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 Bring a little optimism into your life with The Bright Side, a new kind of daily podcast from Hello Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robay.
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And me, Simone Boyce.
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Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more.
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I am so excited about this podcast, The Bright Side.
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You guys are giving people a chance to shine a light on their lives, shine a light on a little advice that they want to share.
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 Listen to The Bright Side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart.
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Open your free iHeart app and search The Bright Side.
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 Discover a new educational and interactive podcast, Stories for Kids by Lingokids.
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Our episodes are packed with fun activities.
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Right, Elliot?
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Oh, yes.
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We went shape hunting around the block, and we found spheres and cubes on the street.
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That was great fun.
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Join Stories for Kids, the Lingokids podcast, inspiring you to learn while having fun.
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Listen to Stories for Kids on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 Guess what, Will?
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What's up, Mango?
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I've been trying to write a promo for our podcast, Part-Time Genius, but even though we've done over 250 episodes, we don't really talk about murders or cults.
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I mean, we did just cover the Illuminati of cheese, so I feel like that makes us pretty edgy.
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We also solve mysteries like how Chinese is your Chinese food and how do dollar stores make money?
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And then, of course, can you game a dog show?
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So what you're saying is everyone should be listening.
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Listen to Part-Time Genius on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 Your phone tells you that it needs to update to the next software.
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You begrudgingly upgrade to the next level.
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It starts glitching.
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And when it starts glitching, you're like, oh, why did I upgrade?
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Why did I bother?
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But then guess what?
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It sorts out.
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You've got the best camera in the world.
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Everything's back to normal again.
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It's faster and it's better.
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That's what upgrading in life is like.
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There's a period of glitching.
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 Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose.
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Thank you so much for coming back every single week to listen, learn and grow.
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And today I want to dive into a topic about reclaiming our careers, having that moment where we reconnect with our work because this has been such a strange time.
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And so I want to give you four tips for upgrading yourself and your career.
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Now, when something happens,
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 And things come apart, especially when we don't have a choice about it.
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It feels like all we want is for things to be what they used to be, for us to get back to normal.
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How many of you have had that feeling over the last few months of, I wish everything would go back to normal, right?
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And maybe normal wasn't even that good.
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 but it's better than what we're experiencing now, right?
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Does that resonate where you're like, well, normal was okay.
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I mean, I wanted my life to be better than it was, but that certainty was better than the uncertainty that I'm facing right now.
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And it's getting clearer by the day that there will be no return.
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We'll never be able to go back to the world as it was before COVID-19.
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 But if we can learn to focus on the opportunities that are present, we can actually become people who are stronger and more resilient than we were before.
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This is really important that we have a new normal, but it's almost like our aspiration for normality is what creates complacency and what creates average in our lives.
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 Stay with me.
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I really want to address this point that we're always seeking normalcy, but that creates complacency, it creates stagnancy, and that's what creates the challenges that we face when things find a normal.
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 that creates more challenges as abnormal things arise.
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Whereas if you're always growing and evolving, and by the way, your body is, by the way, your mind is.
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By the way, everything around you that's doing well is growing.
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I'll give you an example.
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Just look into nature, right?
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And nature is a brilliant way to understand this.
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If you look out, are the trees staying the same?
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No, they may be in the same position, right?
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They're not moving house, right?
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The trees aren't moving home or location, but they're growing.
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 they're moving closer towards the sun, they're growing flowers, they're growing fruits, their roots are growing deeper and they're growing larger, like they are growing.
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Things are not staying the same, they're not staying still.
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And I think we have this obsession with things staying the same, that certainty, that security, but actually what we have to realize is staying the same does not create security, it actually creates
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 more issues.
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It actually creates more challenges.
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Imagine a company never changed.
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I'll give an example.
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Let's look at Google.
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Google, believe it or not, I've read was the 21st search engine.
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So it was not the first search engine.
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But today, is Google just a search engine?
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 Not at all.
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Google has Google ads.
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We all know about that.
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We all get those.
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And now that I've mentioned it and you're listening to it, probably your phone is going to find the next Google ad to show you.
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But we have Google ads.
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Google tried to build Google glasses.
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They're looking at driverless cars, right?
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Google has Google Mail.
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It has Google Calendar.
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 There's Google Office, right?
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There's just so many more evolutions of a product.
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Now, let's say Google said, you know what, we're just going to stay the same.
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We're going to remain the 21st search engine, and we're just going to be a search engine, and that's all we're going to be.
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How long do you think they would have lasted?
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Let's look at Amazon.
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Amazon, when they started out, remember, they were just about books.
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 All that they sold on Amazon was books.
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Today, don't we go to Amazon for everything?
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Imagine they were like, no, we want to stay the same.
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We want to stay the same no matter what changes, outdoors, externally, economically, socially, psychologically, no matter how behaviors change, we're going to stay the same.
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So this striving for normality actually creates so many challenges in our life.
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 So how do we go back to our work more resilient, more powerful, and with more energy is what I want to dive into today.
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And what I want to do with you is share these ideas in a way that you can actually practically apply them.
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So get your pen and paper out.
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If you can't right now, take a screenshot of this podcast because I want you to come back to this moment and be able to take notes as well if you can.
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 And by the way, if you can't, you can still listen right now and this will be as impactful.
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So listen to this.
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Some of us have lost our jobs.
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Some of us have had the way we work change dramatically, such as remote working or working with our kids while homeschooling.
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How do we prepare for this new era when we're not even sure what's coming next?
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 How do we come back stronger?
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How do we use this as an opportunity to upgrade ourselves or create your 2.0 or 3.0 or whatever you want to do?
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The next version of yourself.
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And think about it.
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If you look at your phones, if you look at your software, it's always updating.
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 Now we know, listen to this carefully, because I know what you're going to say, or at least I'm thinking ahead.
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When you update your software, it sometimes glitches.
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And you're like, oh, I wish I could have the old software again.
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But that glitch needs to be experienced in order to create the upgrade or the update, right?
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How many times have you ever had that where your phone tells you that it needs to update to the next software, you begrudgingly upgrade to the next level, it starts glitching.
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 And when it starts glitching, you're like, oh, why did I upgrade?
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Why did I bother?
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But then guess what?
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It sorts out.
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You've got the best camera in the world.
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Everything's back to normal again.
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It's faster and it's better.
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That's what upgrading in life is like.
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There's a period of glitching.
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And our problem is that we're so scared of the glitch, that momentary discomfort, that momentary feeling and experience of uncertainty that we avoid the glitch altogether.
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So we avoid the upgrade.
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 Now, if you've already been through major setbacks in your life, if you've already been through some major upgrades in your life, you might be working on your 3.0 or even your 5.0.
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But the point is, how do you use what's happening now to create the next best version of yourself and the next best version of your career, knowing we can't go back to the way things were before?
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The fact that we are experiencing this challenging situation, how do we do it?
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 Now, I've already talked to you in some prior episodes about improving your mental strength, your resilience, and your focus.
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And if you didn't get a chance to listen to those episodes, I highly recommend you go back and do that when you have an opportunity, because those are all skills that will play into creating the next best version of yourself.
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They're almost like the key software needed for this upgrade.
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So let's get onto those four things, four tips I have for you, what you can do to move forward in your career from a position of strength.
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 You know one of the best qualities an athlete can have is to be able to play both offensively and defensively.
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 Now, I don't mean in a game like American football that you would play both quarterback and linebacker.
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I mean more in a game like tennis, where sometimes you need to play offensively and sometimes you need to play defensively.
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And this is a really, really important point because it's a rare skill and it usually applies not on team sports.
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And even though life has team sport elements, there's oftentimes in life where you feel alone, where you feel like you're batting for yourself.
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 And that's why it's so important to understand how to switch positions.
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When you look at the greats, players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, or looking back to Steffi Graf or Arthur Ashe, all of those players were great because they could play both offensively and defensively.
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 Now each of them has or had their own style and their own strengths, but you can't be a champion at a game like tennis without being able to run and stretch for balls that seem out of reach.
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Then hustle back just in time to catch the next return and get it back just to stay in the point.
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 That's defensive play.
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But you also can't finish points and you can't win games with any regularity without also being able to take charge and play offensively, to run to the net and volley or go for that shot right down the line.
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You've tried it if you played tennis before.
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 But like these great athletes, you need to be able to play both offensively and defensively.
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That's tip number one.
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Play both offense and defense.
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In the work world, that means you need to be able to stay in the point.
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You need to be able to keep yourself in the game, to be flexible, to roll with the punches and hang in there.
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 Every day is not going to be your best day in life or in your career, or even your best week or month, but hang in there.
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Stay in the game.
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You can't win a game you're not playing, right?
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Just like those tennis players racing across the court to get to that ball so they can just stay in the point.
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 keep showing up.
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Some days are hard, you're chasing that ball, you're running around, you're sweating, you're out of energy, that's reality.
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It doesn't necessarily mean you're doing something wrong, right?
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Notice that when that player is running side to side, front to back, sweating profusely,
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 they don't think they're doing it wrong.
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Sometimes those are the points that are the most celebrated when they win them.
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Sometimes those are the rallies that bring them the confidence and strength they need to push on.
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Think about this really deeply.
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You may be doing everything right and you think you're doing it wrong and it is your thought that you think you're doing it wrong that makes it feel wrong.
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 We think, oh no, I shouldn't be stressing out.
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I shouldn't be sweating.
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I shouldn't be running around.
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But look at that athlete.
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That's exactly what they're doing.
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And they realize that that's what it takes to stay in the point, to stay in the game.
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Look at how many people have lost their jobs over the last few months.
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What's going to help those who become successful in the months and years to come and those who don't?
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 Part of it is showing up continuously.
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And by the way, if you've lost your job at this time, this is not me making you feel bad about it at all.
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This is not my aim.
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My aim is that sometimes you lose that game, sometimes you lose a series, sometimes you lose the year.
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But staying in the game is part of the game.
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And if you're still in the game, you can't start looking for your shots.
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You can look for opportunities and you can capitalize on them.
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 When something goes wrong, especially colossally wrong, as it feels for so many right now, it's easy to feel as if that's the opposite of an opportunity, right?
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How many of you feel that way, that when things are going wrong and right now there's
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 lots of challenges right now there's lots of issues but how many times do you feel that when things are going wrong you just start to think oh well there's no opportunities right now i've spoken to so many entrepreneurs recently who who literally have told me like oh there's no business right now you know i've just got to take a hit it is the way it is and then at the same time i've spoken to some entrepreneurs
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 who've used this to become the biggest opportunity in their life.
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I was reading, and in an article in The Economist, Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says that COVID-19 is likely to transform three aspects of our work life.
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 Number one, that we'll actually experience increased job satisfaction.
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Number two, that we'll see more ethical leadership.
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And number three, that we'll experience a deeper sense of trust in our employers.
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Now, this is overall, of course, not every company.
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But Grant cites multiple studies that show that when people get jobs during a financial crisis, they are more satisfied with their jobs even as long as 10 to 15 years later.
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 This is due to increased overall gratitude for what their job affords, whether it's the paycheck, the opportunity to interact with colleagues, or the stimulation that our job may offer.
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 Right?
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It's huge.
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We're more likely to be grateful for things we took for granted.
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So while it might feel like the whole economic and work world has just come apart, in some ways things look like they could be changing for the better for us individually if we adapt this way.
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But again, it's true.
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It can be so hard to fully appreciate that in the moment right now, right?
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It's like someone saying to you like, hey, this all happens for a reason.
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There's good in everything.
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And you're like, well, how's it good?
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I can't feed my kids or I can't pay my bills.
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 It can be hard to think there are opportunities present right now.
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As Steve Jobs told new graduates in famous Stanford commencement speech, by the way, I used to listen to that speech at one point in time every single day, and it became the voice in my head.
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It was so powerful.
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I highly recommend creating habits like that.
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 But in that famous speech, he said connecting the dots is something you do after the fact, when you look back, right?
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You can't connect the dots moving forward, Steve Jobs said, you only can when you're looking backwards.
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Really, in the moment,
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 Do you see what feels like a failure or what seems a terrible turn of events as an opportunity?
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It's when we look back that we see, I'm so glad that person broke up with me because three months later I met the person who became the love of my life.
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Or I'm so glad I lost that job because I realized I wasn't really happy there anyway and it forced me to get out of my troublesome situation and consider what is truly what I want to do in my life
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 But it almost never feels like that in the moment, right?
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And I'm not asking you to say, hey, this financial insecurity or this feeling stretched trying to work while seeing to my kids schooling is the best thing ever.
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That's not what I'm encouraging.
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We need to be honest with ourselves.
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In this moment, it probably feels like a struggle.
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That's OK.
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But you can still look for the smaller opportunities that are present.
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 For some people, not having a job at the moment or having reduced hours is giving them loads of extra time.
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That's a major opportunity.
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It's an opportunity to build our skills.
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And that's tip number two to upgrading yourself and your career.
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Please learn a new skill.
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 How often have you said, I just wish I had more time, time to read those books, time to go on a seminar, a course, time to do a qualification, time to develop a new skill you know would be valuable in your career or in the career you'd like to switch or to a job you'd like to grow into.
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 Maybe you want to take communication skills workshop or a seminar on coding.
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Or maybe you want to download Duolingo and learn language or hop on Coursera.
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Or maybe you want to do a course or coaching program with me.
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Maybe you've been wishing you could bolster your bio on LinkedIn or write an article that you want to post there or on Medium or submit to an industry magazine.
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 Now you have the time.
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That's a major opportunity.
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And according to Lori Kahn, CEO of Media Staffing Network, which is a headhunting firm for a media job, when companies start hiring again, they will be looking to what people did in this time to build their skills and their resumes.
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 So during these weeks and months, were you playing video games like I did sometimes?
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Or were you growing yourself?
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Were you expanding your skill set and your knowledge base?
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Were you preparing for your next work or career opportunity?
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Now, the closest I can relate to having that challenge is when I left being a monk and I was in London,
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 I hadn't worked for three years and no one wanted to hire me.
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And I mentioned this before, I was rejected from 40 companies before an interview.
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I applied to 40 companies and none of them gave me an interview.
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And it was painful, like it was really tough because I didn't have any money either.
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I was living off of very little that I had, that I had from support from family and friends, very, very little, extremely little.
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I probably had about like,
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 maybe just less than a hundred pounds per month.
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It was tough.
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And I also didn't see a way out.
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And I remember every day I'd go to the library and I'd read a book.
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I'd read books on personal development and I'd read books on the Vedas and the ancient texts that I studied as a monk to reaffirm my spiritual grounding and foundations.
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But there was such a time of growth there that now I look back and I'm so grateful I made that decision.
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 Now, there's another point I want to mention, and it might sound a bit contradictory to what I just said about using this as an opportunity to build your skills, but that is that maybe you also needed a bit of a break.
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 In our 24-7 work culture, where more often than not, people have a job and a side hustle, they have somewhere they go for their regular work, then they're also trying to build a business or a brand on the side.
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Lots of us are overworked.
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Lots of us are on planes.
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I was just speaking to a friend this morning and she was saying, Jay, I used to get on a plane to go to work on Monday morning and then fly back on Friday.
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She hasn't been on a plane for months.
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 How many of you felt completely overworked?
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If that's you, maybe having a few extra hours to rest and recover is a good thing.
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So don't push yourself beyond what's healthy.
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When I was talking to Dr. Daniel Amen on this podcast, we had him on two episodes now.
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He's been probably the only guest, apart from my wife, that we've had on for two episodes.
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He's an expert on the brain and brain health.
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He told me that in the past, decades ago, when there was less technology, most of us got in the neighborhood of nine hours of sleep a night.
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 Now you're thinking, nine hours?
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I can't imagine that.
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How could I ever get anything done?
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But according to Dr. Amen, most of us are now getting closer to seven hours of sleep or less.
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Some of us are only getting six to six and a half hours of sleep, and most of us are suffering because of it.
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Our brains are not performing at top functionality, and in the long term, too little sleep can be a cause of major disease, including dementia.
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 So if you need that rest, if you are burning the candle at both ends, use at least some of your time to take a break.
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Take that break.
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It's super, super important.
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 When you find that bright spot to help you get through your day, it's powerful.
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That's where The Bright Side comes in.
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A new daily podcast from Hello Sunshine that's bringing you a daily dose of joy.
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I'm Danielle Robay.
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And I'm Simone Boyce.
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Listen, both Danielle and I are reporters.
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We've covered the news and we know the world can feel heavy, but The Bright Side podcast is a space to have a little fun, to learn something new and get into some friendly debates.
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 That's right.
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Join us five days a week to see how life can look from the bright side.
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We'll hear from celebrities, authors, experts and listeners like you, whether it's relationships, friend advice or figuring out how to navigate life's transitions.
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We'll talk through it all together.
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Listen to the bright side from Hello Sunshine every weekday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 A new season of Bridgerton is here.
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And with it, a new season of Bridgerton, the official podcast.
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I'm your host, Gabrielle Collins.
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And this season, we are bringing fans even deeper into the ton.
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Colin Bridgerton has returned from his travels abroad.
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Is Betrothal written in the stars for the eligible bachelor?
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 Meanwhile, the ton is reverberating with speculation of who holds Lady Whistledown's pen.
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We're discussing it all.
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I sit down with Nicola Coughlin, Luke Newton, Shonda Rhimes, and more to offer an exclusive peek behind the scenes of each episode of the new season.
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 Watch season three of the Shondaland series on Netflix.
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Then fall in love all over again by listening to Bridgerton, the official podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Subscribe to catch a new episode every Thursday.
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 Hey everyone, this is Molly and Matt and we're the hosts of Grown Up Stuff How to Adult, a podcast from Ruby Studio and iHeart Podcasts.
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It's a show dedicated to helping you figure out the trickiest parts of adulting.
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 like how to start planning for retirement, creating a healthy skincare routine, understanding when and how much to tip someone, and so much more.
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We're back with season two of the podcast, which means more opportunities to glow up and become a more responsible and better adult, one life lesson at a time.
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And let me just tell you, this show is just as much for us as it is for you.
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So let's figure this stuff out together.
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This season, we're going to talk about whether or not we're financially and emotionally ready for dog ownership.
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 We're going to figure out the benefits of a high yield savings account.
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And what exactly are the duties of being a member of the wedding party?
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All that plus so much more.
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Let's learn about all of it and then some.
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Listen to Grown Up Stuff How to Adult on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 Now tip three, for those of you working remotely and for those of you who now have more flexibility in when and how you work, notice what work habits help you be the most focused and productive.
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And guess what?
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It's often not just more time on task.
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It's not as simple as working more hours.
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For those who are juggling two careers and kids in their house or a single parent house where you're doing everything, you don't have extra hours, I get it.
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 So lots of people are by necessity having to figure out how to be more productive in less time.
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And that means creating more focus.
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So use this chance to notice what's working for you.
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What's making you more productive?
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Many people are realizing that when they focus, they can get the same amount of work done in seven hours as they used to need nine hours in the office, right?
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It's the old saying that a task will take as long as you have to do it.
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If you have an hour, it will take an hour.
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If you have 20 minutes, it will take 20 minutes.
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 So when you do go back to a more normal work environment, what this will do is noticing what habits help you be more efficient and effective will help you be better at your job and balancing that with the rest of your life.
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I've heard so many friends say, with kids and family, that actually they are much more productive working from home.
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Or maybe some are saying, actually, I'm much more productive working from the office, and that makes you more grateful for the office when before you sometimes said, I wish I could work from home.
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 So maybe you can spend more time with your kids or with your boyfriend or girlfriend or with a hobby or building your new business with that spare time.
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Cal Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of books Deep Work and Digital Minimalism.
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He says that one way to be more productive during fewer hours is to cultivate periods of intense focus.
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 These could be as short as 45 minutes or as long as 90 minutes, after which you take a short break that's relative to the amount of focus time you worked on.
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So if you worked for 45 minutes, you might take a five-minute break.
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Or if you worked 75 minutes, you might take a 15-minute break to get some tea or snack or stretch or check social media.
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Ideally, not that last one because it can turn into a real rabbit hole.
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 You can carve your day up into these focused work break cycles.
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And it's so important to have regular breaks.
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I can't stress to you enough how one of the biggest mistakes we make in our days is that we don't have breaks set up.
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 The point is that you don't do anything else during your focus time.
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If your kid needs something or your dog desperately needs to go out, I know you don't always have that luxury.
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But as much as possible, try not to let anything disrupt those periods.
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That's a method lots of people are using right now, breaking up that time since they can't be at their desk in the office for 8 or 9 or 10 hours.
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 and people are shocked at how much more effective they can be in less time.
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That's a habit you can cultivate and take back to work with you.
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 And according to Rahaf Harfouch, who is a digital anthropologist and the author of the book, Hustle and Float, that's really the best way for knowledge workers to work.
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A lot of us these days are knowledge workers.
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We don't work in factories or in direct consumer service like at a retail store, though of course many still do.
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We work with information.
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Our jobs require a blend of productivity and creativity.
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In Hustle and Float, Rahaf Harfouch breaks down the history of our workdays.
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 During the industrial revolution, lots of people came off the farms and went to work in factories, working long hours for little pay.
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Finally, with the creation of workers' unions, workers in many countries won the right to an 8-hour day.
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The data supported the fact that working beyond that was not only not good for workers' health and vitality, it was also bad for their performance.
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 It was so bad in fact that studies showed that factories where workers worked longer than 8 hours actually had lower profits and productivity than those where the workers limited shifts to 8 hours.
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But here's where it really gets fascinating.
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Harfouche and her team were interested