#03006
The Listening Ear Recommends
The Listening Ear Recommends is my way of sharing podcast episodes, and other audio content. That have helped me gain a better understanding of the influence of my lived experience. These episodes contain a lot of wisdom about how we can improve our time spent at work. And create more space for non-work to better enrich our identity.
podcast episode
What I loved/learnt?
There were so many things I loved about this episode. There is a quote from the beginning of the episode “every moment in life is a last time. it arrives, you’ll never get it again. And once it’s past your remaining supply of moments will be one smaller”. It reminded me of something my swimming coach used to say to get us to train and compete at our best every time. It was something about every time you get into a swimming pool the water is different. Or more poetically you can never swim in the same water twice.
My coach’s analogy was easier to imagine, because it was also evidently true. The water would flow into the drains and new “fresh” water was constantly being pumped into the pool. However, it wasn’t until this podcast episode that I realised the same is true for pretty much everything. You certainly can’t breath the same air twice. And you can’t see someone you thought you saw, once you realise it wasn’t them at all.
The bulk of the episode is spent discussing the variety of ways time has been viewed and spent over the ages. And how embracing and accepting our limitations to master time, is the way to begin to make the most of it.
Why listen?
Do you feel hounded by time, as though you are in a constant race against it?
This episode examines our views of time. And how it has changed, to be viewed as something to be mastered. To use it as a resource, one not to be wasted. Rather one to acquire more of – despite it being known to be finite.
The discussion in the episode offers ways to acknowledge the limitations that prevent us from completing everything. And how this can help to elevate some of the productivity stress and anxiety felt. When we have not doing something that couldn’t possibly have been done within the given time.
Podcast episode
What I loved/learnt?
My professional work history has a lot of movement in it. Not so much between industries, more so between companies. Several members of my family have a running joke around the frequency at which I have changed jobs. And a few recruiters have mentioned the change frequency with a negative tone in their voice.
A big part of the reason for changing so often has been to find somewhere I felt like I fit. A company to work for/at that would be my “forever job” because that’s the dream right? – to work somewhere that doesn’t feel like work. Turns out that is a little harder to find than one might think. And maybe my pursuit of looking for a job in a company that gives or at the very least aligns with my identity has been the wrong way to approach things.
Why listen?
If you feel you are constantly speed-dating to find your vocational soulmate?
This episode explores the ways jobs – and work identities – have become a prime feature of our overall identities. Many of us, myself included, are looking for jobs that gives us a sense of purpose, meaning, community. A source for doing good and making a difference in the world. But often many of us – again myself included – will not find that in the jobs/work we do. And, if we view our jobs, or professional success, as the key to everything else we want in life falling into place. We’ll overlook the, outside of work, opportunities that will actually get us to where/who we want to be.
One of the ways to not overlook the, outside of work, opportunities they discuss. Is subjectively pursuing a job that allows you to be the person we want to be. Maybe finishing early on a Friday means you can do a specific exercise class or spend time doing another interest. Whatever it is, it will be different for each of us. And the important part is recognising that you have it and then pursue activities that will reinforce the identity you want.
Podcast episode
What I loved/learnt?
I’ve been working remote/hybrid since 2020, like many of us. Some places I worked, I have felt like part of the team and got the information I needed, when I needed it. And others it has felt like out of sight put communication and connection out of mind for many.
Hearing that my experience was not just my own was reassuring. And if I’m honest communication and feeling part of a team – or not. Are not hybrid/remote working problems exclusively. Before the switch, communication and feeling part of a team were always a gamble. Some managers and companies are good at both, some better at one than another and the rest are bad at both.
Why listen?
Do you want to learn how to improve your hybrid working experience, as a manager or a direct report?
Sometimes hearing someone else – not a part of your team or company – give direction to how you can improve is easier to hear. It’s easy to think that communication is the responsibility of the managers or company exclusively. But it’s also our own responsibility to make sure we have all the important information needed to complete a task. Even if it wasn’t all freely offered to us when the task was first assigned.
Some of the suggestions might seem really obvious, but it’s often the simplest solution that makes the biggest impact.
