your pursuit of your ‘through line’, no matter what comes your way. 

Establishing a clear and compelling ‘through line’ requires a deep understanding of what drives you, beyond the basic metrics of job performance. This personal mission should reflect your values, interests, and the impact you want to have in your field. By identifying and committing to the mission, you ensure that every career move is a step towards a more fulfilling and customized professional life, rather than just a reaction to external expectations or immediate needs. 

Remember, your career might only make sense in retrospect, and that’s okay. Sometimes, you need to make the moves now and connect the dots later. Looking back, you’ll see how the pieces fit together, how the seemingly random choices were actually stepping stones in your current success. 

Pay attention to what excites you and let that guide your decisions. Most careers aren’t linear. They’re more like epic tales with twists, turns, and a bit of magic. So, make your career a story worth telling, one brilliant chapter at a time. 

But remember, settling for mediocrity is easy; it’s more daring to demand more from yourself, and that takes guts. So, keep your metrics close, your goals closer, and maybe – just maybe – you’ll find that your career map that you’re drawing becomes a masterpiece depicting the personal and professional triumphs you’re hoping for. 

And that’s it for this episode of Stop Sabotaging Your Success. Remember to download your Guide to Not Settling for Adequate at cindyesliger.com/podcast, episode one hundred and twenty-six.

Thank you to our producer, Alex Hochhausen and everyone at Astronomic Audio. Get in touch, I’m on Instagram @cindyesliger and my email address is info@cindyesliger.com.

If you enjoy listening to this podcast, you have to come check out The Confidence Collective. It’s my monthly coaching program where we dig a little deeper into what’s holding you back in your career, and we find the workarounds. We help you overcome the barriers and create the career you want. Join me over at cindyesliger.com/join. I’d love to have you join me in The Confidence Collective. 

Until next week, I’m Cindy Esliger. Thanks for listening.