Hi Friends,

This may sound a little strange but hear me out: jealousy has been the most helpful tool in moving me closer to roles more aligned with my strengths & passions, once I realized it was time for a shift.

And trust me, I’ve made some shifts…

Some of these shifts were because I began feeling apathetic and detached from my day-to-day work, others were because I needed to make a geographic move to be with my (now) husband - no matter what prompted the idea of “it’s time to make a change”, my top tool for starting my shift has always been, strangely enough, to ask myself:

What am I feeling jealous of?

I know, I know - we’re told comparison is the thief of joy and, if you’re somehow immune to comparing yourself to others, this is NOT me suggesting you start ruminating on how you stack up.

But, if you’re like me and most people I know, in that comparison, although unwanted, comes fairly naturally - this is your sign to lean into it to help develop your career.

I’m going to dive deep on this topic & more in The Career Catalyst Challenge this week - my two-part challenge that consists of 2 zoom workshops & follow-up recordings, open Q&A ,and a community group with opportunities for custom feedback from me that will empower you to:

• Get clear on exactly what you want in your next career move and how to use that clarity to find aligned opportunities

• Map how your past experience connects to what you’re looking for next 

• Position yourself with strength - forming a confident cohesive career narrative 

If you’re looking to make a career shift this year, this challenge is the absolute perfect place to start.

Now let’s dig into your jealousy…

Clarify 💡

To be clear, I’m NOT saying that all jealous is productive - there’s good and bad types of jealousy.

The bad kind is the kind that gives jealousy a bad wrap - it’s anything driven by the ego: jealousy of money, material things, job titles, you get the picture. It’s often the types of things, especially when we spend too much time scrolling and not a enough time out in the world living, we want just because others have it, not because we would, without society telling us so, think it’s inherently valuable. It’s all externally driven.

The good kind of jealousy - the kind I advise you pay attention to - is driven by inner desire: the type of work someone does, how someone gets to spend their time, how passionate someone is about the work they do. It often comes down to time and alignment between your passion & your gifts - things we inherently value without society telling us so.

If you’re struggling on whether you’re experiencing the good or bad type of jealousy, I recommend applying the 5 why’s framework to your jealousy. This framework, popularized by the founder of Toyota, teaches us that by repeatedly asking “why?” and probing deeper with each question, the goal is to uncover the fundmental reason behind a belief or problem.

I learned and leveraged this framework a lot when I was an Agile Coach managing a few development teams at a software company but I’ve found it’s helpful beyond just root-cause analysis - it’s helpful in helping me name my feelings.

For example, when I first learned this concept while building product at a B2B software company, I found myself triggered and jealous of female founders I would meet. So I asked myself why?

1. Founder is such an impressive title (ok ego….) - why?

2. It shows that she has the courage to believe in her idea and build something - why does that matter?

3. She’s spending her time on solving a problem that she experiences and by building the solution she could make an impact on the world - why does that matter?

4. She is uniquely qualified to solve this problem and build this - her founder’s story is so compelling - why does that matter?

5. She is living her ikigai - in alignment with her purpose & passion. How inspiring!!!

On surface level - the desire to be a female founder was ego-driven (cool title, sense of an accomplishment) but digging deeper, the repeated whys pulled out that I yearned to solve a problem I care about that I’m uniquely positioned to solve and feel passionate about solving. Looking at the root of my jealousy helped me hone in that although being a female founder was a path I desired - it wasn’t the only way and title to reach this level of fulfillment.

Connect 🤝

But it just isn’t a coincidence that ~four years later, I’m doing just that: solving a problem that I care about (loneliness in career development) that I’m uniquely positioned to solve (hello 101 interviews in 2020) and feel passionate about solving (I have to remind myself a lot of the time that what I’m doing IS work!).

But it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies to get here and entrepreneurship wasn’t the only way to get here. Realistically, this is a LOT more easily achieved while working for someone else if you know how to leverage your network.

Most people stay stuck in jealousy and don’t take action. Don’t be most people.

Start with spending time with people that really are doing what they love - by asking them real questions about their path and day-to-day the idealized picture of their career is shattered and beneath it, a path that can be pulled from to forge your own.

Next - share with your loved ones what your jealous of - a picture of what you really want.

In The Career Catalyst Challenge this week, I go much deeper on this and exactly how to share in a way that can help you crowdsource your next step: the paths to consider, the companies that align to what you want, the people to speak with to connect you to aligned opportunities .

Confidently Communicate 🗣️

To take your jealousy and transform it into action is work - I won’t sugar coat it and tell you it’s easy. This work is rooted in recognizing your value from your past experience and existing skills and communicating your value for what you want - what you’re jealous of - using what I call transferable themes.

By joining The Career Catalyst Challenge, you’ll define your own transferable themes to form the basis for your carreer narrative.

<<Yes, this challenge is $33 - it's worth WAAAY more than that - I'm charging what you (and me) probably (& sadly) spend on coffee in a week so that you'll show up for yourself and invest your time. Coffee can catalyze your day but these workshops will be way more of a career boost.> >

< < < Whether you’re looking to make a career shift or not, I’d like to reward you ($$) for anyone you refer to this challenge. Just reply back to this email for your own personalized link to send to those in your network and I’ll give you 100% (yes really!) of the referral generated revenue 🤑 > > >

This week…

Until next week!

Jess Storiale