Ever wonder what it really takes to shift from quiet burnout to joy at work?

In this special episode, I’m joined by one of my former clients who generously shares the three career design insights he never wants to forget. These insights came from our deep work together and his own fierce curiosity about what a joyful working life could actually feel like.

We talk about how boredom can spiral into stress and anxiety, how understanding your personal kryptonite can transform how you show up at work, and why leaning into your real self (and your superpowers) is the key to sustainable joy.

If you’ve been stuck in autopilot, or you’re craving a new way to make decisions about your next career move—this one’s for you.

Ready to design work that matters?

👉 Work with me

Mentioned in this episode:

🔹 Midlife Worklife Satisfaction Report

Oh, that was so good because the thing that was so

good about that is like you, you explained body in body joy at work.

Yeah.

It wasn't about intellectual challenge, although that is part of your

whole anti boredom thing, isn't it?

Yeah.

But it's in body.

You'll feel it.

You'll feel it, and you know it.

Hi, I'm Lucia Knight and this is the Joy At Work Podcast.

Today I'm joined by one of my former clients, someone who, like so many

of us, had a moment of "Wait! Is this what work is supposed to feel like?"

And instead of brushing it off and cracking on, they paused and they chose

to design their work life differently.

I've asked each guest to share the three most important insights they

learned about their future work life that they never ever want to forget.

And these aren't just light reflections.

They're the result of three, six, or 12 months of deep work together, and now

they're in a position to capture those timeless notes to their future self.

For some saying yes to my invitation, took a little bravery and a lot of

what I call powerful vulnerability.

Some had to dig deep because they really value their privacy.

Some said yes because they understood the potential power of having a touch

point to return to every year, but mostly they said yes as an act of

kindness gifted to me and to you.

Let's dive in.

Scott, what is the first career design insight that you never

want to forget in the future?

Don't ignore my personal boredom for long.

This was a real huge insight that you gave me.

Going through all of our time together, it's such a key point for

me because boredom begets stress.

And then stress begets anxiety and it just, it's not a place that I

operate in my highest and best use.

It was a really like lightning strike for me to discover that you

kind of know yourself, you think, and, but then I didn't, right.

But having that insight was just.

It helped quite a bit, now I feel like I have clarity and confidence

in moving into my next role.

Brilliant.

So what does, understanding that boredom is super stressful and can

even lead to anxiety, what difference does that make about how you're

gonna do your work in your future?

Boy, I should really pay attention to it first of all.

Not ignore it like I have in the past.

I think that's the first thing is just having that ability to identify it first.

And I think is, it's just stepping back and assessing why

am I in this position, right?

Rather than letting it continue on and fester, like, why am I here?

What, and what am I gonna do about it?

Personally, I would reach out to you and have a conversation and let's

try to examine where I am again,

Because I think having gone through this process with you, I think you

understand, where I'm at and how I tick and just, and having somebody who.

Who gets that about me.

And then we can have a conversation to say, okay, why?

why am I in this space?

What should I be doing about it?

Is it temporary or have I fallen into the same trap that I have in the past?

I think that's the important thing for me personally, is just to hit

it, head on, not to let it linger.

Yeah.

Perfect.

Lovely.

And it's my hope that we don't have to speak again in the future other

than just because we want to, but because you'll notice that little

insight so early that you'll then be able to do some nimble movement.

Brilliant.

That's so interesting.

And okay, what's the second insight from our work together or from

any other work that you've done?

'cause you've done loads of personal work.

What's your second career design insight that you never wanna forget?

Understanding my personal superheroes and kryptonite,

That was key to me.

And then not ignoring those as well.

And then don't hide, don't hide the real version of me.

Which I don't do much anyway.

But I think a lot of people if you're checking out.

That's hiding yourself but if you're constantly encountering your kryptonite

then you're gonna be leaning into the self that you don't like, right?

I guess that I would say just make sure that I'm leaning into my real self,

not the kryptonite side of myself,

Lovely because your kryptonite side, you have

to protect yourself, don't you?

Or you have to pretend to be engaged or you have to what?

Whatever your unique kryptonite is, you have to be not less yourself to

be able to deal with it, don't you?

Yeah.

And that's never a fun place to be, right?

It's quite exhausting, isn't it?

yeah.

But what was satisfying about the process, with you was learning what those.

What those items are, right?

What are those, what are the things that set me off?

And so I just feel like I have the tools now to identify when am I in the spots

or when I'm dealing with it, right?

And so in, in the moment you can say, oh, this is my kryptonite.

How, how am I gonna deal with this?

As opposed to, ugh, just spiraling down into anxiety,

Lovely, lovely.

And because you've thought about it in advance or years ago, you'll be able to

recognize it hopefully really quickly, and you've got some language around it

and you've got some thinking that you've already done and you've already created

some tools to be able to deal with it.

Fabulous.

Fabulous.

Okay.

What's the final thing?

I'm so curious.

What's the final thing that Scott needs to remember and never ever wants

to forget in his career, work life?

I just think have fun, right?

If I'm leaning into the, that number one value for me is have having fun,

right?

I think if I'm leaning into that and leaning into my superpowers.

And just totally embracing those and finding situations where I can

thrive and where, things aren't gonna be perfect all the time.

But I think just understanding who I am better now, today than I did a year ago.

And it was through that superpower on kryptonite work, right?

Finding, what really lights me up and what really drag me down.

But just running towards the superpowers and embracing the superpowers and then

having the tools to thwart the kryptonite.

Yeah.

Like those are big things for me.

And it's pretty simple.

It, like a year ago it was really complicated to me, but now that I

understand it it's pretty simple.

But the hard part is making sure that I don't get complacent and I don't just

make the same mistakes over and over again that I have throughout my career.

Right?

Yeah.

So the autopilot is off now, and I guess we're hoping it stays off so

that you notice these little things.

Yeah.

But life gets busy,

it does.

It does.

I think it's really, I think people can be hard on themselves

because, life does get busy.

You have to make decisions because of certain reasons, X, Y, and Z. But

I think at my point in my career, I think it's time to stop making

decisions because I think I have to.

And I think to really come back around is that stop making decisions

because I feel like I have to do this.

Start making decisions based off of, this is the work we did to understand

this is what I need to thrive.

Find those opportunities.

And so we are hoping that in two or three or four years time

you'll come back and listen to this.

So my very final question, which I didn't give you any preparation for, but I

know you'll thrive on is how will future Scott, when he's listening to this,

recognize when he's feeling joy at work?

What does it look like?

What does it feel like?

What does it smell like to Scott?

Yeah.

I remember working on this with you like, and trying to think

of those moments and it's.

It's just a feeling of I literally feel like the energy

coursing through me, right?

Where I feel like that excitement of, I'm doing something that,

that means something to me.

And like even now just talking about it, like I just feel it, right?

Like you just feel good.

Like it's a sensation.

Of Of happiness, of warmth, of excitement.

And those are the moments where I know it's good.

Like people can easily understand it.

Like when you're hanging out with your friends and you know you're having a good

time, you get that same kind of feeling.

And it's the same thing, like when you're doing something for somebody.

And I think a lot of it for me is, am I helping somebody?

Am I making things better for them?

And those are the moments where I feel that, and.

It just feels good.

Right?

And so that's how future me will understand it.

Scott and I work together one-to-one.

In addition to him going through the six week at-home career design training

program called The Fierce Emporium.

Check out the episode notes to get links and details of all of the three programs

I offer so that you can choose the right one to fit your appetite for change, your

desire for speed of change and budget.

So that you can find the joy at work that you deserve.