Conflicting advice

Be more, stress less, earn more, work less, and always push for success but don't change who you are...

Navigating your career and personal goals can be exhausting. Everyone wants to tell you how to do it yet often, the advice is confusing, inconsistent and conflicting. One example, for the Barbie aficionados among you, is actress America Ferrera's movie monologue:

"It is literally impossible to be a woman...we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong." - Barbie Movie, 2023.

At pg, we believe that many of us, inclusive of all genders, feel it's impossible to be ourselves and get ahead. There's also a complicated line between privilege, pressure, perfection, personability and having a concrete life plan (not to mention alliteration).

Two things are clear: 1) there's no shortage of conflicting advice that adds pressure and the sense of failing and 2) it's exhausting trying to be yourself when the goalposts of success are defined by social media, and economic and environmental instability. So, what's a person to do?

Surviving conflicting advice - non-advice for the overwhelmed:

• First, we suggest taking a deep breath (or six). You do not need to have everything figured out right now and for the long term. It's ok to try a plan, change direction and try again with a different focus.
  

• We talk a lot about design thinking at pg and with good reason - it really works. One resource you might try to get started is 'Designing Your Life' by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. It's packed full of examples, tools and suggestions in a non-preachy tone. Albeit from two extremely accomplished, Ivy-league academics.
  

• Now this is a slightly controversial suggestion but we tried it and it works. Quit or heavily reduce your social media usage. While we appreciate the uplifting wonder of TikTok dance sequences, we also know that limiting avenues of comparison help reframe your belief about how you're doing in life. You're more likely to objectively reflect on your goals and progress when you're not distracted or disillusioned by highlight reels.
  

• Lastly, define what the next five months of 2023 look like for you. Do you want to: reduce debt? Make an exercise class twice a week? Call your family and friends more regularly? Get outside every day? Stick to a set amount of hours at work? Not check emails on vacation? Pick one or two things that you feel would make your every day better, make a specific goal (e.g. I will join kickboxing classes at 5 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays no matter what) and track your progress. The act of investing in yourself is empowering.

Once you decide what your micro-goal is, prioritize it and give yourself permission to focus on this, not what everyone else tells you that you 'should' be doing.

You got this, exactly as you are.