Do you want a fresh start to your work life? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Wendy Wood, a social psychologist at USC Marshall School of Business and the author of Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick. They talk through what to do when you’re bored to tears in your current job, you’re being recruited by an exciting company right after a disappointing promotion, or you feel stymied in a role you thought was going to be great.
From Alison and Dan’s reading list:
HBR: The Key to Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick by Francesca Gino — “As it turns out, temporal landmarks like the New Year do help motivate us to reach our long-term goals when such goals are salient in our minds. This is because these landmarks trigger reflection and thus can potentially highlight the gap between our current behavior (such as watching TV every night or overspending) and our rosier, desired future behavior (working out every night or saving more).”
Book: Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick by Wendy Wood — “A decision to ask for a raise at work starts with setting an appointment with your boss. You carefully phrase your request and outline your reasons. Or, you decide to add some romance to your life by asking that attractive person at the gym to meet for coffee. After some deliberation, you find an appropriately casual way to do so. Decisiveness works in these one-off events. We make our decision, steel our resolve, and muster our strength to follow through. Other parts of our lives, however, are stubbornly resistant to executive control.”
HBR: Is It Time to Quit Your Job? by Amy Gallo — “Everyone has bad days at work or even long periods when they feel disheartened about their job. But how do you know the difference between ordinary, occasional dissatisfaction and a genuine mismatch? How do you know when you’re truly ready to move on? And how do you then get out gracefully?”
HBR: Managing Yourself: Five Ways to Bungle a Job Change by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams — “People who switch organizations—whether they’re wide receivers changing football teams or general managers going to new companies—all face similar problems. It’s not just about the learning curve. Moves of all kinds entail significant internal and external challenges and transaction costs: upheaval in your home and social life; potential relocation expenses; adjustments to new cultural and political norms; navigation of unclear expectations; and the need to learn a new canon, skill set, and jargon.”