In this episode, Haysing Han, founder of H. Manifest joins Brian to talk about the ways productivity should create capacity to advance your life & career. If you only give 110% to your tasks, without any capacity left to network, or meet with a mentor, then you’ll only ever get more tasks instead of advancement.

Today’s Guest

Haysing Han
Founder of H.Manifest Inc.

hmanifest.com/

instagram.com/haysing_han

facebook.com/haysing.han.2

Haysing Han is a certified high-performance coach with 25 years of corporate experience. She was also a research and analytics consultant for top two things in Canada and United Airlines in the US.

You can learn more about Haysing and book a free call with her here.

Life Balance and Personal Productivity To Create Promotion

For Employees

• Most people rate themselves as really high on productivity because they complete their work. But if you are known to be an effective and productive person, does that just mean that you’re given more work? Or that you’re also leveling up?

  Many people may not be able to tell the difference between you giving your 80% and your 110% at all of the tasks that are assigned to you. But if you work with a mentor and people who can help advance your career it may result in more meaningful work, not just more of the same work.

  Clarity and alignment between the way you’re spending your time with the direction you want to go professionally in your career is big! Reflect for a moment, do you have that? If you showed your calendar to someone, would you be able to point to where you’re putting time and effort into your own advancement?

  What do you really want?

• Can you visualize it?

• Can you dream about it?

• Would that income do exactly what you want to do?

• What are you going to do to make it more meaningful for you?

  You have to be crystal clear about what you want to avoid having years go by and feeling the burnout or like you didn’t go anywhere.

For Front-Line Supervisors & Managers

A high performing manager doesn’t just focus on the tasks. They recognize the “long game” for each of the people under them, and help with the clarity and progress toward that.

• In terms of leadership, how are you going to grow your team. Thinking you’re just going to keep everyone where they are, and avoid change, will not move you in a positive direction.

• A manager’s role is often to help their team to think differently. Supporting the creation of a working life balance as a whole person, not just for the hours they are at work.

• A manager’s role is to actively have the conversation about personal development objective. So then they actually feel like they have permission to set aside an hour or two hours every day to grow in a new skill set.

Most importantly, managers should take a look around, if your team has been the same faces for years, and you have motivated people who want to grow and advance, this is a problem, and you’re the main person who can help or hinder solving that.

Video

The Audio/Podcast

About The Creator/Host: I’m Brian. At age 4, I was diagnosed with insulin dependent (type 1) diabetes and told that my life was going to be 10-20 years shorter than everyone else. As a kid I took time for granted, but now as an adult, time is the most precious thing that I have. I created Productivity Gladiator because I saw what a difference it made for employees to improve their productivity, improve their life balance, and live their best life right now, today, not wait until retirement. Thanks for checking out Productivity Gladiator! Time is the currency of your life, spend it wisely.

Episode Transcript

00:00

Productivity Gladiator.

00:06

I'm Brian Nelson Palmer. On this show, we talk about life balance and personal productivity. It's about leveling up the person as a whole with the topics that help it both work and at home. In this episode, I want to dig into the idea that productivity should create capacity to advance your life and career, not create more work, but create more meaningful work and more life balance.

00:33

I think the show will be especially irrelevant for the ladies actually, because with me today on the show is Haysing Han. She's a certified high-performance coach and the founder of H-Manifest. Haysing, thanks so much for joining me on the show today. Tell folks a little bit about how you're kind of related to our topic today. So thanks for having me. As Brian said, I'm a certified high-performance coach and I like to brag a little bit here. So I'm one of the thousand premier.

01:01

certified high-performance coaches around the world. I have 25 years of corporate gig. I was research and analytics consultant for top two banks in Canada and the United Airlines in the US and I am very proud to have led many, many transformative projects, CEO mandated projects for banks. In terms of the topic, it's quite personal to me.

01:30

And then looking back, I have become a coach. I am helping high achievers in corporate and other fields. And often people become very obsessed with productivity and achieving things without really broader vision of where their career and life should go. So what ends up happening is you become really effective and really productive and what I call a lot of project queens and kings.

01:58

and it creates more and you end up being burned out and you kind of overlook important relationship you need to build. So I know that you are you have done a lot of amazing work giving people tips and tools and really focusing on how to increase productivity but I wanted to kind of take you up a notch and let's just take a look at what productivity should enable you.

02:27

to take your career and life to the next level. Ooh, that's powerful. I'm looking forward, we're gonna dive into that. I do wanna ask before we get started though, I'm curious, H-Manifest, where does that name come from? I was in love with Wayne Dyer for a while and he was my unofficial mentor. Okay. Yeah, I mean, he passed, but everything I did, I loved. So he talks about manifesting and how, like, you know, mindset and all that. So manifest is a company name that I really wanted to adopt, but...

02:55

Gosh, everybody loves that name. So the name wasn't available. So I said, I'm Heizing, so I just threw in H. H Manifest, I get it now. That's cool. Well, thanks Heizing. So this, you know, interesting in preparing for this episode, you had mentioned to me before we started that, well, let's dive into the topic. So first, employees. I like to talk to two audiences. There's the employees, and then there's the frontline supervisors and middle managers above those, right? And so let's start first.

03:25

for the employee. When it comes to our topic today about productivity should create capacity to advance your life and career, say more on what you meant with that when we talked about this. So the coaching I'm certified in, we talk about like six-related and complementary habits, behavioral things that people need to develop to become not only just good at what you do, but become really amazing at what you do without burnout.

03:54

and costing important relationships. And so there are six different things going on and productivity is one of the most important, one of the six habits. But I often find that working with my client, you could be really productive, especially people in corporate and government or any large organization. Most people rate themselves really high on productivity because they do amazing things and they're high or cheap. But...

04:23

You know, you and I both know that if you are known to be effective and productive person, they say give more important work to somebody who's productive. He or she, no matter how busy they are, will find the time to make it happen. So often what I'm trying to work with my new client is they want, they know what they don't want. They don't want to be busy. They don't want to continue to do what they don't want to do, but they don't know what they really want. So it's lacking clarity. Where do you want to go?

04:53

in your career, in your life, you know, six to 12 months, and most people say, this is what I don't want to do. And I said, that's a good start. But what do you really want? Can you visualize it? Can you dream about it? Can you tell me like income exactly what you want to do? And like, you have to be crystal clear about what you want. Otherwise, you can be really productive. Amazing. But the time you saved, what are you going to do to make it more meaningful for you? Because otherwise,

05:20

You end up working for a long time and you get burned out. And you know, when we were preparing for this, there's something really powerful you said to me, which is that the it's that not many people actually really know the difference between your 80 percent and your 110 percent. And so the reason that really stuck out to me is the concept of, OK, if I'm giving 100 percent, 110 percent at all of the tasks.

05:49

that are assigned to me and I don't keep anything left in the bank to do the networking, to find a mentor and work with a mentor to move my career ahead, then all you're left with is more work because the people who do the best work are rewarded with more work. And so if all that's happening is you're rewarded with more work and you don't keep any bandwidth left for yourself to evolve, to grow, that's the really powerful piece.

06:18

I mean, I flashback to things like what in the seven habits of highly effective people book, they call it sharpen the saw, right? That's we have to one of the seven habits is to sharpen the saw, which is about increasing your abilities or so professional development is important, but you are the only person who's going to look out for your professional develop truly. So it was really, when you said that to me, it was like one of those light bulb moments that I just, I felt like somebody smacked me upside the head. Man.

06:45

really true that like you can learn all these productivity hacks. And if you create, you know, an extra hour in your day, because you're that much more effective and you just spend that hour on more of the same that you've done for the rest of it. And you don't build on that. Oh, that was like huge. So thank you for that. Hey, so that was like, Ooh, man, that's really, that's a, it's, that's an awesome point. I like that a lot. Well, I appreciate it. It actually came from my own experience of not knowing what's good. Right. I think.

07:14

I come from large banking experience and with a lot of senior executives. And when you, I mean, you, you have a lot of audience. It's just project managers, amazing people who actually pull many different peoples of many different backgrounds to have to move forward the big project. And I said, but they talk about flawless execution. So when people hear things like that, especially you're asking me from employee perspective, flawless execution. Gosh, I got to do like.

07:44

I got to give above and beyond 110%, 100%. And in North American culture, it's like nothing ever ends. Everybody's given a smartphone, company provided, it's like you're supposed to be on seven. So I made these mistakes throughout my career and you, and often, even from our young age, you were rewarded for accomplishing something and doing something effectively, which is productivity.

08:12

So people just are conditioned to do more and more and more and more. And what I'm saying, this is great, but you have to kind of take a step back and say, what do you really want and why do you really want it? And based on like, if you look at where you are, what you really want, you're from now and you really have to take the time, schedule that timing calendar to think about it on a regular basis and, and know what the gap that you need to close.

08:42

And that's what, but then who is going to help you because nobody succeeds alone. So then what, you know, you said employee perspective, like whether it's your manager, your peer, somebody that you don't know. And we talked about strategic networking. Everybody is doing a really amazing job working with people they know within their group and their partners. That's internal day to day networking. But a lot of people don't know.

09:12

don't have time to think about who else I don't know I need to reach out in order to be truly effective. And then productivity is just an enabler for you to get there. So amazing work you're doing, but okay, let's take up take some pause. Why do you want to be productive? What are you going to do with it? What time saved? Right? So I'm also taking away it sounds like with with that time, if you're able to save an

09:41

Where is the hour on your calendar that you're going to do the strategic networking that you talked about that you're going to do, you're going to meet with a mentor or you're going to go learn a new skill that's the skill. You know how the people talk about, you have to get, you have to be doing the job or dress for the job you want or doing the job you want, or oftentimes, you know, when they put job descriptions together, they often don't say, you know, I want someone who in two years is probably going to be really good at this. Like they're looking.

10:09

for the skills that you have right now when they're interviewing you and for those opportunities. And so having those skills, where's the time in your calendar to plan your level up so that you're ready for that next level? And I want you to talk a little bit about, you mentioned specifically, why is this for women more than men? Or can you speak a little bit about that with how this comes up there? Or what have you noticed in your experience? This is not.

10:36

complaining section, session, or it does not, but this is reality. I'm trying to address something as, as is not worse than it is, but real talk in corporate setting, especially, especially like if you, as you move up the corporate ladder, women are promoted for their actual experience, having to do everything, even for the CEO, men are promoted for potential based on their potential. So if he did something.

11:04

quite related, but he's showing leadership quality. And if he checked the box, like two out of 10 box, and people see potential in him, and he gets his consider for his potential for the next role, whereas women, both leadership, as well as women, employees were applying for the job, we feel like we have to check like eight, nine, 10 out of 10 in order to even apply for the job. So I work primarily with

11:33

women in corporate. And I'm just saying, like I come up with this word and a lot of people got a kick out of it. Don't be a project queen. Do not be a project queen because what happens is you become known as invaluable, too valuable to lose in the minds of your boss and your leadership. And then you're not carving up.

11:54

time based on your increased productivity to increase your networking skills and close the gap in skill sets, whatever it might be, to get to the next role. So you just, you know, hamster wheel that's going, it's like, you're getting really good at this, but it's just like, you know, I don't want to say productivity ninja, it's kind of negative, but you become a project queen. You're a project queen and that also pigeonholes you to always be that product.

12:23

that project queen and not moving on to the next one. That brings up ideas that we've talked about on the show in the past or things like, you have to make yourself replaceable, right? Because if you're the project queen, then nobody else can do it. But if you have an SOP and like, who's gonna cover for you when you're on vacation? Or when you go take the two week training, the leadership training that you talk with your boss and you know this is your next level, who's gonna be able to take over for you when you go? And so you really, you have to make yourself replaceable so that you can.

12:53

go to the next job without being stuck where you're at, which is, that's such a powerful thing. Or the other thing, you know, it's helpful. Your manager, if you're the project queen, I feel like they assign you work all the time. Like that's, oh, well, we know that Hastings is going to do it. So let's send it to her. Like, oh, yes, you're, you're the go-to person for more work. The fun, the, the way you can flip the script with your manager is to ask them for mentors.

13:18

Hey, manager, obviously I look up to you and the way that you work, but then can your manager connect you to two or three recommended career managers or mentors, career mentors that they'd recommend? And that's really powerful because now you're using their recommendation to get connected to spend your work time, to get connected to other people who are gonna help you advance. And it makes them shift their perspective like,

13:48

developmental networking here, I'm helping them do that. And so it's almost like a flip script, like not just, oh, Hastings might go to add more work person, but now like, oh, who can I send Hastings to about that? And so I think that's a, that whole of the mentor recommendations and flipping that script that yes, you are, you are gonna spend time on your development. Hey boss, who should I talk to about that? And if you haven't had that discussion with your boss, please do that. Please ask your boss for a couple of mentors.

14:18

around the office. You're going to get all the credit for that, but it's going to help you, exactly what Heisink said, it's going to help you move to the next level, create that opportunity, or at least start networking. Your boss will have recommended that you network with these people and you're doing what your boss said and creating those opportunities, at least helping get it started. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, it's also, it's how you communicate with your manager as well, because one of my clients, she's been hired by her boss 15 years ago.

14:48

They haven't gone anywhere. They're in separate. Amazing. This is a classic case, both women. And my client wants to go somewhere and she's like, oh, my manager is not really helping me. She's not the kind of person who's mentoring or helping her direct reports with leadership skill set or something like that. They all keep their head down and do an amazing job. They're all project walking. I was mentioning a conversation I said.

15:15

I think it's, but then it's not, it's a little awkward. So I ended up saying things like, you start having conversation in terms of where you to be, but often women feel like if they express their desire for something new, even within the organization, they worry their boss is gonna think that they're not loyal. So people don't wanna talk about that. But this is the difference between men, and men seem to do this very well.

15:43

It's almost like you need to talk to your manager and other people, influencers within your organization that you're doing an amazing job, but you're always looking out for the what's next. It doesn't necessarily have to be advancement, but nobody can read your mind unless you express your desire. And the other thing that is also important. So forget about this guilty conscience that, oh, what if my boss thinks that I'm

16:11

not loyal, I'm looking for something else. It's how you talk about it. Because what they worry, if you're really valuable, they don't want to lose you because it's pain for them, right, to replace you. You're irreplaceable, and you're both guilty for knocking each other out. And I said, you know, if you think of, like think of the situation from her perspective, if you were her, how painful would that feel to lose somebody that you've known for 15 years?

16:40

Like, you know, you don't even have to worry about that portion of your portfolio because she's tried and true. So when you have discussion for something new, you really have to be compassionate about the potential pain the other person feels and how you're going to make sure that transition will be as smooth as possible, especially if you're looking for different opportunities within the organization. You really have to mention that to just put that.

17:08

doubt and uncertainty and discomfort out of the question. So yeah, it is, I do see that a lot in women. I think it's because we, you know, I don't know, it could be the motherly instinct. They wanna make sure that everything is taken care of. They wanna be responsible and dependable, but you are following everything that Brian has shared with you in the past. It's like...

17:33

How do you not work on things that doesn't matter to you? How do you remove distraction? How do you all these tips and tools? So say you save an hour a day, now your productivity has increased, what are you gonna do with it? Right, yeah, I feel like we've been kind of driving at that. What are you gonna do with it? So I guess, and you know what, to speak to the mother hens out there, I feel like you're describing a mother hen, that like you wanna keep your little, your group together, keep everybody happy,

18:03

That is, to be honest, it's a really wonderful quality. So we're saying that right now, calling you out, not in a bad way, but those people are some of my favorite people to work with. They're just wonderful. So I understand not wanting to lose them. So I almost want to challenge the mother hens of the group that are listening or whoever, if you're a mother hen listening, to can you invite someone in the group and you start training your own protege now?

18:30

And if that's your evolution is that you start training somebody who can take over for you so that when you go on vacation or you're looking at taking that training that takes you out for a week or something, you've already done that because your boss, what they're going to do is say, oh, I can't lose you because nobody else can do your job. So you almost have to show them that you can, but use that kind of mother hand, pull people in. And here's how the team, we're all covered for each other. And clearly, if you're that person, you already can do everybody else's job. That's how you got to be the

18:59

mother hand that you are. So make sure that others can do yours too. But from the perspective of then you get to go do bigger and better things. And, and I love that. Um, and Hastings, I want to, I want to shift gears now because we've been talking about employees and starting here. I want to speak to the managers too. So if you're a manager over some people, you've got people underneath you now. What can you do? What we just said is relative to you as a manager still for you personally.

19:29

You got to make sure that you're setting yourself up for the next level. If there's going to be a promotion, there has to be it. The people are going to avoid the pain of change, right? So if, if you are able to, you know, that things, someone could take your place. You've got that look, look at that perspective, but also looking up that personally. Look at me. I'm going on and on about this because I'm so excited about it. What I'm trying to say is you, we've talked about the employee. Now let's talk about the manager. If you've got people underneath you, how can you facilitate?

19:59

or what, Heizing, what would your recommendations be for managers to help create those opportunities for advancement with the people under them? If you have a mother hen that you love in your group, what tips do you have to make sure that you're taking care of them and their growth and what they're doing? Yeah, that's a good question. Let me address that. And then there was something else I was thinking about. I think, I think managers job is actually,

20:24

Team productivity and leadership, right? Those are the two things that are most important. I think you're talking about leadership perspective. How are you gonna grow your team instead of just keeping them, right? That's one strategy, but that's not really a great strategy. And you lose people who are ambitious and who are goals because obviously they're not gonna grow there. So for Matt, is it related to productivity? Well, just in general, so we talked about like our topic today really, we're getting back to

20:52

creating capacity to advance your life and career. So productivity should create that capacity to advance your life and career. So if you've got a team underneath you, what are there any specific tips or thoughts that you have for the manager in that role now to make sure that that happens for their team? I think manager's role is actually helping their team to think differently. Okay, so more on that. Say you have somebody who's really good.

21:21

And I personally dealt with this person in my previous role. Amazing. And I would say things like, you know, I see you in my view years from now. I'm trying to motivate that person to think differently, think bigger. And I would hear things like, no, no, no, no, no, I don't want your job because you don't have time to eat lunch and take a break. And I'm good where I am. And so.

21:47

So then I felt like, okay, there are two things going here because I'm not a really good role model to show this person that you could aspire to be me and you should because you're good. And if you're interested and you don't have to have my life because your life is your life and you can create work and life balance. So part of it was like.

22:08

was creating an ideal state for this person to aspire for my role. So that's one thing. And the other thing is you really need to make it a priority. It has to be their objective, personal development objective. So then they actually feel like they have permission to set aside an hour or two hours every week.

22:29

to grow in new skill set or strategic networking or something. And it has to be ongoing discussion. Like, I don't know, most people meet with their direct reports on a weekly basis, at least bi-weekly basis. And if you don't bring it up, then all you talk about is project. And how would your direct reports be like, they have permission to do it. Even if they do it, they will not discuss it with you, which is not an ideal situation. Sure.

22:56

And I think managers have to believe that that is part of your, the most, the biggest part of your role as people manager is leadership and helping people grow. And if your team is intact and it doesn't change, it's the same group of people year in, year out. There's something not right about that. Yeah. Right? It's like you're not going people. I think, so a couple of specific things I'm thinking about right now. One is you talked about the regular meetings with the managers.

23:24

If you're a manager, one of the bullets on your regular bi-weekly meetings should be something about development. If it's a training that they said they were gonna take or a mentoring session, I connected you with the mentors, were you able to connect with them? Then you check back in so that one of the bullets that you talk about is not just projects, but it's actually something that is for the good of that person outside of their day-to-day job, right? So some kind of evolution or something. And if you're checking in on that,

23:54

that definitely helps them feel important and like you care that they're going somewhere. So checking in on those things, keep their personal development things or if you have a development plan with them or whatever your organization calls it in that development plan, if you know that there's one or two things that are the next most important things they need to do to evolve or to grow or to train or something, check in on those things. Most places have an online training that's free to take.

24:21

So it's not always a, oh, let me sign up for this week long conference that's not happening until next month. Like, no, that's fine, check back on that later, but find something that they can do right now and include that in the things that you're checking in, especially, and for the ladies, for the women that are working for you and the men, of course, this is true of all sexes, but immediately after what's hazing after what you were saying about.

24:45

You know, the the ladies kind of getting into that. I love the the mother hen metaphor is very easy for me to to think about because it's like, oh yeah, you know, they're just they're they're fine here. This is their home. This is their family. They've got that. And so if you're talking regularly in your biweekly meetings with, OK, what do you what do you what's outside of that? That really helps them. So that's my my first takeaway on that is that is is that make sure you're checking in with them on their next something outside.

25:14

And the second thing that came to mind as you were just chucking was, you know, you really should also have personal development meetings where you both share where you both want to go because everybody has aspirations for where they want to go. And, you know, you as a manager, if you want to get there, you kind of, it's one of those things where you put it out to the universe and it can finally happen. Like part of it is talking with your team about not.

25:40

If you've created a culture where you share that you have aspirations to get to the next level, or another role, or another something, and as soon as you say that, everybody thinks that the world's going to end and the wheels are going to come off the wagon and that everything's going to... That is not a good culture that you created. So by you opening up and sharing something outside the team or outside the next immediate direct promotion, whatever it is, or maybe it is that, but share where you want to go next.

26:08

because by you sharing that, they can share their next one. And it might not be in your team. They might not want your job. And please don't take that as any kind of insult. That's not a reflection of you necessarily. As everybody's path, you know, everybody gets what? It's a new job every five years or something, and people change companies, and they just went through the great resignation where people were changing and looking for other opportunities. And so people are always gonna change. So try that. I feel like the attitude is almost like that thing

26:39

You're trying to smother everything to keep it where it is. Like, no, don't go, don't move, don't, everything's fine, we're trying to keep it. No, don't change, don't change, don't change, don't change. If you do that, it's not gonna, everybody's stuck, and that doesn't work. People who are stuck wanna get out worse than ever, and they write even worse things about you in the reviews when they leave, if you try to keep them stuck. So I share that because when you're having those things, be, share what you're interested in, even if it's just to start the meeting.

27:08

take a minute or two and share, you know, here's where I'm trying to go. And then let's talk about where you're trying to go and how I can help you get there. And make sure that you're having that meeting more than once a year during the performance review period, right? Like that's the, oh goodness. If you can once a quarter during your bi-weekly meetings, spend 15, 30 minutes talking about.

27:30

how the evolution is going on, what have they been working on or something. If you can incorporate that into once every three to six months instead of once a year during performance reviews, it really creates an opportunity for everyone to feel safe, to want to move ahead and do more and think about those next steps. Cause some people just think about showing up and doing a good job. Yeah, I mean, I think you just hit the nail on the head because I was just about to say, because as a manager, you know,

27:59

If you take care of your people by helping them think differently and really, you know, stoke their ambition and as you said, Brian, just say, so this is what I do. I mean, if you're looking externally as well, you may not want to share that, but that's fine. You have your own discretion, but you're giving people permission constantly. Let's talk about this. People feel like they're taken care of and your manager really thinks about your.

28:28

growth, they're going to be productive because they feel like they feel about and you're watching them. And the whole great resignation started with COVID and these managers are so insecure. They feel like people and they're not doing the work. And there were questions that some people asked, some manager in the situations like, oh, I'm really concerned about not being able to have team meeting and things like that. And so the HR person was asking, does the work get done?

28:56

Yes. Did anybody miss that line? No. Well, then what is the issue? So I think we kind of have to rise above. If you, you know, as a manager, your job is leadership and team productivity. It's a team sport. You worry about team sport, not your individuals. But if you start really taking care of your team's growth and really help them think differently, the product, they will be productive without changing anything

29:26

they're thinking, okay, I'm doing a really good job here, but my manager's actually helping me think differently and she or he might even open doors for me within the organization. And you have to reward your people as taking those initiative as being resourceful, not being potentially not loyal. Yeah. So, Hazing, talk about this for you personally. How have you...

29:51

run it because I've got like I've got a funny story that I want to share about this exact almost this exact thing that we're talking about and being stuck and and creating capacity to go further. So but I want to I want to give you certainly want to give you kind of first nod at okay what does this mean for you personally? I mean clearly you're passionate about this we're we're talking about it you're like oh this would be a good topic hey Brian I'll come on your show and I'll talk about yeah let's talk about this so what does it mean for you personally? Oh it's based

30:21

Queen and it took me about four years to feel comfortable enough to share probably on LinkedIn and that probably got the most responses out of it. I actually had a complete meltdown. Not meltdown, like complete like working hard, being productive, known to do things and you know I come from Korea.

30:45

Asian back. So it's, it's, I was conditioned to believe that you work hard and you're loyal to your employee and you don't complain. You don't talk about your next aspiration and you just make your bosses look good and somebody's going to take notice. That's how, right? You do your job. You're amazing. Somebody's that casing is amazing. You go to places, right? So I had this aspiration to become an executive. I was on the cusp of things and I'm, you know, leading

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CEO mandated multi-million, multi-year project transformation. And I was like, it's got to happen. It's got to happen. But I became productive. People give me more time. You mean it's got to happen, meaning your promotion, it's got to happen, but it never did? You know, that's when recognition happened, but promotion opportunities, things should happen, but nobody. And you need to schedule time to build networks of supporters. And so me personally, I had a group of supporters. And

31:42

and the organization went to major reorg and the leadership changed from CEO way down. You know how that goes. The leaders want to bring their own people, various to change the culture and stir things up in a good way. So I faced a situation where all my sponsors, mentors, supporters, influencers I had built over the years are leaving one after the other and I did not have time. I did not, I wasn't disciplined enough. I wasn't thinking about.

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I didn't take the time to reflect on where I'm heading. I wasn't disciplined enough to carve out and schedule time in my calendar to think about strategic networking. If I am productive, my boss, boss's boss gave me more job and it got filled up. And then I got burnt out eventually, physically, emotionally, and I was fed up because I wasn't going anywhere. And then I felt super alone. Like I had nobody to turn to. And then it turned into like...

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This situation is not going anywhere. So I had all three things that is perfect storm to create almost clinical level of depression. It's like you take it personally, you think it's permanent, it's never gonna change. And every time I wanna go somewhere internally and my boss might gently block my way to go somewhere because I'm too valuable. She's got all this knowledge in her head. We can't lose her. Yeah. And so...

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I am really passionate about this. It's not just women, it's also men. And I'm just saying that who is responsible for not sharing your aspiration, who is not responsible for not replacing your network and thinking about things. It's not enough for you to be really amazing at what you do.

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It is so crucial for you to become resourceful and resourcefulness come from that. And it's not always have to be, oh, do you want to be my mentor? That's not the way you go about building relationship. You build relationship one person at a time without anything, not expecting anything in return. But you show genuine interest and you talk to somebody with one clear ask at a time.

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to gain a little more information or to be exposed to or get introduction to another person you could possibly speak with. And I'm passionate about being start with where you want to be, even though it's not, it's hard to do alone. Where do you want to be career wise in six months to 12 months timeframe? And why is this so important to you professionally? And what that's going to enable you?

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personally for yourself and your loved because then you find ways to get there because your what and why are so clear everybody is resourceful when they're what and why are clear and Then you become productive because you got to get your day job done and you have to carve out time to Let people know what you you know, you know a nice way But it's gonna take some trial and error to be in that thing. It's it's practice, right?

35:00

But I'm passionate because I was that. I was a project. I did not know how to communicate. And so it's like, okay, now I'm a coach and I'm shaking people up. It's like, wake up because I see a lot of women even, you know, I was looking at my connection on LinkedIn and some people say, my team is grown, anybody know anybody, please help them apply. And I'm thinking,

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The way people communicate and the way things come across, I'm actually compassionate because I see somebody down the track three to five years from now will hit the point that I hit. And as a coach, I am just gently nudging those people like, Hey, let's look at it from a different perspective. Have you thought about? Yeah. Gently nudge or violently nudge in some cases. Some people need a violent nudging and that's, yeah, you get a coach.

35:56

If you need to be violently nudged, some people need a kick in the pants. I mean, it's, it's very real. I, this is personal for me because I, what you said really resonated with me. You said the 80% and 110% and those numbers really stuck out because you said nobody's going to notice the difference between your 80% and your 110%. And for me, I absolutely hit this point where I had worked my way up the ladder and I had reached a certain level and I was ready to go on to the next level. And my boss was four years from retirement.

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and really just wanted everything to stay the same so that they could retire. They didn't want anything to get hard. And if somebody quit or somebody left or somebody was gonna go, that would make their job harder. And they really just wanted to make it four more years. So I was stuck under them for four years. Well, or I would have been. But instead what happened is, I noticed exactly what you said, which is I backed off my productivity so that I did my job.

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and my job was done and it was good. And I gave 80% to my job and that left 20%. And with that 20%, I went to the online training and I started taking online trainings on different things, how to Excel formulas and different personal skills that I could develop. But then the other bigger thing that I did was I started looking around at the other jobs that I might wanna have, and I volunteered to participate in their meetings.

37:19

Because I guess in my current work environment, my boss didn't immediately see and review my schedule or anything. It really was just here, here's all the work, all the tasks you have, right? You're a project queen. Are your projects being done? Then cool, they don't ask you about exactly how you spend every minute of every day. So I was given 80%. And then with that 20%, I actually went and joined weekly update meetings for the team that I thought I wanted to be on.

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just because I was curious. And I saw him approach the manager. I asked him from a mentoring perspective, you know, evolving the career. And I'm really interested in what this team does. Do you think I could just join the meetings? And so I started attending their weekly meetings. And then one year later, a position came up in that team. And lo and behold, wow, I'm now really qualified for this because not only when I apply, do I at least have some knowledge on this. And I've been sitting in and I'm like, I have the skills, but then also they-

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They know my face. I've been a part of the team for a year of weekly meetings, chiming in and sharing perspectives and participating. So I share that because for me, that was the way I was able to break out from under this boss who didn't want me to leave. I unfortunately, with that job, I had to quit and go get another or not quit, but I had to leave that job. I had to quit that job to get another job. And so for the managers out there, for the others, if you do that 80% thing and with that other 20%

38:42

you start trying other things, it's kind of amazing because you get to try getting involved in new jobs and little projects that are interesting. And that keeps, even if the 80% that you're doing is you're bored with it, it's just like, you're so over it. You've been doing the same thing over and over again. At least you've got this other 20% that's really interesting and fascinating. And in the end, the balance feels pretty good and it allows you to kind of experiment with other things. So you don't have to quit your job to start.

39:11

trying dabbling in some other things and like meet with other teams and go if you have that ability go do it. And then so for me that was just wonderful because it allowed me to break out of that plateau. So what you said with the 80% and 110% really resonated with look man give them 80 and then keep that 20 for yourself. Make sure that 20 is on evolving and I love I love that man. So yeah, I mean you just said something amazing like it's my word not yours, but you said I was just

39:39

And curiosity is what people lose as they spend 10 plus years in their career. They become really good at what they do, but you lose curiosity. And then other thing that I picked up on is that, hey, I want to volunteer, nothing in return. I just want to learn. And that speaks for humility. So you have curiosity and humility, and then you become...

40:03

So it's human nature. People like to work with people they know. And so when the opportunity comes, you're the natural choice. And you also talk about, I wanna mention two of the six core human needs. People want to be certain, right? So you get a job and you feel comfortable. Your boss who are retiring, but he or she was holding onto certain guy, I'm gonna retire, I don't want to do anymore. But people also need.

40:32

you know, novelty. So that's what you're seeking. And I'm like, okay, I got really good at what I do. And my 80% is probably the other 110%. And knowing that and give you permission, I don't have to feel guilty because mine 80% is 100%, 110%. I've done my job to create that productivity and capacity. Now I'm moving, I'm reaching out to people to just learn and being humble.

41:00

And I think it's a beautiful story. That's exactly the core message of our chat together today. Amazing story. When you talked about this topic, Hastings, it was like, oh, I totally, this resonates with me so much because I have absolutely lived this one. So thank you for bringing it. And so just to kind of wrap then, here's what I love. Hastings, I love that it's H-Manifest is the name because you are manifesting what you want. And for you, that's helping others to break through.

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the glass ceiling that they're stuck under and the mother hens out there that are listening. I love that you're doing that and you're giving this thing a try. And I also really love the metaphor about 110%. People might not necessarily see the difference between your 80% and your 110% so that you have something left for yourself. And that was, ooh, that's so powerful. So I love that.

41:55

And you, when we were chatting before we started, hit the record button, you had talked about, you had some kind of bi-weekly educational series or share with folks if they wanna keep in touch with you, where do they find you and talk about this bi-weekly thing. Connect me with on LinkedIn. I would love to connect with anybody who wants to know more what I do. And I do bi-weekly, I just launched the bi-weekly series of the Secrets of the World's Most Successful People. Basically, I'm talking about the sixth core.

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that I'm trying to help my clients. And I'm gently introducing one or two habits at a time, at a very high level. So you get to know what that is all about, and whether there is something that you can relate to. And anything that I have to share might help you move your career life aspirations. The other thing that I also would like, would love is anything that we talked about,

42:52

In the beginning, at first, nobody knows what to do. It's scary at first and it's okay, right? It's like learning how to ride a bicycle and how to drive. At first, it requires some discipline and some tips and somebody who's been there before help a little bit. So yeah, book on the 20 minute call with me and I call that brainstorm call. Anything you wanna talk about, something that you heard today or...

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I hate my job. I don't know what to do next, but I love my company. Anything. I'm just joking, but anything that you're like, I just need somebody to listen to me deeply so I can reflect on what I want to do next. I see. Got it. Look away. That's awesome. Thanks, Hasing. And for you tuning in one specific request, if you could, if anything that we said today resonates,

43:48

with you from someone you know. If you have a friend who's a mother hen who's been stuck in their job for a little while or any of the ladies that you know that have been stuck on in the glass ceiling, would you share the link with this episode to them? Because I know Hastings and I will. And thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. And if you're more of a reader or you like the short summary of things, thanks for subscribing to the email list because these episodes will hit your inbox with the short summary so you don't have to go looking for them when they come out. So I love

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sharing Productivity Gladiator with you. That's a wrap.