What if enjoying your work has less to do with changing who you are—and more to do with understanding how you work best?

After working with Lucia, former Midlife Unstuck client Jay has three things he never wants to forget about his future work life: know his Superpowers and Kryptonite, stay experimental, and learn how to quiet the inner critic that can make every wrong turn feel like failure.

Together, those insights have changed how he thinks about work. Instead of forcing himself to be good at everything or treating an experiment that doesn't work as a personal failure, he can recognize what fits, adjust course and keep moving.

You’ll hear:

• Why something that feels easy to you may actually be one of your Superpowers
• How knowing your Kryptonite can help you respond instead of react
• Why treating decisions as experiments makes it easier to change course
• What Jay's inner critic was costing him—and what becomes possible when it gets quieter
• What work he could happily do for a very long time looks like now

Jay's answers won't necessarily be yours. But his story raises a bigger question: what would you need to understand about yourself to stop working against yourself?

Jay worked with Lucia one-to-one, alongside completing The Fierce Emporium—the six-week deep-learning phase that helped him understand how to design work around who he is and what he needs.

If Jay's story has you wondering what your own version of Joy at Work could look like, explore the three ways you can work with Lucia to start designing it.

Explore ways to work with Lucia

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: It allows me to adjust and to

go in different directions when the process doesn't provide

the outcome that I hope for.

And it also allows me the space to say, "Okay, you tried that, it didn't work,"

as op- as opposed to, "You're a failure.

You're incompetent.

This is bad," which is a space that doesn't allow me to correct course.

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: 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.

Let's dive in

Jay, I am so curious.

What is the first thing that you never want to forget

about your future work life?

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: The first thing would definitely be to

remember my superpowers and kryptonite.

Yeah, that has been such an important exercise to understand exactly what

I do well, how comfortable that is to the point that I don't realize that's a

unique thing that not everyone can do it.

And also to recognize in that, that there are situations and events that I

just don't handle well and that's not because, that's not because I'm a failure,

that's not because I'm incompetent.

That's just because those are things that for me, those are difficult.

And being able to say, for me, those are difficult, allows me the space

to say, "Okay so how can I handle them? What can I do to make it easier?

What do I need to do to recognize the situation, to put some parameters

around it and then handle it better?"

So I want to remember that most importantly, if I'm going to really

enjoy working as much as I would like to, then I've got to be doing the

things that I do really that feel really comfortable and that's okay.

And that I've got to either avoid or minimize the situations

that just aren't so good for me.

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: Absolutely wonderful.

And recognizing those, what difference does it make that you can now very

easily recognize those situations where you don't operate at your best?

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: It allows me the, the space to think

about how to respond to it, and it prevents me from going into such a

reactive space that I put my- paint myself in a corner, in essence.

That I don't feel that I'm not sounding like myself, that I am perhaps

sputtering and trying to come up with an answer, whereas I really do know

the answer, but I've got to have a little bit more space to think about

it and be clear, or space to understand how to handle the issue better.

And that's really what it does for me.

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: Brilliant.

Lovely.

That's so important for everybody.

But not everybody says that.

Everybody says very different things.

So that's the first thing that you always want to remember.

What's the second thing that you always want to remember in your future work life?

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: The second thing would be allowing myself

to be experimental and to get away from a certain amount of rigidity that,

that comes with not being experimental.

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: Huh.

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: Because allowing myself to say I'm going

to try this out and see what happens," commits me to the process, but it

doesn't commit me to, I absolutely must do this all the time forever and ever.

. It allows me to adjust and to go in different directions when

the process doesn't provide the outcome that I hope for.

And it also allows me the space to say, "Okay, you tried that, it didn't work,"

as op- as opposed to, " You're a failure.

You're incompetent.

This is bad," which is a space that doesn't allow me to correct course.

It's a space that just allows me to punish myself, in essence.

So by saying, "Okay, this is an experiment.

We're gonna try it.

We're gonna see what happens," it's playful and it allows

for some, "Let's just see what happens." and it works out better.

It works, it, it takes some pressure off of me and allows me to think

more clearly, quite honestly.

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: Like win, win.

And that, that's, that was so interesting that point you said about

the inner story sometimes when you're not being playful and experimental

and trying out new things, is that I did something and I failed.

Whereas you're saying, "The the experiment can fail, the process didn't work, the

whatev-," but then you get to dance a different tune and carry on moving as

opposed to this stopping heavy, "I've just failed in something." Wonderful.

Wonderful.

God, you've articulated that wonderfully.

Okay, so what is the third and final thing that you always want to remember

for the rest of your work life?

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: Handling my inner critic.

That is honestly because so much of my energy would go into dealing with that,

that I couldn't do the other things.

That I couldn't recognize my superpower, things I did well.

I couldn't allow myself to be experimental.

I can't allow myself to be brave enough to do these kind of things

because the inner critic is too loud.

And once I can handle that inner critic better, then it opens up

energy to do everything else.

And so whether it's good, bad, or whatever, Handling that inner critic

really just smooths the pathway to do everything else that I want to do.

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: So it feels like in the past, your inner critic

has stopped you, has sucked energy, has taken this playfulness that you have,

this dance and experimentation, it's just eaten it, and you find a way to

deal with that's making a difference.

So whilst that's the third thing, that feels like it

underpins everything forever.

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: It does.

It's the most important thing, in all honesty.

It's… And I have it there because it is the most important thing,

because it underpins, as you said, everything else, because that, that

allows everything else to happen

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: Wonderful.

So

When you think about your future

And you think about a future where this inner critical voice that has

been quite heavy in the past becomes lighter or quieter perhaps in a

way that you can move around it.

When you think about your future always in work, being experimental, yeah, every

day, every week, every year, giving you a, a lightness, an, an ability to adjust

course where necessary, faster, lighter.

And when you think about your future work as understanding your kryptonite,

noticing it, smelling it, preparing for it, and dealing with it where it needs

to be or minimizing it if possible, and using your superpowers every day, How

does that feel as a future for work?

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: It feels really good.

It feels really positive.

It feels like something that I can do for a very long time, and it feels

like, yeah, I can spend more time at it and enjoy it and look forward

to it and not feel like, okay, something I have to do to check a box

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: Gorgeous.

My final question is: over our work together, you've thought

a lot about what does joyful, enjoyable work look like for me.

So I'm curious just if off the top of your head, you can imagine

or share with me what does joy at work feel like, look like?

When Jay's feeling joyful in his work, what does Jay look like?

Jay_Former Midlife Unstuck Client: I think honestly, first and

foremost, I'm feeling competent.

I'm feeling like I know what I'm doing, or I know where to get the

information, or I know who to ask.

That I feel like I'm making a difference, that I'm doing the right thing for the

right reasons, and I'm making a difference in that area that that I'm working.

And it- it feels like I have something to provide to other people

that I can give back because I'm in a space to be able to give back.

I've been given a lot in my career.

When I really look back at it I have been given a lot of grace in my career.

I've been given a lot of guidance in my career.

And the opportunity at this point to be able to give that

back is just an immense thing.

Lucia Knight, CEO Midlife Unstuck: I'll always remember Jay for his

accent and some of his unusual sayings.

He once, at the end of one of our masterclasses, described himself as,

and forgive my accent, "As happy as a clam." Jay and I worked together

one-to-one in addition to him joining the six-week work life makeover

program called the Fierce Emporium.

Check out the episode notes to get details of the three programs I offer, so you can

choose the one that feels spot on for you.