Stop Sabotaging Your Success

Cindy Esliger tackles the issue of negotiation in this episode. Negotiation is a part of life, it’s a skill we all engage in and one which allows us to navigate through different perspectives to reach mutually satisfying agreements. But there is a disconnect between the way men and women view negotiations in professional capacities and many of us lack negotiation skills. How can we learn the art o...

Cindy Esliger talks about the cost of attempting to succeed in our chosen professions. Women in male-dominated fields feel this especially acutely because visible ambitions can negatively impact the speed of a woman’s advancement. We become hesitant to set lofty goals or pursue what we want in order to make others feel less threatened. But that costs us. And the price is too high.  There are so ma...

Cindy Esliger talks about our conscious and sometimes unconscious tendencies to self-sabotage our own success. When we begin engaging in things that hinder our success, such as procrastination, lack of confidence, or self-doubt, we tend to behave in ways that support those feelings and prevent us from succeeding. Why is this? And how do we break out of the cycle of reinforcing our doubt through se...

Cindy Esliger addresses navigating life authentically in this episode. Being unapologetically ourselves is difficult when we crave acceptance and learn to conform or apologize for our natural selves. But living life being dimmed down by social expectations doesn’t allow us to live free from the weight of the other’s opinions. So just how do we start to live unapologetically?  There is often negati...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about how the natural human tendency to compare ourselves to others can become a trap. Comparison can be a helpful guide but these days it has become a way to diminish ourselves and something of a harmful habit. So how can we identify it and break the cycle?  Comparison isn’t limited to quick moments of self-judgement. It can become a shadow hanging over every...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about setting goals, both short and long-term, and the necessity of also having a plan for achieving them. January is a time when we traditionally make resolutions that we often fail to keep. We don’t want career goals to be the same. So how can we set goals and not give them up along the way?  It’s important to note that goals don’t have to be set on January f...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger explains the idea of solving for happiness. Solving for happiness as a concept has gained increasing attention in recent years. It involves identifying factors that contribute to our well-being and taking action to cultivate more of these things in our daily lives. Cindy shares how to go about ensuring this happiness.  We spend a significant portion of our lives at w...

Cindy Esliger talks all about boredom in this episode. Often viewed as a negative, research actually suggests that boredom can have some surprising benefits. Experiencing boredom is a necessary part of growth. Cindy unpacks what causes boredom, the problems and perks that can come of it, and ultimately how to handle it.  When we’re bored, we’re more likely to engage in divergent thinking. That’s i...

Cindy Esliger discusses how taking the time to elevate small seemingly ordinary things can transform everyday experiences into something special. When we pay attention and step outside of our busy lives for a moment to really appreciate what’s happening, it benefits us in ways Cindy outlines in this episode. Elevating the ordinary involves cultivating a sense of wonder and finding value in everyda...

Cindy Esliger talks about the common experience of feeling overwhelmed in today’s episode. She defines overwhelm as the result of the constant battle between our unending to-do list and the finite amount of time we have to get things done: a feeling of being overburdened, stressed, and unable to cope. So what do we do about being overwhelmed? Cindy has some thoughts. Overwhelm can have a significa...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about asking ourselves good questions. Specifically, the right questions, ones that will help us evaluate career goals and define what success means to us. Questions are a powerful tool and Cindy guides us through how to ask them and why. Asking questions requires reflection and introspection, it requires us to think deeply about our experiences. This can be an...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger addresses the tendency to avoid workplace conflict and why avoidance can have negative consequences. She explores the fear behind avoiding conflict and what happens when we engage in unhealthy conflict. Is there such a thing as healthy conflict? There is and Cindy has advice on how to foster it.  Avoiding conflict altogether is not the answer to our fear of conflict....

In this episode, Cindy Esliger addresses one of the most essential components for achieving our dreams: believing in ourselves. It’s a far easier thing to say than do, however, especially when we’re just getting started. But other people do believe in us and Cindy’s advice is to borrow the belief others have to combat our own self-doubt. Borrowing the belief others have in us means focusing on the...

Cindy Esliger talks about finding your role within your organization. Having your role clearly defined is important for job satisfaction and career success. When you’re first hired, Cindy advises you to ensure you get a specific job description. If you’re already in the organization, she has advice on how to clarify your existing role.  Your role is your position within the organization. It’s your...

Cindy Esliger tackles the question of whether or not we’re on the right career path in today’s episode. Climbing the corporate ladder isn’t for everyone and may not lead to fulfillment or happiness. Have we considered alternatives? Do we need to follow a different script? Deciding whether climbing the corporate ladder is for us or not largely depends on being able to understand how we view what su...

Cindy Esliger addresses the topic of procrastination and the obstacles that keep us from taking action. Procrastination can sometimes be around waiting for the perfect time to start, a form of perfectionism, and Cindy offers advice on how to move past that to achieve our goals. Procrastination doesn’t mean we are lazy or have bad time management. It’s more about coping with how we feel about certa...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger addresses one of the most frustrating aspects of the lingering gender bias in workplaces. The pervasive assumption that women lack the competence to excel in their roles, based solely on their gender. It’s disheartening and unfair, but Cindy explores how women can rise to this challenge. Common challenges faced by women include being treated as outsiders, constantly...

In this episode, Cindy Esliger talks about developing calmness as a superpower to help us achieve career success. Staying calm and composed under pressure is a vital skill for surviving a hostile work environment. It also leads to better decision-making. Cindy takes us through how to achieve calm when emotions are high.  Cindy starts with an overview of three strategies she finds most helpful in t...

Building unshakable self-confidence means we have the necessary mindset to achieve our goals and realize success no matter what happens. Cindy Esliger explains why the self-confidence to take on new challenges and perform under pressure is key and also advises on how to go about boosting our confidence.  There are things that kill our confidence in the workplace, even if we started off quite confi...

Workplaces are complex environments full of different personalities and skill sets even as everyone is striving for a common goal. Differences of opinion will happen. Cindy Esliger examines how to create and hold boundaries at work and the best ways to push back when those boundaries are challenged. If boundaries have not been set, we may find ourselves being taken advantage of and run down in ter...

Not everything that’s important needs to be serious and challenging. Cindy Esliger examines the idea of making things fun and easy as an alternative to always working under stressful situations. Does having fun mean we aren’t taking our goals seriously? In a word, no. Cindy shows us why.  Making things more lighthearted and fun can aid in maintaining mental health and well-being while still achiev...

Cindy Esliger discusses expectations: how to balance meeting the expectations of others with our expectations for ourselves. We need to meet the goals set out by employers and clients but also need to be mindful of our own needs and sense of well-being. How do we navigate this?  The first step in managing expectations is being clear about what is expected of us. Then we need to ensure we are not s...

Cindy Esliger offers the perspective of viewing our careers as an adventure we get to choose. The challenges of discovery keep life and jobs interesting, so exploring new facets of our careers can help motivate us. How do we overcome the fear that comes with new things, though?  Incorporating adventure into our careers can put us in the right place at the right time for advancement. And it doesn’t...

Cindy Esliger examines how today’s fast-changing job market demands that we adapt by future-proofing our careers. It’s important to stay relevant and competitive and that means continually updating our skills and knowledge to embrace change. How do we take those steps, though?  The evolving job market means it’s unreasonable to believe that a single job or position will take us through the rest of...

Cindy Esliger addresses how our interpretations of other people’s actions can shape our emotions and behaviors. What we think is being said may not actually be accurate. Our interpretation may be based on assumption, bias, or belief and have little to do with the other person. So how do we navigate that?  The ways in which we decide to interpret people’s actions can lead directly to our own reacti...