How to Be Awesome at Your Job

1007: The Overachiever’s Guide to Finding More Fulfillment at Work with Megan Hellerer

Oct 31, 2024

Megan Hellerer, a career coach and former Google executive, shares her journey from a high-achieving but unfulfilled life to finding true meaning in her work. She discusses the importance of redefining success based on personal values and urges overachievers to embrace curiosity. Megan highlights key questions to ponder before making decisions and emphasizes the need for a flexible, experimental approach to career growth. She also addresses the low levels of workplace engagement and how an 'inner navigation system' can guide individuals towards fulfilling careers.

42:02

Episode guests

Megan Hellerer

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Focusing on curiosity rather than rigid end goals can lead to greater personal and professional fulfillment in one's career journey.

Embracing a directional mindset encourages exploration of new interests, allowing individuals to adapt and discover more meaningful paths.

Deep dives

The Pitfall of Destination-Oriented Thinking

Focusing too heavily on the end goal can hinder personal and professional fulfillment. Many individuals become stuck in their careers because they are outcome-oriented, believing they must have a clear destination before taking action. This misconception leads to excessive worry about how to achieve predetermined goals, often resulting in frustration and unfulfillment. Instead, embracing a sense of curiosity and viewing it as a guide can illuminate a more satisfying path forward.

Intro

2min

Redefining Success: The Journey to Fulfillment

25min

Navigating Life Decisions with Smaller Steps

3min

Embracing Curiosity for Fulfillment

9min

Navigating Fulfillment and Engagement at Work

2min

Exploring Alignment and Fulfillment in Work Life

2min

Megan Hellerer reveals the simple shifts that make your career and life feel more meaningful.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) Why many overachievers feel underfulfilled

2) The mindset that leads to fit and fulfillment

3) The key questions to ask before any decision

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1007 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT MEGAN —

Megan Hellerer is a career coach and the author of DIRECTIONAL LIVING: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life. She has led hundreds of women, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to transform their lives by transforming their careers. After checking all the traditional boxes of success—graduating at the top of her class from Stanford University and spending eight years as a Google executive—and still deeply unhappy, she quit her great-on-paper job with no plan. Now her mission is to provide others with the support and guidance that she needed when she herself was struggling.

• Book: Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life

• Instagram: @meganhellerer

• Quiz: Are you an Underfulfilled Overachiever?

• Website: MeganHellerer.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Article: “U.S. Engagement Hits 11-Year Low” by Jim Harter

• Book: The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

• LinkedIn Jobs. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/beawesome

• Lingoda. Visit try.lingoda.com/Awesome and save up to 20% off your sign up fee! Plus, get an extra $25 off with the code AWESOME

• Jenni Kayne. Use the code AWESOME15 to get 15% off your order!

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