The Happy Engineer | Career Success for Engineering Leadership

152: Biggest Lie Blocking Happiness is Everywhere with Eric Nehrlich | Chief of Staff @ Google | Executive Coach

Jan 22, 2024

Eric Nehrlich, Chief of Staff @ Google, shares his journey from a miserable job to career fulfillment. Topics covered include nerds' attraction to sports at MIT, the importance of business understanding, determining priorities, breaking free from feeling stuck, and promoting coaching services.

01:03:55

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Episode guests

Eric Nehrlich

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Quick takeaways

Prioritization and making choices in work are crucial for maintaining work-life balance.

Having a supportive manager who understands the importance of focus and work-life balance greatly improves job satisfaction.

Recognizing the need for change and taking ownership of one's circumstances leads to a healthier work-life balance and a more fulfilling career.

Deep dives

The Importance of Prioritization and Choice in Work

The podcast episode highlights the significance of prioritization and making choices in one's work. It emphasizes the need to focus on the most important task and to be okay with not getting to less crucial tasks. The speaker shares personal experiences of working long hours and feeling overwhelmed, but realizing the importance of prioritizing tasks and making choices to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Introduction

3min

The Presence of Sports at MIT

4min

Learning the Importance of Money and Business Understanding

19min

The Importance of Clarity in Determining Priorities

11min

Breaking Free from Feeling Stuck

7min

Promoting LinkedIn, Website, and Coaching Services

6min

Excuses and Choices

14min

If your boss asks you to work the weekend in the middle of a forest and nobody is around to hear it, do you still have to do it? What do you do when it feels like you don’t have a choice?

Listen now for these answers and more!

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In this episode, you’ll meet Eric Nehrlich. He used to be miserable.

An achiever who always exceeded expectations, he landed a dream job at Google. But a couple years later he was working 8am to midnight every day, including most weekends, drowning in emails and meetings.

Eric felt completely stuck, with no idea how his life was ever going to change.

Today, his work is meaningful and inspiring, and he is happy. Eric spends quality time with his family, while still having time for his own pursuits.

What changed?

He realized he had a choice.

Now an Executive Coach to top technology leaders at companies like X (Twitter), Amazon, and of course Google, Eric authored the book, “You Have a Choice: Beyond Hard Work to Meaningful Impact”, to help you realize the same thing.

So press play and let’s chat… if you want to be happy and successful in your career, the choice is yours.

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