I did a 'Panic MBA'

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Have you ever heard of a 'Panic MBA'? It's a term I've coined based on my own experience.

When I was 30 I realized advertising was not where I wanted to be long-term. But I had no idea what came next.

And 30 was 'much too old' to feel lost.

So I panicked. 🚨

And being the high-achiever that I am, I thought since I don't know what I want to do and because I'm 'so old' I had better quickly do my MBA now before I'm 'too old'.

Within 6 months I'd taken the GMAT, applied to programs, and gotten accepted to…

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What Malcolm Gladwell Forgot to Tell You

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You probably have heard the stat that Malcolm Gladwell popularized in his book, Outliers, that 10,000 hours of practice will make you an expert. 🤓

You may have also heard that deep expertise is what is required to be truly successful in whatever you do: get super good at something and then build a professional brand around that. 💪

And while this advice isn't wrong, it leaves out an essential insight:

Deep expertise from 10,000 hours of practice can only be successfully realized if it's combin…

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The Mario Kart Philosophy

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I have a reputation for being terrible at Mario Kart. 🎮  🍄 

Every time I play with my friends I come in decidedly last every time. I'd come to terms with it. I have other strengths. It's ok.

But then last weekend, suddenly, I was very good.

I was coming in first every time, easily.🥇  Beating my friends who consider themselves quite good at the game.

What did I owe to my new found talent, I wondered.

Then I realized, it was the controller.

We were using Wii controllers which you can tilt t…

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Interview with Rachel Elizabeth Seed: Documentary Film Maker

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Anne:
Rachel thank you so much for chatting to The Career Studio today as part of our Interview series on how to build a successful career you love. We ask each of our guests questions that map onto the core components of our Career Cornerstones Framework so readers can see how these elements have been applied to your career and life. Let's start off first with an overview of what you do.

Rachel: 
Currently, I'm a documentary filmmaker, directing an autobiographical feature film cal…

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How to Build a Successful Career You Love

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I was asked by my high school, The Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, to give a speech at their annual Career Day. Many students and faculty asked for a copy of the speech to share, so here it is. It was an absolute privilege to get to share my ideas and insights from all the work I do here at The Career Studio with the fantastic students at Potomac.

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How many of you don’t really know what you want to do with your career?

Raise your hand.

Thank you for sharing!

That’s totally normal. …

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The Importance of Downtime

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I recently read this relatively provocative article titled Darwin was a slacker and you should be too. The two main points that it makes are as follows:

1. No one can be productive for eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. In fact, productivity peaks around four to five hours a day and then is destroyed the longer you work. Fun fact: A study mentioned in the article found that scientists working 35 hours a week were half as productive as those working 20. You may have also heard that …

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Fall in love with your work.

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My friend and fellow coach Stephen Mayo has a great site with thought-provoking quotes and questions. One of my favorites is this one, from Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

Pres. Obama: "How did you keep perspective? [after so much success]"
Jerry Seinfeld: "I fell in love with the work. And the work was joyful and difficult and interesting, and that was my focus"

What would it be like to be in love with our work? Imagine if what you did every day not only challenged you and consum…

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