The Career Clarity Check You’ve Been Avoiding

🎧Are you truly growing or just comfortably coasting? Let’s take an honest raw look at where your actual time is going every single week.

Are you stuck in the loop of overthinking, over-polishing, and waiting for the “right moment” to finally take action? In this episode of Clarity With Carole, we’re unpacking why perfectionism keeps mid-career professionals stuck and how choosing progress over perfect is the real key to unlocking momentum.

✨ Free Resource: Grab your copy of Carole’s Clarity Snapshot 🧭 — a simple, action-oriented tool that helps you reflect, realign, and map your very first step forward. 
https://stan.store/RyCath/p/get-caroles-clarity-snapshot-now

You’ll learn:
✨ Why perfection slows your career growth more than you think
✨ Three practical ways to move forward - even when things feel messy
✨ How to break the habits that keep high achievers playing small

If you’ve ever felt behind, overlooked, or frustrated with your own pace, this episode is your reset. You don’t need a flawless plan. You just need movement.

#clarity #careerclarity #career #mindsetshift #uppbeat #progress #perfect 

Listen now and take one small step toward the career you actually want.
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Transcript

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You know that feeling when you've done everything right? The education, the promotions, the late nights, the hard work. You've played by all the rules, you've hit your goals, and yet something still feels off. So in this episode, we're gonna talk about three things. So why perfectionism holds high achievers back, especially in mid-career? How to know if you've outgrown your current seed and what really to do next. So three clarity habits to help you move forward when everything feels messy is even the third one. And I find that one like really compelling, you know, the messy part of it all. So part one, you know, why do you keep chasing when you feel stuck, right? So let's start here. So for years, you know, I equated success with being flawless. You know, every presentation had to sparkle, every email had to be crafted just perfectly, every project had to be bulletproof. And after three decades of leading teams, navigating change, and helping professionals, I can tell you the most important thing that people never, never say out loud. And this perfection does not move your career forward, but progress does. Perfectionism really is performance-based, whereas progress is growth-based. And it took me a while, probably just pre-COVID, to kind of land in that growth-based mindset. I was very much up until and in full denial, by the way, up until that point, uh, to be very much perfection-based at performance when in reality progress is and growth is really a place that you want to be living in. So the idea here is that perfectionism says that you don't move until it's perfect, whereas progress says, move and learn as you go. And with good coaches and with people that you're working on, you're going to learn all kinds of things. And especially in the current state of AI, there's so much to be uh gleaned in terms of extra information. So, what's the difference? Well, it's everything, you know, because in today's world, people who move forward aren't the ones who get everything right, right? They're the ones who can adapt, can be agile, and really move forward that way. But because the market changes daily and technology changes all the time, I'd say roles evolve faster and really sort of uh outpace the job description that you can keep up with. So companies don't always reward flawless execution anymore, but they reward learning with agility, initiative, and resilience, and they coach towards that. And so if you're in mid-career and you feel just the least bit disoriented, um, you want to build a reputation that's not just on excellence and but you should build it more on experimentation, things that you're trying new things and you're gonna see what's working and um, you know, and get some path moving because sometimes action is so much better than just trying to make things perfect each and every time. The career ladder we grew up with, you know, has really turned into a full-on jungle gym. So there's no really clear next wrong. Titles don't mean what they used to, and the younger professionals are really moving fast, often skipping steps of who's worked for decades, really to climb into certain types of roles. So even if you thought, am I behind? Well, you're not. Uh, you're just in a market that values some adaptability, some agility, and really the visibility over perfection. So I think those are things that we should probably, you know, hope to work towards. Um, AI also can help automate those skills, but it can't replace your judgment, your relationships, and your leadership. But use it to your advantage, right? Get in there, ask it questions, ask if that's the best that it can do, give it ideas, and that will help track your attention to what you can do to put something out there more deliberately and just give it a try and see if that's gonna, you know, help move along your action-oriented mindset. So professionals who thrive in this new era of AI and this new era of action really aren't the ones who are playing it safe. You know, they're the ones that are learning out loud, taking imperfect action, and really staying curious. So, why do this mess message really matter, I think, to you guys, is because perfectionism is the same mindset that helped you succeed early in your career, but now might be the very thing that's holding you back and holding your back into your next chapter. So the next place that I really want to focus on, and this is actually my blog is all about this. So if you want to click on the show notes below, it really is attentive to whether or not you are in the right seat. And the real statement there is are you just in the familiar one? So something to think about, right? The right seat or the familiar one. So mid-career oftentimes is a crossroads for us, uh, you know, career professionals. So if you've proven yourself, you're competent, but maybe even excellent, uh, sometimes the seat that you've mastered isn't the seat that you're meant to stay in. So here's a question I ask leaders when I coach them all the time. Are you in the right seat? Or it's just the one that you've learned to do really well. So something to think about. Again, are you in the right seat or just the one you've learned to do really well? If you find yourself more focused on maintaining perfection than exploring growth, then it might be time for you to reevaluate your seat and take a look at where you're going in your next career. And sometimes that career could be lateral, upward, or change in industry altogether, but you have to kind of take a peek at that seat and what makes sense to you. So sometimes those seat changes, sometimes it's the company that changes, but more often than not, it is you. And so you have to work on yourself and your self-reflection. So what I would ask in the show notes below, I've got a Claro, Carol's Clarity Notes that if you want to fill that out, it's gonna ask you some really pointant questions and something for you to be able to work a little bit more on for your own self-development. Because it requires letting go of the old version of success that you had in mind for yourself. So you have to make space in your mind for something that is gonna be new or calling you to that next career move. So the third part that I thought we would cover today is really three clarity habits that help you move forward, right? Even when it's messy. Messy can be fun sometimes, but you know, I want you to get used to that in your in your mind as to what that really looks like. So the first one is to really reflect before you react, right? So when feeling things feel uncertain and they don't default to what you're doing anymore, pause and ask yourself, am I doing this to look perfect or to make progress? And that one question can change everything. So take some time in Carol's clarity notes to sort of write that down. And again, I'm gonna ask the question Am I doing this to look perfect or to make progress? The second step is to really simplify your next step. So instead of overhauling everything, identify just one small shift that would make your week lighter and really more meaningful. So that could be asking for feedback from others, you know, setting up meetings with either peers or leaders that you might want to have feedback from. And then that's raising your hand for stretch projects. That way, that way you can kind of see, all right, am I ready to try something new? Do I feel uncomfortable with this new stretch project? Uh, how much did I learn in this stretch project? And not only that, did you have a small moment of failure, but failure helped you learn a heck of a lot more in what you would do next and do it again and the lessons learned on your path forward. So progress really compounds, you know. So one small move is gonna build your momentum going forward. So just keep keep that in mind. Stretch projects, ask for feedback, and then help that sort of cultivate where you think your next seed is gonna be. And the last one, it's a really good place of reflection, actually. I do this um even myself, is to really revisit the value that you're bringing every day, right? You've you've evolved, uh, but your career decisions are kind of are they keeping pace, right? Are your career decisions keeping pace? So reconnecting with what makes you you, right? Your strengths, your story, your spark, your your genius, right? You hear that with uh Patrick Lincioni has the working genius, and he talks about what is that that thing that just gives you the greatest amount of joy. So if you go back, it's your strengths, your story, your spark, and that that sort of thing that sort of makes you happy every single day when you're working. So when you own that value, clarity is gonna follow. It really will. So if you can own it, understand it, describe it, do an elevator pitch on it if you have to, but that's all super helpful uh in the path ahead. So a couple of things, just a moment to take a step back and do like a little mini pep talk. You don't get clarity from waiting for perfect conditions, really. You get it from moving, from learning and adjusting all along the way. And perfection is just like a safety net in the past. Your progress is your launch pad now. So if what's keeping you in your career is holding you back, then your confidence is what is that needs to keep you on the path forward. So here's some closing notes that I want to just pass with you on for today. So in this episode, one of the things that we touched on is Carol's clarity notes. So click on the link below and you'll have the opportunity to write a few notes down, uh, describe your value, take some pause in your life to see if you're just comfortable in your current seat or you're interested in moving forward. So where perfectionism might be slowing you down, uh, walk yourself through that, figure out how you would know if you've outgrown your current seat. And there are three prompts that you should keep in mind when you want to get unstuck and move forward, even when it's messy. So write those down in Chat GPT, uh, Claude, you can use um Gemini, Copilot, just use three things that might get you prompt and unstuck and ask it, just say, what are three things that I can do this week to change from being comfortable in my seat to doing something new that I want to do in my job or in my career. So, because of this, I want you to download again Carol's Clarity Notes, and that will end up uh helping you just sort of like write down some thoughts. So, at the end of all this, really, I just want to make sure that you remember that clarity isn't found in chasing perfect outcomes. It's built on really going through in perfect progress, consistent reflection, and the courage to realign in finding yourself in a new seat. Because your next chapter does not need to be perfect. You just need to begin. So take action today. Thank you so much for joining me today on Clarity with Carol. And remember that Clarity isn't found in perfect timing or flawless plans. It's built through progress, reflection, and courage. And I want you to keep moving, even if it's messy.