5 Activities You Think Bring Career Certainty But Won't (And What Actually Will)

Over 200,000 layoffs in tech in 2023 so far, and 80,000 cuts in the USA in May alone. Continued talk of recession and a possible housing bubble about to burst or bubble more, the world seems more and more uncertain. How can you create certainty in your career let alone any part of your life in this environment?

In this episode, I reveal the 5 Activities You're Likely doing to create that certainty that are a complete waste of time. In the end, I reveal the 1 thing that does create certainty.

I then share two ways you how you can create that certainty:

1. My Fire Proof Life Shield Masterclass. You can get the recording at justinwenck.com/fireproof.
2. It's also Exercise 2 in my Best-Selling Book "Engineered to Love" which you can get from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. 

Overcome the daily grind with transformative techniques from Justin's book, 'Engineered to Love.'

These practices aren't just about finding peace—they're about reconnecting with yourself and the world around you in meaningful ways.

Access your free materials today at engineeredtolove.com/sample and start living a life filled with joy, ease, and love. 

Watch the full video episode at Justin Wenck, Ph.D. YouTube Channel!

Check out my best-selling book "Engineered to Love: Going Beyond Success to Fulfillment" also available on Audiobook on all streaming platforms! Go to https://www.engineeredtolove.com/ to learn more!

Got a question or comment about the show? E-mail me at podcast@justinwenck.com.

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Transcript

Unknown: 0:07

Hi, I'm Justin Wenck, PhD, and you're listening to the engineering emotions and energy podcast. Are you ready to bust burnout, pursue your passion have more time, money, energy, and relationships you actually love, including the relationship with yourself. If so, then this podcast is for you. I'm a best selling author, coach, consultant, speaker, and a leader in transforming people's lives from living in fear, obligation and guilt, to living a life of joy, ease and love. What's most important is that I can teach you all this in a way that's enjoyable, easy, fast, and can actually last, let's begin. All right, welcome to the show. I'm Justin Wenck. PhD, today, I'm going to be talking about the five things you're likely doing that you think will bring career certainty, but they're actually a complete waste of your time, as far as getting career and life certainty, not telling you that they might not have bring other value, but they're not bringing you the value that you think they are. And then also reveal what will actually bring you certainty in your career and your life. But first, just you know, it's been a while since I've done a podcast, so let's get to know each other, let's catch up. And it's been a while one of the things that I love about podcasts and other radio shows is getting to know about, you know, my, my hosts, what they're up to what they've what's been going on and things like that. So yeah, and part of that is going to be related to this this topic. Because, you know, you might be listening to the news or watching articles or YouTubing, or talking the latest of what's going on in the world and the country is one of the things that keeps coming up, at least that I see. And I know a lot of people my circle see is all about layoffs in the economy, I was just looking in 2023. So far, there's already been over 200,000 layoffs in the tech industry alone in across the board, there's been 80,000 cuts in May in May alone. So it's like, you know, doesn't look like this is necessarily gonna slow down. And then there's always the talk of like, you know, interest rates going up and, you know, inflation and what about the recession? And there's a housing bubble? And is it going to burst or not burst? Can somebody buy a home, sell a home, just all this, all this worry, all of this uncertainty. And I have been impacted myself, because I still work at a tech company. And just a few weeks ago, they had a round of layoffs, they actually announced that like four months before, there's four months of knowing that 10% of people are going to get cut, but we're not knowing which 10% Or even when, and so many of my co workers are stressed out and frustrated. And I realized that I was never worried I was never bothered. I was never frustrated even the day that it was happening. And somebody on my team got got let go. I was just like, oh, that's what's happening. Oh, it's sad that someone that I've worked with for many, many years isn't going to be here anymore. Yet I I knew that they were going to be okay. And I was wondering like, do they know that they're going to be okay? Because they knew I was going to be okay, no matter what. And I was also pretty confident that I wouldn't get laid off. Because I know the value I bring in even I did because I know the value I bring. I wasn't worried. So I'm like I don't want people to worry about and that's what a lot of this episode is. So be getting into the things that you're probably doing. that haven't been they do not and will not ever work. And I'll talk about what does actually work. Some other stuff that's been going on in my life is Yeah, so for the book, the books been doing great continue to get more five star reviews on Amazon I just saw it's also available on Barnes and Noble now, so if you're not a fan of Amazon, you can go check out engineered to love going beyond success on Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon. But the big, the big news, the exciting news is for those of you that aren't readers, I know I read most of my books, I listening to them lately. So if you're one of those like me, or you just you can't read you never did for whatever reason, or you just don't like to read the audio book is on the way it's been recorded. And I just got the audio back a few days ago from the editor and I was listening to it on my way to a little trip which I'll talk a little bit about and I'm like this I did a good fucking job. So I recorded my own my own audiobook because I figured you guys want to you want to hear my book, you probably want to hear me read it. I mean, especially do this podcast. And I added some extra stuff, some extra stories, some extra fun, some extra tidbits. So even if you already did get the paperback or the Kindle, it's going to be worth checking out just for a little you know some behind the scenes some added stuff. You get to hear how I read it. Already my my publisher was listening to it and it was like, Oh my gosh, this is really good like you are putting on a performance It's so funny. So I'm, I'm excited. So as soon as that launches, we'll let you know. But you know, make sure you're on like my one of my mailing lists, however you get that I think they still have engineered to love.com/vip I think that's still a thing. So if you want to make sure you don't miss out on, just make sure you're following me on social media. So I'm really excited about that. And the other thing is, like, good as I finally got a chance to take a couple days to just really relax and unwind. Because I'll be I'll be honest, like the past, like, you know, one or two months has been pretty, pretty jam packed as much as I do my best to always find time to, you know, always get my Chi Gong and, and other meditative practices and keep my exercise going. It's like with the book launch, then going into my grandmother dying to fill layoffs, shit starts to build up, right like, and sometimes we just need a little bit extra, a little bit more to relax, recharge, and reconnect, then maybe whatever our normal protocol is. And if you don't have a normal protocol, I'd encourage you to maybe, you know, pick up pick up my book, which is going to have a lot of great ways for you to relax, which, as I mentioned, is one of the most powerful states of being any human can possibly be. And because that's when you have access to all of you, you know, all of you not just your logical mind, which in some ways is your logical mind is it going to want to hear this because it's the one that's going to come up with all the reasons of why it's wrong, as is one of the dumbest parts about you, it's, it's not able to see the big picture. Whereas when you get relaxed, you can bring together your logical mind, your heart, your emotions, your intuition, your bodily know how all that. And you have so many more options, and so much more capability when you are relaxed than when you are a busy busy bundle of nerves and stress. And so as they will do with this Fourth of July holiday weekend, here in the US, I'm actually recording this on Fourth of July. So there's a chance you might hear some boom, pop Xang do pop up because I met I do live in a city where they allow illegal fireworks. And so I've already heard some today, so you might hear some where you might not. So we'll we'll see. So yeah, so get today off and then also yesterday off, which is so basically a four day weekend. So I was just planning to go to a hot springs on Monday. But I was like looking up, and I saw that they had an availability to spend the night. And usually you have to spend two nights at this place. Because it's like so busy, and they they can get away with it, basically, but they had a availability for one night. But I wasn't able to book online because again, the system is like no, I'm holiday weekends and weekends in general, you have to spend two nights. Sounds like I'm gonna call up I bet I bet they'll rent this to me and I call and go hey, I see you have availability for the one place when one night can I get that? And she's like, Yeah, absolutely. It's yours. I'm like, Well, how soon can I get there? Or you can come as early as 7am and start enjoying the hotsprings and the facilities as like, oh, okay, cool. So I plan to just go for a day trip and spin like maybe six hours this place, but I really got like 24 total hours of have, you know, this naturally fed mineral hotspring water, some of it's incredibly hot. And then they have cold plunges. And if you've never had an opportunity to do like hot, hot water to cold water plunge. It just it does something for one I one thing I know it absolutely does is it at least cold water plunging it will sort of exercise the lymphatic system, which is kind of like the body's waste system. So that's why Yeah, cold because it contracts your muscles, which is going to purge all that. Also, you know, jumping, running stuff that also helps the lymphatic system. So there's that benefit, but there's just something about where it just gets you out of your head and into your body into the present. And then just being out in nature. Nature is such a phenomenal healing type of environment. And it's always able to sort of bring you into the moment because I went on like a little hike. And this was like, on my way I stopped on the way into like a little place because the place I went is like outside of Calistoga, California, just like wine country, you know, some of the wine country out in Napa type areas, whatever. So it's a way that the top of the hill overlooking Calistoga and the valley looking east and I'm walking in and I just like Oh, I'm gonna slow down and just appreciate the trees and the light coming in. And then I hear like a little bit of a rustling and I just stop. And I look to my right. And I immediately make eye contact with like this. This baby deer. This big giant floppy yours and it's just staring at me. I'm staring at it. You probably just stared at each other for about five minutes, not more than 100 feet apart which for you know, a suburban city type like me it's you know, other than being at a zoo or something that's about as close to the large wildlife as I'm comfortable with just Being there being present with nature and nature, having gotten my attention to say, hey, stop, slow down, you're here. And recognizing that probably wherever you are, there's some way you can get some amount of nature, like maybe you can't drive two plus hours to go way out into the hills where there's natural hotsprings. And that, but even if you're in a city, and there's just, you know, a little community garden, or some a tree that birds fly and land on, or squirrels go up and down, or maybe there's some some bugs doing some action. And there's always some nature, no, no matter what, no matter how manmade, our surroundings are, there's usually some nature that persists because that's just kind of how nature rolls, you can't stop it. And we are part of nature. And I think there to remind us that it can't stop what really is important to us. And it's often not being busy not being stressed out, not being frustrated. So with that, I'm back from my relaxing hotspring time where I get to connect with myself and also connect with some some amazing, amazing, beautiful people to the hotsprings Agha to his clothing optional, which is, I really enjoy because there's no fussing, no fussing with the clothes and getting in and out of things. And then just getting to see people in their their natural state and there's something about the more we really get to see people with less stuff put on whether that's beliefs that don't fit them or, or clothes that don't fit them, just the more we get to see how somebody is truly authentically just how they are, there's just always a certain beauty no matter no matter what it is, whether it's what would be our ideal, or how we would want it. And I think that kind of goes with, you know, given people, you know, some respect and some love, you know, no matter what they what they believe, whether we agree with them or don't agree with them, just appreciating them for being their unique selves. And I think that's kind of one of the lessons of going to a wonderful hotsprings where people can can dress however they they feel called. And yeah, so getting to connect with some amazing, amazing people there and having some great conversations and some great, great loving connection out in nature and just being soaked in waters that the Earth has heated up itself and added some beautiful extra mineral content. It's like oh my gosh, and my skin never felt so, so amazing, and so wonderful. So it was just really, really awesome. So that brings us to so what is not helping you feel certain in your career? And in your life? What are the five things? What are the five things that you are have likely been doing? That they might have some impact, but they're not, they're not making you feel secure in these uncertain times. So the first thing is working harder, longer hours sacrificing, we think that oh my gosh, there's there's fear, maybe I just gotta work harder, I gotta do more, I got to do more, I got to do more, I got to sacrifice. And then I'll be seen, it doesn't do it. Because the thing is, what are you working harder on. And I say this in my book, I like to say this a lot about hard work. I say fuck hard work. Because hard work is not a virtue. If you're doing something that matters, that is important. That is a value. Yes, you might put in an effort and discipline, it's going to bring a certain amount of satisfaction, but just putting in more hours towards something that could be pointless, could have no value. That's not going to make make you more employable, it's not going to make you more valued and less likely to get laid off. It's not going to make sure that your clients don't leave you. Because again, it doesn't matter. Nobody gives a shit. I'm just going to be real plain real blunt here. Nobody gives a shit about how hard you worked. I always hate when, you know, like, I'm somewhere like I've, I've gone to a retreat, or I've paid for something and they go like we put in so much hard work. And like I don't give a shit. It's either good or it's not. If it's good, and it took you two minutes. Good on you. But if you worked your ass off, and it was awful, shame on you like, what are ways that you put that much time effort into something that didn't bring value? So it's not, it's not how hard you work? It's not how long you work. It's not what you give up. It's what do you deliver. So that number one is working harder. So that in and of itself. If you're not working hard on something that matters, it doesn't matter. Second thing that you might be focusing on have focused on to think this is going to this is going to do the thing, this is going to make sure that I'm secure, they're never going to get rid of me or I'm going to always be able to get a better job because of this. It's certifications so whether that's degrees, whether that's you know, a certificate in something like like, Oh, I'll get a coaching certificate or I'll get a certificate in data analytics or, or more skills, and you might be able to like well Justin, like easy for you to say you have a PhD in electrical engineering, you've got your yoga teacher trainings and this and all these other, you got all these. It's true. And so I know how worthless they can be as far as making you feel secure. Because as much as those things help you, they can also be a hindrance, because they can always be used as a thing of like, well, maybe this person's too qualified, or maybe we'd have to pay them too much. Or maybe we don't know how to do with them what they really want to do. And the other thing is most, a lot of certifications, a lot of skills, again, if you don't know what you're trying to get at a complete waste. So it's, you know, it's like, I can go get more certifications. But if I'm not actually working with anybody, they're of no value. And so again, it's like, you know, someone who's done lots of hiring for companies over the years, the the number of people that you know, even have degrees at top universities, they actually can't do anything with it. It's astounding, or is, again, it's what do you deliver, you know, if you have no formal education, no formal certifications, but you can get something done a value, then somebody's going to do that. And again, if you need someone outside of you to tell you that you're worthwhile, then you're effectively telling yourself and you're telling other people that you're not worthwhile. So again, this is the second thing, more degrees certification skills, not going to secure you, in your job, and your career in your life, just not going to do it. The third thing, so got three more things, is basically just doing what you're told, following directions, whatever they say, you know, when I say jump, you sit, you ask how high that type of shit, that old, you know, my, my dad was in the Marine Corps. And that's how he was brought up. And that's, you know, he's basically just do exactly what you're told, when you're told if someone in charge says it, you do it, that's also not gonna help you have your career be secure. No, you're not going to feel better. Just one quote I'm doing, you know, because you probably know whether the person that you're taking orders from is full of shit or not. I've had many managers, where it's like, I knew that this person was not well respected in my in my group, and really didn't matter if I made him happy. There were other people that there's their opinion mattered more. So it really is about who's whose orders, who instructions are you following into what purpose? Because again, eventually somebody is going to go, all of this stuff being done. Does this add value? Is this what we want? Is this making our organization better? Is this making profit? Is this making it easier to to get things done? Is this person enjoyable? And if you're just doing a bunch of stuff that somebody says that eventually somebody decides, like, everything that this person has to do with including you is no longer needed? Or wanted or desired, you're gone. And you probably know this, on some level, you know, you know, this is true. And so just blindly following orders. You know, there's, who else in history has blindly followed orders? And how are they looked upon in history. So it's about being discerning. I once had a principal engineer I worked for, and he told me, when my boss who's the director, tells me what to do, I wait for him to tell me three times, if he tells me three times that I know that's probably actually important, otherwise, they just ignore it. So you can get very, very high up. And actually, you're more likely to get very high up, if you are discerning about what you do, what instructions you follow, I am really big on, hey, is this gonna add value and I use, I use my mind, and I use my intuition. And you know, because I'm relaxed, I'm not just busy, so I can see the bigger picture and go, Is this going to do something that matters? And if the answer is no, and this is where having great communication skills comes in, and I have phenomenal communication skills, and if you don't, there's lots of ways to improve your communication skills, I would consider that as probably something that would actually be beneficial as improving your communication skills. Somebody that's a little a little side bonus. I find ways to skillfully figure out how to communicate, hey, maybe let's do something else, or just don't do it. And it's wasn't important, it usually doesn't come back. So that's the third thing. So the fourth thing is expecting that it's going to get easier if something else happens. Like if you get more money if you get promoted, if the accompany merges if the stock goes public, if if only if only if only. So this expectation that something outside of you is going to make it easier. I got news for you, it won't. Because you've probably experienced things happening, you know, where you did get a raise, or you did get promoted or something did awesome happen with your company? You know, where the stock market did go up? 30% Did you feel more secure, that you really in your heart feel more secure? Because I know before I learned the secret that I'm going to reveal at the end of this episode. I didn't. I didn't even though I kind of think I already revealed the secret a little bit At the beginning, but that's okay, you can always hear it more and more. So yeah, just expecting that something is going to happen. And it's going to be like a magic wand and everything's going to be better. There is no magic wand outside of you, there is nobody that is going to bestow something that is going to let you feel like you're secure. Like he finally made it. It's a lie. It's an illusion. There is no quote unquote, making it, there is no making it. Not from anything external. So that's the fourth thing that is not bringing you career certainty. It's not bringing you live certainty. So what's the fifth thing? The fifth is just pretending that you're not worried that you're not uncertain and just hoping, wishing, praying that it's all going to be okay. Just being that ostrich with the head in the sand. And just like, No, there's layoffs, nope, not it's not happening. Note what happened to me. If it does happen to me, I'm gonna be fine. It doesn't work, you got to acknowledge your fears, you got to acknowledge the uncertainty, and then you got to work with it. So you can't, you can't just ignore it, it's gnawing at you as much you try to ignore it, part of you knows, and it's worrying. And you're soon going to be doing things to soothe yourself, like eating too much. using substances, maybe making bad choices in relationships, maybe doing some of the other things like cheating, or working harder, trying to get more skills, certifications, whether they actually make sense or not just following instructions, you're gonna be doing all these things that I've been talking about that don't work, if you don't actually get to the root of what will work. So now, you know, the five things that don't work, you know, just working harder, longer hours sacrificing, that doesn't work, you know that the second thing more degrees, certifications, that doesn't work. The third thing I said that doesn't work, is doing everything, as you're told, that doesn't work. The fourth is just expecting that something external is going to happen to solve your problems, that doesn't work. And then the fifth and final thing that doesn't work is just pretending that it's all going to be okay, and that you're not worried. And again, I'm not saying that any of these things are bad, you can totally do these things. Because they do have certain payoffs. So they can get you to certain places, if you're clear on where you want to go, and you're going to utilize them properly. But if just when we're talking about and making you feel certain, feel secure, feel like I'm okay in life, and I'm always going to be okay, they aren't going to do that they will have impact in your life. But they're not going to have the impact of making you feel at peace, feel it secure and feeling good enough. So what does work, what does allow you to actually feel good enough to feel secure, to feel certain in this uncertain environment where 200,000 people have been laid off already this year that there's a possible housing bubble going to crash, that the recession is just around the corner, and the value of the dollar could go? Who knows where, like in all of this? What's the one thing that you can do that let you feel like, I'm going to be okay, I'm going to be okay, I know that I've got skills. It's basically it's so simple, simple does not mean easy. Simple, does not mean straightforward. Simple, does not mean obvious. But simple is simple. And the simple truth is that if you know who you are, and where you've been, you are going to know that you are have been and always will be, okay. So if you know how you've gotten to where you are, you know that you can always get back here, quicker, easier, faster. Problem is that you've been so overwhelmed, and so concerned about where you need to go, that you've forgotten where you are and how you got here. When you stop and look clearly at where you are in your life, what you've accomplished, what you've done, who you are, all that you bring all who you know, all that you can possibly become all the ways you've adapted all the experiences you've had in life. Once you are conscious of that you are indestructible, you are what I like to call, fireproof, which means that even if you got fired, you're going to roll off, you're going to be like Teflon, you're going to be bulletproof, and you are going to be fine because you've gotten to where you are today. And if you look back and see all of the shit that you've gone through, all the challenge, all the struggle, all the heartache, all of the grief, all of the accomplishment, all of the triumph, that if you did get fired, or if you have been fired, there's nothing to worry about because you've overcome way worse. And you got to where you are where you are listening to this today. And because you're listening to this today, you are ultimately you are fine. You are okay you are breathing, you are listening, you are thinking you are feeling and there is opportunity to get back to where you were and beyond and beyond. That's a whole other topic and that's something that I do love to talk about, but I want to give you the gift of knowing where you are. So how do you actually do that? How do you actually stop look and know Know who you are, where you are, and be able to really take that in and assimilate that into your state of being so that, you know, oh my gosh, I'm going to be fine. Like I know my value. Because a lot of times we think that the value is, is what others will place on on what we do No, no, you get the value that you put on your value. So if you don't value it, nobody else will. You've seen this, there's plenty of people that offer the same type of service, same type of, let's take massage therapy, for example. You know, is there a little bit of variation that actually there's a huge variation, but I'm sure you've, you know, maybe some of you get massage, maybe some of you don't, I've gotten a lot of massage over the year, but I didn't get my first massage until I think I turned like 29 or 30 as a gift. Because I was like, I don't deserve that. No. And once I did, I'm like, I deserve this. So I've had range of massages, of price and quality. And price does not always go with quality. The price is whatever the therapist believes it is worth. And then there's, you know the quality that I that I discerned as the customer, but you get what you believe you deserve. If you believe you deserve top rate, you can get top rate, if you don't, you could be the best in the world. But if you don't believe you deserve the best in class compensation, you're not going to get it period in the story. So how do you actually learn to value your value as this complete human that has done so much. And I'm going to hint at it. So this is this is where, again, it's you know who you are. And you know what, where you've been. And there's two ways that I can help you. One is it's in my book, it's exercise two, it's all about doing a complete life inventory. So you just go get engineered to love from going beyond success to fulfillment, you get that either on Amazon or Barnes and Noble exercise to you do that exercise, you are going to feel fucking phenomenal. And you're going to have so much that you can bump up your resume, you can put together an amazing bio, and you're gonna know your value. And you're gonna be like, You know what, there's nothing to worry about. So there's that. And I also recently did a masterclass called fireproof life shield to help people feel certain in uncertain times in their career. And so if you want to find out when the next one of those is going to be, I highly recommend doing it with me live, or if you just want the recording there, because the recording turned out phenomenal. So you can go to Justin wenck.com, forward slash fireproof. So that'll be in the show notes. So those those are some ways, again, these things are super, super low cost, but you're gonna have to put in a little time a little bit of effort, it's not going to be hard work. It's not going to be hard work. But it is going to take a little effort, a little bit of discipline, and you're going to feel so good. So satisfied. So glad you did. Because you're actually going to be doing something that makes you feel like you're secure. Like you're certain that everything's going to work out, no matter what's going on in the world around you. You are solid and secure in knowing that you are have been and always will be. Okay. So with that, I do thank you so much for listening. It's been fantastic to be getting back into doing these podcasts and getting out more after you know, kind of going through the the challenges and the grief of losing my grandmother after my book launch, which you know, brought up you know, the passing of my mom, which happened it's not hasn't even been a year. So it's it's good to be back getting out there getting the word out so that people can feel phenomenal, even when it might seem like the world is falling apart around you. As much as it might seem like it to the world. There's a lot to be amazed and grateful with in the world when you start to look for it. And as you see the amazingness in you, you will see the amazingness in the outer world start to come more and more. And it's one of those is the little by little try it out. Try it out. Try it out. And with that thank you and good day