Squiggly Careers

Latest Episodes:

Squiggly Shortcut: 3 Ways To Stand Out To Senior Stakeholders Oct 30, 2025

Show notes

✨ Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts— a series from the Squiggly Careers podcast, bringing you quick career tips in just 5 minutes, every Thursday. In this shortcut, Helen shares three practical ways to stand out with senior stakeholders — the people who can influence your impact, support your development, and open up new opportunities. Whether it’s your manager or another leader in your organisation, these ideas will help you build better relationships and be remembered for the right reasons.

Episode 507

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⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts

00:28 Why senior stakeholders matter

01:05 Idea 1 – Position yourself as a peer

02:10 Idea 2 – Go further with your follow-up

03:55 Idea 3 – Build connections they care about

05:10 Where to learn more

🎯 What You’ll Learn

- How to build confidence and connection with senior stakeholders

- Why going beyond “thank you” helps you stand out

- How to add value by linking people and priorities

🎧 Listen to Episode 334 to learn more: https://youtu.be/N_J9EySKxgg?si=6NRrcjFlDINWtVdp

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

🏃‍♀️ Join the Skills x AI Sprint: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNQl9gsac8BXnWe2qoGuHkLKwsygjP_Ma&si=l7kODG3JpopH0Irz

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

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The Psychology of Seats: How To Boost Your Impact & Influence At Work Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

This week on the Squiggly Careers podcast, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from an unexpected source — the psychology of seats. Inspired by a conversation about how we choose where to sit, Helen talks about how your seating choices can shape the way you feel, behave, and influence others at work. From safe seats that help us feel in control to power positions in meetings and even virtual seating on video calls, this episode reveals how something as simple as your seat can affect confidence, inclusion, and collaboration. You’ll leave with small, practical shifts to help you show up differently — and boost your impact and influence at work.

Episode 506

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

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⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Introduction & Announcement

01:54 Borrowing brilliance from the psychology of seats

03:54 Why where you sit says more about you than you think

07:54 Seat safety — comfort, confidence, and control

12:34 Power seats — what your meeting position communicates

15:54 Round tables, rectangles, and creating collaboration

20:04 The height effect

20:54 No-seat meetings

22:54 Virtual seats

29:54 Inclusion, confidence, and creating space for others

🎯 What You’ll Learn

Why your seat can shape your confidence and influence
How seating choices affect team dynamics and inclusion
How to use “seat psychology” to build better meetings and connections
Simple ways to change where (and how) you sit to boost your impact

📚 Resources Mentioned

Learning Cog: https://www.learningcog.com
The Long Win by Kath Bishop: bit.ly/4he0Rt4

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

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Squiggly Shortcut: How to Quieten Your Inner Critic Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

✨ Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts — a series from the Squiggly Careers podcast, bringing you quick career tips in just 5 minutes, every Thursday. In this shortcut, Sarah shares three practical reframes to help you quieten your inner critic — the fears, doubts, and limiting beliefs that hold you back in your squiggly career. From fear of failure to feeling “not good enough” or being put on the spot, we all have gremlins trying to stop us.

Episode 505

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

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⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 What are confidence gremlins?

00:42 Reframe 1

01:38 Reframe 2

03:21 Reframe 3

04:55 Where to go next for more

🎯 What You’ll Learn

How to spot the confidence gremlins holding you back
Three practical reframes to shift your mindset and take action
Why focusing on small, achievable steps builds resilience and self-belief

🎧 Listen to Episode 387 to learn more: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ORexpOPpBQgp94cOmR6FE?si=kPkUOUxcTduREjGiQZm4Vg

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

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Map Your Career: 5 Visual Tools to Find Clarity and Direction Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

This week on the Squiggly Careers podcast, Sarah and Helen borrow brilliance from an unexpected source — maps. Inspired by Jürgen Appelo’s Substack post “I Started Drawing Maps”, they explore how mapping can help you find clarity, confidence and direction in your squiggly career.

You’ll hear about five different types of maps you can create to understand yourself and your work better — from mapping your energy and relationships to visualising your skills, possibilities and problems.

Episode 504

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn

Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Introduction — Borrowing brilliance from maps

01:00 Why maps matter for our squiggly careers

06:40 The value of visuals for clarity and creativity

08:37 Map 1: Energy Map

13:30 Map 2: Give–Gain Map

18:45 Map 3: Skills Map

24:15 Map 4: Possibilities Map

30:00 Map 5: Problem Map

38:00 How to pick the right map for you

🎯 What You’ll Learn

- How visual thinking can bring clarity to your career

- Five creative ways to map your work and growth

- How to use maps for reflection, self-awareness, and team development

- Practical examples you can try right away

📚 Resources Mentioned

I Started Drawing Maps by Jürgen Appelo https://substack.jurgenappelo.com/p/i-started-drawing-maps

The Secret Language of Maps — Stanford Design School https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Language-Maps-Stanford-D-School/dp/1984858009

AI Skills Sprint: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNQl9gsac8BXnWe2qoGuHkLKwsygjP_Ma&si=5fD8VGW4Z46LgJFr

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Squiggly Shortcut: 4 Questions to Help You Make a Difficult Career Decision Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

✨ Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts — a series from the Squiggly Careers podcast, bringing you quick career tips in just 5 minutes, every Thursday.

In this shortcut, Helen shares four powerful questions to help you make a difficult career decision. When you’re weighing up your next move, it’s easy to get stuck in overthinking or uncertainty. These questions are designed to help you zoom out, get clear on what matters most, and move forward with confidence.

Episode 503

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn

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⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts

00:28 Why career decisions can feel difficult

01:05 Question 1 – Create distance

02:10 Question 2 – Get data

03:05 Question 3 – Discuss

04:20 Question 4 – Define your drivers

🎯 What You’ll Learn

- How to make big career choices feel more manageable

- A practical four-step framework for clarity and confidence

- Why connecting with your ‘why’ builds resilience in tough moments

🎧 Listen to Episode 297 to learn more: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4oGa9JECFTOqKn79TPuZAQ?si=UhFXcSXkQ-Ki-2skkumLIQ

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

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Are You Wasting Your Talent? (Why Moral Ambition Matters) Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

What does it mean to live — and work — with moral ambition? In this episode of the Squiggly Careers podcast, Sarah introduces ideas from Rutger Bregman’s book Moral Ambition and Helen helps turn them into practical actions you can apply in your own career.

You’ll hear why moral ambition is about using your 80,000 working hours wisely, how to close the belief–behaviour gap, and what small steps you can take to make a bigger difference. Together, Helen and Sarah explore how to connect Bregman’s big ideas to the everyday reality of squiggly careers.

Episode 502

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn

Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

02:18 Moral ambition

05:59 The belief–behaviour gap (what we say vs. what we do)

12:01 Action 1

19:23 Action 2

23:58 Action 3

29:36 Reflections

🎯 What You’ll Learn

-What moral ambition is and why it matters

- How to spot your own belief–behaviour gaps

- Practical ways to volunteer and use your strengths for impact

- How to extend your positive influence beyond your current circle

- Why finding morally ambitious role models helps you take action

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Squiggly Shortcut: How to ask for a pay rise Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

✨ Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts — a series from the Squiggly Careers podcast, bringing you quick career tips in just 5 minutes, every Thursday.

In this shortcut, Sarah shares a practical idea to help you confidently ask for a pay rise. While the conversation can feel anxiety-inducing, waiting rarely works — you need to advocate for yourself and highlight the impact you’re having. Sarah breaks it down into 3 simple tips to set you up for success.

How To Ask For A Pay Rise

Episode 501

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts

00:24 Create don't wait

01:23 Tip 1 – Understand the pay rise process in your company

02:26 Tip 2 - How to approach the conversation

05:09 Tip 3 - Summarise what's been said

05:08 Think about your pay rise tradeoff

🎯 What You’ll Learn

- Why waiting to be noticed often doesn’t work

- How to approach a pay rise as a series of conversations

- 3 practical steps for how to ask for a pay rise

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn

Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

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Why Bringing Your Authentic Self To Work Is Bad Advice Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

Is “just be yourself at work” really the best advice? In this 500th episode of the Squiggly Careers podcast, Helen and Sarah explore the tricky topic of authenticity — and why being 100% yourself at work might not always help you succeed.

Borrowing brilliance from Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, they discuss the difference between effective vs. ineffective authenticity, why trust often matters more than “being real,” and how to adapt without feeling fake. You’ll learn three practical actions to help you show up authentically and intentionally in ways that work for you, your team, and your career.

Episode 500

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn

Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Introduction & Announcement

02:19 Celebrating 500 episodes 🎉

06:32 What is “effective authenticity”?

09:05 Why trust may be more important than authenticity

11:40 Action 1

17:55 Action 2

21:16 Action 3

23:35 Questions to help you apply this week’s shortcut

25:41 What’s next: Borrowing brilliance from maps

🎯 What You’ll Learn

- The difference between helpful and unhelpful authenticity

- Why trust and emotional intelligence matter more than “bringing your whole self”

- How to balance being true to yourself with adapting to your team

- 3 actions you can take to use authenticity for career success

📚 Resources Mentioned

Don't Be Yourself: Why Authenticity Is Overrated (and What to Do Instead) by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Be-Yourself-Authenticity-Overrated/dp/1647829836

HBR Article: https://hbr.org/2025/08/do-you-have-an-emotionally-intelligent-team

The Values Institute https://values.institute/

AI Skills Sprint - https://youtu.be/5swOYWW6l7M?feature=shared

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

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How to Stop Being a People Pleaser Without Guilt (3 Easy Tips) Oct 02, 2025

Show notes

✨ Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts — a brand new series from the Squiggly Careers podcast, bringing you quick career tips in just 5 minutes, every Thursday. In this shortcut, Helen shares a practical idea to help you spot and stop people pleasing at work, so you can set boundaries, protect your time, and focus on what matters most.

How To Stop Being A People Pleaser (3 Tips)

Episode 499

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Squiggly Shortcuts

00:35 What is people pleasing?

01:09 Tip 1 - Find your pause statement

02:06 Tip 2 - Use "don't" rather than "can't"

03:45 Tip 3 - Practice your no-cabulary

05:10 A reminder for your week

🎯 What You’ll Learn

- Why people pleasing can hold you back in your career

- A simple shortcut to say no with confidence

- How to create small shifts that protect your priorities

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn

Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn Smarter: The Feynman Technique, Don’t Know Notebook & Problem Testing Sep 30, 2025

Show notes

What can a Nobel Prize-winning physicist teach us about navigating squiggly careers? In this new Borrowed Brilliance format, Helen introduces the curiosity-driven ideas of Richard Feynman and Sarah helps turn them into practical actions for work. Together, they explore how Feynman’s playful approach to learning can help all of us grow with more clarity and confidence.You’ll discover the power of the Feynman Technique, why keeping a Don’t Know Notebook builds smarter learning habits, and how Problem-Testing can help you see new solutions to old challenges.

Episode #498

🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster:

PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn

Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR

🎯 What You’ll Learn

How to make learning stick using the Feynman Technique
A practical way to turn uncertainty into curiosity with a Don’t Know Notebook
Why playing with problems helps spark creative solutions
How to use AI prompts to think and learn like Feynman

📚 Resources Mentioned

Richard Feynman’s Mental Models: How to Think, Learn, and Problem-Solve Like a Nobel Prize-Winning Polymath (Learning how to Learn) http://bit.ly/3KnW101
Shane Parrish on Richard Feynman: https://fs.blog/richard-feynman/

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction

📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices