Wow, happy 2023!

Holidays can be both joyful and hard AF and I honor you for making it all the way through to the other end. Now, we just need to brave another winter.

I know many of you share the tradition I love of choosing a word as a theme for your year – instead of unsticky resolutions.

For 2022, my word was RECONNECT.

I selected it late in 2021 after a challenging year both personally and in my business. As an extrovert and relationship builder, I was still feeling the isolation of the pandemic and was taking on way too much on my own. I was depleted and burnt out. Full transparency – I was feeling truly lost about what to do next in my business. At times, I considered walking away.

So, I set out to do my reconnecting thing and I told myself I would see what happened. It was ok not to have answers. I believed the answers would be revealed.

• I met with colleagues and mentors who energize me and pump me up.

• I reached out to former clients to check in and get updates on their inspiring careers.

• I joined a community of BRILLIANT coaches through my work with CHIEF.

• I built a roster of talented coaches, therapists, organizers, tutors, designers (and the list goes on) and I referred them often. I was reminded how much I LOVE connecting people. It’s my jam.

• I held two inspiring panels of former clients who shared vulnerable stories of moving through fear and wisdom that supported dozens of job searchers and career changers.

• I returned to my weekly emails to you and all of my advocates and supporters who have been following my journey. This writing is my place of reflection and peace.

I reconnected with my colleagues, my community, my clients, the humans in the world who most inspired me and something intense happened.

I reconnected with my love for my work.

I just wrapped my turnaround year and my best in 8 years of business. And I truly did it without hustle. Hustle was not working for me and I knew I would have to leave altogether if I continued on that path.

Instead, I trusted my own gifts. I reorganized my time around my energy, only took on clients and projects that were a “hell yes!” and built systems to take on the draining parts of the work I actively dislike.

In fact, I’ve built enough infrastructure and space into my business that I now feel (mostly) confident that I can jump into this year’s theme - TRUTHTELLING.

I’ve made the commitment to myself (I know I may have said this one before – but I’m really in this time!) to write my first book. A guide for career transitioners and job searchers to design careers on their terms. A way for people to access my work and process without signing up for coaching.

With this work out in the world, I can continue to broaden my impact and connect more people with their inner career desires. YESSS! I’m here for all that 2023 has to bring.

Looking forward to continuing to reflect with you through this weekly email and I’m always happy to support you in your own career journey.

The last minute shopping window is coming to a close and yet there’s someone very important you left off your list.

Hey friend. It’s YOU. When was the last time you spent time and money on your growth, your vision, your career (and life!) desires?

When you join the (ONLY) 2023 cohort of Career Command: Four-Month Shift, you can rest easy for the remainder of December knowing you made the investment in YOU. To be supported, guided, and compassionately tough-loved towards your next role as early as January.

Here’s what some of the women in the 2022 group had to say about the program…

"Career Command made me feel less alone and more brave. It got me out of the murkiness and the state of fear and frozen that I was in. Having structure, accountability, the weekly sessions, and meeting the rest of you and hearing your stories was really empowering."   – Sharon

"I felt a power shift in the job search process, where I was putting myself in the center, instead of being at the whim of employers. I feel more confident about my value. Career Command taught me how to validate myself during the job search process - it feels like a reclaiming of myself."  – Jocelyn

"Career Command awakened a part of my brain that was either scared or asleep. A few months ago I felt at the mercy of employers, and I wasn’t viewing the conversations I was having as equal. Now, I'm having those conversations differently. I'm thinking about things in a very different way and making career choices from a very different, empowered position."   – Zeynep

To all of you who have been following my work for years and cheering me on, I thank you and want to support you in reclaiming you and stepping into agency and control over your career. You have choices to make and terms to declare – and a new inspiring community to hold you accountable to all of that.

Here’s a link to all the details: rachelbgarrett.com/career-command

And of course, feel free to reach out with any questions! I’m 100% committed to your 2023 shift, so let’s do this together.

Registration closes on December 27th, so reserve your spot now!

And if you’re all set on career support right now, please share with your friends and colleagues who have been talking about that change they want to make...but don’t know where to start.

Holiday plans, celebrations and gift-giving are in full swing (cheers to doing that again!).

Amidst all of the connecting and busyness, I’ve been working with clients on setting 2023 career intentions.

How do you want to reshuffle your time and energy?
What do you want to learn?
What problems in the world do you want to help solve?
What creative projects are you ready to tackle?

What are your 2023 career desires and how committed are you to honoring them?

If on a scale from 1-10, you’re anywhere from a 7 to a 10 in your commitment to shift – I’ve got something for you...

The Career Command: Four-Month Shift

Career Command was designed to help women define who they are and what path they need to take to grow closer to their vision. Then with the support of their coach (that’s me!) and their new squad of 15 women, they take action to make their 2023 career intentions a reality.

Career Command: Four-Month Shift will help you with a clear career pathing framework to lead you through every step of your transition.

With Four-Month Shift you’ll get access to:

• The Career Command Process: Video training and resources to help you shift your mindset, identify your superpowers, and create a solid networking and job search strategy.

• Weekly Live Video Support Calls: Dig into the lessons and modules within the Career Command Process, share insights with your crew and get real-time feedback from me, your Career Coach, on where you may be feeling stuck (Thursdays at 12pm ET.)

• One 1:1 session with Rachel and the option to purchase additional sessions at a discounted rate of $250.

• Curated Career Pods: Connect with a group of like-minded women who will be your team, your supporters, and your accountability partners.

• Resume & LinkedIn Audit: After reviewing resources on best practices for both your resume and LinkedIn profile, our team will provide you with customized feedback on how you can optimize both to maximize your search and your personal brand.

Registration closes on December 27th and we kick off January 12th.

The early bird discount (with coupon code SHIFT2023) ends tonight at 10pm ET. So, if you know you want to join our latest crew, now is an ideal time to do it!

The women who have already joined this group are talented and creative…and hungry for a change, like you. I can’t wait to see you there!

I just spent 9 days in California and returned home Sunday. It was a joy and a dream to see childhood friends and be with so many people I love for both milestone events and some R&R.

Full transparency – it was also a little hard for this routine-loving woman.

I’ve always loved routine and structure in my life and the past three years of managing through a pandemic have made me cling to my routine for dear life.

Somehow I’ve naturally gravitated toward structure as a way to stay grounded, hopeful and optimistic.

Having the same breakfast, listening to the same podcasts, doing the same exercise routine, talking to the same friends and family on the phone (yes, talking not texting!).

All of it seems to calm my body and help me move forward.

Yet, I know it also keeps me a weee bit rigid.

Holding onto my routines with an iron grasp during the pandemic has brought on some discomfort and even fear of mixing it up. Of change, of doing things a different or new way. Of not being in control. And while I have compassion for where it came from, I’m very open and interested in moving through it…and fast.

So, in my time away, I worked through some of the discomfort by just getting open and curious and reminding myself – I am with a lot of people who love me (who are feeding me REALLY WELL) and I will figure it out. Plus,…I’m someone who actually likes change, so this is a funny one to address!

Now that I’m home, I’m watching myself jump back into my boxes. I am embracing structure yet again, but also remembering the lightness that emerged as I pushed through it in my time away.

I’m finding moments to choose flexibility in my NYC life – even when it feels hard.

And I’m snuggling with my dog because I missed that little guy more than any routine!

If there’s one life and career question I strongly dislike, it’s, "What’s your 5 year plan?"

What the what now?

I’ve been reflecting on this recently as I prepped for my mostly vacation week in the Bay Area. I’m actually Cali now. The last time I was here was in 2017 and holy shit, a lot has changed since then.

We lost two critically important people in our family after an intense 5 years of caregiving.
We lived through nearly 3 years of a life-altering pandemic.
We stepped into new schools, new jobs and an ever-evolving business.

Sure, I could have had a 5 year plan, but it would have been at odds with the way my life was progressing. I would have been less flexible. Less adaptive. Less nimble to live the life that was unfolding.

Now, I’m not saying…just let life happen to you.

I’m reinforcing, know what’s important to you right now, reflect on who you want to be and how you want to be in the world.

Think about the impact you want to have in your community and in the world and with some broad strokes set some intentions. Think about what that looks like in your every day – and how you want it to look on the day you leave this earth.

For those of you who feel guided and supported by a 5 year plan, it’s good you know what works for you.

Also, for those of us who have felt shame (mostly because in reality we have been shamed) for not having one – I beg of you, release that right now. It’s not serving you just as the concept of the plan never served you.

Join me in short-term planning and long term intentions (with readiness to pivot on both).

Together, let’s imagine ripping up the plans we never had in our minds and moving forward anyway.

Two weeks ago, I woke up on a Saturday to learn an email that I was supposed to send to 6 people, was sent to nearly 1000.

Gulp.

A few years ago I would have spent some QT in a shame spiral, wondering why I even bother with this entrepreneurial journey or marketing or building a community or [insert high stakes part of my life here].

But, instead I took some time to write an email apologizing and acknowledging what it feels like to make a mistake so publicly.

It felt honest and compassionate and human. All the ways I strive to show up for the people in my life. I wrapped it up by late morning and took a walk in the park.

I returned to the most beautiful responses flooding my inbox.

“Thank you for modeling how to move through making mistakes. I struggle with this!”
“This email is probably one of my favorite Rachel emails.”
“I love this and I love you.”

It made me realize how hungry we are to live in a world where we can make mistakes without punishing ourselves. How we can learn to do better and also be clear with our people.

It also reminded me of my gratitude for you and all you’ve seen me through over the years as we learn together.

I will never promise to be 100% perfect. Yet, I will always be 100% committed to this work, supporting you and breaking the cycle of expecting something from any of us that’s unattainable.

Lately I’ve been wrestling with the idea of ambition. While I’ve worked hard throughout my life, every time I’ve tried on the word ambition, it never seemed to fit.

In truth, it always smelled a bit like gaslighting.

At the heart of the American Dream, it’s the lore we tell and retell to justify long work hours at the expense of personal health, happiness and wellbeing.

So, when I hear some of my clients fear they’ve lost their ambition in the busyness of early parenthood or in the endlessness of the pandemic, I say…

Or…maybe you woke up to what’s important to you in your life right now, your true priorities.

Ambition, to what end?

For me, instead of ambition there’s…

Curiosity

Meaning

Impact

Creativity

Relationships

If you’re waking up to the fact that your ambition may be on someone else’s terms or definition of success, I invite you to think about how you can recalibrate so that you’re working toward what’s important to you.

For those of you who do connect with the word ambition…and no shade if you do.
I’m curious to hear what it means to you and how it works as a driver in your career and life.

Often clients come to me feeling stuck and torn on what they should do next.

They may...

Have deep relationships at their current organization, but still have a gut feeling that it’s time to go.

Be bored and dragging their feet on doing that same task for the gazillionth time.

Be "quiet quitting." Phoning it in, waiting for a lightning bolt to strike them with an idea for what’s next .

Even as someone who is prone to epiphanies, I must admit – the idea for what’s next rarely arrives with the sudden impact of a lightning bolt. (Sorry to deliver such disappointing news!)

So, what’s missing for most of these clients who are in a stuck place?

Learning.

They’re not growing as leaders, picking up new skills, stepping into new industries, solving new hairy problems.

I often hear that they don’t like change and they’re risk averse so it feels safer to stay where they are.

But here’s the rub...

The very thing they fear is what will pull them out of their self-constructed box.

It’s the new, the change…and yes…even the risk that will be the ongoing fix.

With all this in mind, I like to take the "Always Be Learning" approach to careers. Rather than the harsh and critical Alec Baldwin monologue about it, I prefer to imagine a curious and joyful Ted Lasso dropping quotable gems to explain why it’s important and how it works.

And no, not Jason Sudeikis. I do mean Ted Lasso, because…maybe he’s real.

Even if you want to stay in your role in the next year, what is your plan for learning and growth? Sometimes it’s this plan that can make you fall back in love or even like with where you are right now.

And when you do know you’re ready for a next step, don’t only look for what you can learn in the beginning of the new gig. Make sure there is a path and a respect for ongoing learning and new opportunities within the role. That is what can make it a more sustainable and potentially longer term prospect for you.

What’s your ABL plan for this year? If up-leveling your leadership or a career change are a part of it, sign up for a Clarity Call here: rachelbgarrett.com/clarity