201: Career Clarity and Gratitude: A Mid-Career Strategy Guide

Struggling to maintain that human connection in the digital workspace? Imagine being able to express your gratitude to colleagues and leadership in a way that makes them feel seen, valued, and appreciated. This episode is packed with practical tips on how to do just that, from acknowledging contributions no matter how small, to signing off your emails with intention. I'll also introduce you to my new digital course, "From Career Crossroads to Career Clarity," a roadmap designed to help you find your sweet spot at mid-career.

But wait, there's more! We're not just focusing on gratitude, we're also looking at how to build your mid-career GPS with strategy. We discuss the importance of staying connected with your colleagues even when working remotely, and building solid relationships that will help you navigate your mid-career journey with clarity and purpose. It's all about recognizing the work of others and understanding the value of those contributions in order to boost workplace morale. So buckle up and get ready for a comprehensive guide to expressing appreciation in the workplace and shaping your mid-career journey like a pro!

Enroll in John's brand-new digital course "From Career Crossroads to Career Clarity: A Step-By-Step Guide to Finding Your Sweet Spot at Mid-Career." Get full access to the course starting on December 1st.

Learn more here. 

Transcript

John Neral: 0:00

It's Thanksgiving week and I'm going to keep this episode short, but without question, this message is powerful. How are you giving thanks in the workplace? How do you extend your gratitude virtually, when connection may feel distant, saying thank you and meaning it may feel as if it's a lost art, but in this episode I'm going to share with you my favorite tips to do that and how you can let your leadership, family members and colleagues know they are seen, matter and are appreciated. Let's get started. Hello, my friends, this is episode 201 of the Mid Career GPS Podcast. I'm your host, john Neral. I help mid-career professionals who feel stuck, undervalued and underutilized show up to find a job they love, or love the job they have, using my proven four-step formula. First, I want to extend my thanks to all of you, because last week I dropped the 200th episode of this podcast and I could not have done it without you and your support. This podcast continues to grow and be found because you continually listen. I appreciate when you tell your friends, your family members, your coworkers, your colleagues about this. Please continue to do that. But without question, I just want you to know how much I appreciate your support of this show.

John Neral: 1:39

I was recently asked how I got into podcasting and some of you may know that I had a podcast back in 2020 called Show Up. It was an interview style podcast. I really enjoyed doing it, but it was at the end of that year that I decided that that podcast needed to go away and the Mid Career GPS Podcast needed to start. I do this podcast and I drop episodes every week because I remember what it felt like as a mid-career professional who wasn't exactly sure what my next move was going to be. Admittedly, I thought I should have had it all figured out because I was smart, I had some degrees, I had experiences, I should have my life together. The reality is that the mid-career journey as we know it is so dynamic and things change that launching this podcast was a way to serve more people outside of my one-on-one coaching or the public speaking that I get to do when I deliver workshops and keynotes that this was an opportunity for me to reach more people. When you reach out to me and you tell me how you're enjoying the podcast or how this particular episode helped, it absolutely warms my heart and it fuels my fire to keep delivering this podcast to you each and every week.

John Neral: 3:05

Thank you when you think about extending gratitude. For some, that may be a little difficult given your current circumstances. You may work in a toxic environment. You may have a leader who is a little distant or not as involved as you would like them to be. Your organization may be going through some changes and all of those things can be stressful. But I really want to challenge you this Thanksgiving and during this holiday season to make some time to tell someone thank you and mean it. Tell them why, be specific and focus on something that they've done that matters to you, it's made a difference, and why it means something.

John Neral: 3:57

So often we can get caught up in saying thank you as a way to check the box. This is an exercise for us to slow down, pause, take a breath and be intentional about why we are thanking someone. For example, think about how you sign off on your emails. For me, my go-to signature is sincerely. That is one that I feel is very genuine and authentic to me. I know there are people out there that like best comma and then their name. I personally am not a fan of that. It just never sat well with me. Like best. Now, best wishes is different. That, to me, is a little bit better, or you'll see something like warmly or warm regards. The thing is, I want you to take a moment, and before you sign off on that email, I want you to consider why you are grateful for that person and take a moment in that message to simply say I'm gonna thank you, and here's why.

John Neral: 5:10

Now I've got some examples for you, but before I get to them, I do have some big news, and that is I am so excited to share with you that I have launched my first digital course. It is called From Career Crossroads to Career Clarity a step-by-step guide to finding your sweet spot at mid-career. This digital course would be like we were working together one-on-one except this allows me to help more people and if we were working together, here would be some of the things that we would do. In my digital course, I'm gonna help you make five key decisions about your career. Additionally, I'm gonna help you assess your strengths more easily and effectively than you've done. Plus, you will learn how to identify your professional brand, tell your story more effectively to get more people interested in who you are and what you do, along with providing tips around LinkedIn interviewing and how to use and leverage chat GPT in your job search. So if you wanna learn more about my digital course, I wanna invite you to go to my website, visit https://johnneral. com/digital-courses or visit https://johnneral. com and click on the Digital Courses tab at the top. You will learn more about the digital course and how to get enrolled in it. Now, registration right now is open for this digital course through November 30th at 3 pm Eastern, and once that hits I'm gonna temporarily close enrollment for the rest of the year so you can get involved in the digital course for less than the cost of working one session with me one-on-one. So make sure to go and check out https://johnneral. com, click on the Digital Courses tab, and I look forward to seeing you in my digital course starting on December 1st.

John Neral: 7:12

Now back to the episode when I was leading teams and we were struggling a little bit with gratitude because, let's face it, work can get stressful and it can get tiring Getting them to pause and say thank you and mean it was such a critical exercise. So here's an example that you can share either with someone in person or you can include in an email, but I want you to imagine writing or saying something like this you and I know the last few months have been crazy, but I want you to know how much it means to me that whenever I ping you or email you, you always make me feel like you have time for my questions and wanna help, and I know I've asked a lot of you lately, but I wanna be sure that you know your kindness and support aren't going unnoticed, and for that I thank you. That's it. Can you imagine saying or sharing that with someone and, all of a sudden, how they're going to receive that, what that may mean to them? Now, if you're working remotely or you have people on your team that you're connecting with virtually, using a website like Canvacom to create a digital poster or card for them, that's really inexpensive or, in some cases, even free, is also a really nice touch. Sending them something that says, hey, I took time to make this for you and I thought you'd like this. We don't always have to be spending money on things to make people feel appreciated, and in the workplace that can get a little wonky sometimes as well. So I want you to really think about how can you extend your gratitude in a different way this year than you've done in the past.

John Neral: 9:16

Now, if you want some additional suggestions, I want you to check out episode 96. It's called why you Need to Write More LinkedIn Recommendations. Writing someone a LinkedIn recommendation when they've never asked you for it is a huge way of showing your appreciation and gratitude for their impact and presence in your career. Now, if you're listening to this episode and you're like John, this is all great, but I am out of there as soon as possible. I want you to check out episode 132 Leaving your Job with Gratitude. I've got some tips in there to help you reshape and reshift your mindset so you can truly leave your job with as much gratitude as possible as you go and start your next advancement opportunity.

John Neral: 10:07

Okay, my friends, I promised I was going to keep this episode short, but with Thanksgiving approaching and the holidays here, please remember to travel safely, be kind to each other, be healthy and well. If you haven't seen it already, I dropped a bonus episode a couple of days ago Now. This will only be available through the end of November, but it is the webinar replay to my digital course launch. The webinar is called a Painless Three-Step Guide to Figuring Out what's Next for you and your Career. You get that webinar in the bonus episode, along with more information about the digital course. So, again, if you want to check out the digital course, visit https://johnneral. com and click on the Digital Courses tab at the top.

John Neral: 11:00

So, as I leave you with this, one of the best things I truly love about Thanksgiving is getting that time to pause and reflect and be grateful, and I want you to know that when I sit down for Thanksgiving dinner with my loved ones, that I will absolutely be taking a moment to thank all of you for your support and your presence in my work and in my life, and I look forward to being back with you on the day after Thanksgiving with another episode.

John Neral: 11:34

So until then, my friends, remember this you will build your mid-career GPS one mile or one step at a time, and how you show up matters. Happy Thanksgiving, and may you have a great rest of your day. Thank you for listening to the Mid-Career GPS podcast. Make sure to follow on your favorite listening platform and, if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your comments on Apple podcasts. Visit https://johnneral. com for more information about how I can help you build your mid-career GPS or how I can help you and your organization with your next workshop or public speaking event. Don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on social at John Narrell Coaching. I look forward to being back with you next week. Until then, take care and remember how we show up matters.