How do you measure success? Is it getting a big promotion? Hitting a revenue goal for your business? Receiving an award from your boss? All of these are wonderful accomplishments, but notice that they all come from your work. Is there any other way we can feel validated, accomplished, and successful about ourselves outside of work? Yes, there is. 

I’m not saying you should ditch work or stop caring about it — not at all! But why not focus on feeling good about ourselves from within first? When people look inward and realize their full potential, they perform better at their jobs. They unconsciously build a better company culture. They start to transform the future of work.

About Karen Mangia

Karen is an author, an internationally-recognized thought leader, and speaker who’s passionate about customer success and the future of work. She’s also the Vice President of Customer and Market Insights at Salesforce. One of her many responsibilities is serving on the Work from Home Taskforce, which helps the company’s employees around the world adapt to working from home. 

When Karen’s not writing, speaking, or working, you’ll probably find her singing or playing the piano. In fact, she just recently crossed something off her bucket list: a chance to sing at Carnegie Hall! We talk about her rehearsals in this episode, but when this goes live, she’ll already have performed (and killed it, I’m sure).

Core values, making room for what matters, and reducing overwhelm

Karen had so many excellent tidbits of advice to share in this episode, but one of my favorites? “Divest before you invest.” This is a lesson Karen learned the hard way, she says. Basically, before you say “yes” to a new commitment, you gotta figure out what to say “no” to. Saying “yes, and…” — which pretty much means adding more, more, more to your plate — is a surefire way to experience burnout. Instead, prioritize what matters and devote your energy to that.

Back up, though…

How do you choose what’s important? How do you decide what to commit to in the first place? Karen asks herself these three questions:

1. Does it have to be? 
2. Does it have to be me?
3. Does it have to be me right now?

Plus a bonus question: Does it have to be a meeting? 

A lot of the time, Karen says, the answer to these questions is no! Asking yourself these questions helps you get creative and find solutions to your commitments. Instead of having a meeting with a colleague, for example, maybe you record and send a three-minute video to them instead. If it doesn’t have to be you, decide who to outsource your task to. And if it doesn’t have to be at all, strike it off your list.

Karen and I also talk about her new book, discovering core values, giving yourself permission to do what you want, and more in this episode. I found her so grounded, practical, and inspiring — and I know you all will, too.

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In my conversation with Karen, she shares…

• How to make room for new commitments and avoid burnout
• The three questions Karen asks herself to prioritize what tasks are most important and how your values are reflected in your work life
• Details on her upcoming book, Success From Anywhere: Create Your Own Future of Work from the Inside Out
• How to pause, assess, and adjust if you’re feeling overwhelmed in just five minutes
• How to give yourself permission to do what you want to do

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Stay in Touch with Karen

• Karen’s website
• Karen’s YouTube channel
• Follow Karen on Instagram and Twitter
• Pickup a copy of any of Karen’s books four books

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• “Karen Describes the Stress Free Experiment.” Learn about Karen’s 10-minute method for rediscovering your values and reducing stress!
• Take the Saboteur Assessment by Positive Intelligence

Related Episodes

Discover your core values in Finding Your Footing Through A Priority Shift: How To Do The Next Right Thing

Time blocking in Back to Basics: The Three Time Management Strategies Everyone Should Be Using (For More Productivity and Better Work/Life Balance)

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