Latest / Unspoken Career Truths / Find Your Buckets: Balance Career, Life, and Fulfillment

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Find Your Buckets: Balance Career, Life, and Fulfillment · Unspoken Career Truths

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  Welcome to unspoken career truths.
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  I'm Cara Wood. And I'm Lauren Levac Gilbert.
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  And we're here to be the Co workers you can trust.
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  In just 10 minutes, we'll cover the strategies you need, the
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  mistakes to avoid, and the insider secrets no one tells you
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  so you can show up with confidence at work.
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  All right, everyone, we are about to have a really important
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  conversation and one that car and I actually haven't had
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  before, but I've had with many, many, many of my friends and
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  it's always an ongoing conversation and it's a.
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  Bad conversation is the one that I have when I figure out if I'm
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  going to be friends with someone.
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  I'm really surprised that you and I haven't had it because
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  usually this conversation is how I know that I have found someone
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  that I agree or get along with. I think we bonded in a work
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  environment where we just found that we like each other and can
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  work together and respect each other.
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  And I'm really excited to hear your buckets now.
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  Please don't defriend me if you hear my buckets and you don't
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  like them. No, it's more about wanting to
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  have this conversation because there are some people that don't
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  want to talk about how they organize their lives and I, I
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  often don't have as much in common with those those folks.
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  So. That's all.
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  So the topic finding your buckets, and no, we're not
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  talking about your buckets in your garage.
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  We are talking about the many things that actually make you
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  you and all of the things that you need to be fulfilled.
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  So real human stuff. What gives you energy?
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  How do you identify yourself? What fulfills you?
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  And those buckets, when they're full, make you feel alive and
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  make you feel like you want to get out of bed in the morning
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  and you feel like you can tackle any problem.
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  And it's a really big balance between all of those different
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  things at different times of your life.
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  Yeah, I mean, I can definitely, I definitely feel it when one of
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  my buckets is like been neglected and just sitting there
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  in the dusty garage and I need to do something so that I feel
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  more whole, more balanced. And I remember the first time I
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  ever had this conversation and it was so exciting to me because
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  I was in one of those moments car where I was just like, like
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  something is wrong, like something's not right.
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  I feel off. And I'd never thought about the
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  concept in this way. And it really kind of changed
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  the way I approach things. And now when I get in a rut like
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  that, I think about my buckets and I say, oof, whoops, I didn't
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  fill this bucket. And that's why maybe why I feel
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  like this. So it just gives you like a
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  really good approach to how to plan your life and make sure
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  that you're feeling fulfilled. And I think we have a culture of
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  like, you have to have it all and you have to be perfect and
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  you have to do everything. And that's just not sustainable.
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  And it's just not the reality. And we have many different
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  buckets, but we only have one glass of water to fill it up,
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  which is the amount of time in a day.
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  And we've talked about time management.
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  So really kind of defining what your buckets are is is super,
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  super important. Yeah, I was introduced to this
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  topic actually at 18 when my best friend bought me a copy of
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  Anna Johnson's 3 Black Skirts. And Anna Johnson is not the
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  first person to, like, have this, like, topic.
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  But it is that life coach approach that people have where
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  they're like, what are the areas of your life you care about?
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  And it is honestly the way that I now organize my time and my
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  thought. And again, some, some months,
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  some weeks, some, you know, days you don't get to every bucket.
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  But I at least kind of identify like what I hope to do, want to
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  do, and what fulfills me from each of those areas.
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  None of us are perfect, so we just try to figure out the
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  buckets the best we can. I have now said buckets more in
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  a 3 minute span than I think I've ever said in my life.
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  So let's talk about what those buckets could be.
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  So some examples of a bucket, right?
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  So your career, your family, your health, your spirituality,
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  your sense of community there. There's so many different
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  buckets that we can really be defined for you.
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  I know for example, my my buckets are friends and family,
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  like a really big core for me. Creativity.
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  I have to do things creatively. I have to like touch and feel
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  things. I have to make things like that
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  is a core part of who I am. Health and exercise, like really
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  feeling good, eating right, moving around.
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  That's a really big bucket for me.
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  I do have a big career bucket. I think that bucket has evolved
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  a bit overtime where I would have said it was a bigger bucket
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  and would have taken a lot more space.
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  And then the other thing is the me bucket.
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  And I say that because when I first started thinking about
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  this, I never had a me bucket. And I know this is all about
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  you, like the you personally in your buckets and what fills you
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  up, but like really specifically focusing on yourself and all of
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  those areas is really important for me.
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  So Cara, what are what are your? Buckets.
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  That's really cool. Well, so I organize mine by
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  color and metaphor. So yeah.
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  So I have 3. They're kind of three baseline,
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  what I'd call baseline ones are for like heart, like you were
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  talking about, like people you care about your like I, I bucket
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  community service, like people I care about and how I am feeling
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  in that kind of red bucket green, which is my like both
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  financial well-being and honestly how clean my house is.
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  But I sort of label that one like chores, you know, like the
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  to do bucket and then blue, which is my body, like how my
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  body is feeling and what I'm eating, you know, and sometimes
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  I throw in like what I'm wearing and how fabulous it makes me
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  feel. So those are my sort of base
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  buckets. And when you talked about
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  career, my other three are like career.
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  I think of orange as just like, how is my career trajectory
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  going? Like what are my passions?
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  What's going on usually in my immediate workplace?
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  And then there's kind of purple, which is my creative.
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  Am I doing like creative things that fulfill me?
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  I call that like my wellspring. And then I have yellow, which is
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  like that spark of stuff that's just fun and fabulous.
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  And usually that's new skills that I want to learn or new
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  things that I want to expose myself to.
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  A lot of times travel falls into that bucket.
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  You know what's so funny, Carl? All my buckets are blue.
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  Everybody has different buckets in the way they think about
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  this. But I, it's funny because as you
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  were saying that I was like, well, actually all of my buckets
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  are blue and they're all clear. And I think about like marbles
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  and like how I put the marbles in each of the buckets so
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  everybody can have. Their own tenant buckets, yeah.
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  And that's to your point, Carl. That's how I plan my month.
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  So I try to look out on a monthly basis and like if I go a
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  whole month without hanging out with a friend or having a phone
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  call with a friend or doing something fun or just like
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  having that fun adventurous moment with someone I love in my
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  life. Like I really have that moment
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  where I'm like, what is wrong? Something feels off.
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  And it took me a while to really figure that out.
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  And I think I went a little bit too much in that bucket where I
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  was like once a week I have to do this.
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  And then kind of life happened. But you have to kind of
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  calibrate and figure out what works for you.
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  Yeah, agreed. I actually, I plan my year with
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  like, you know, when people, when other people are setting,
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  you know, New Year's resolutions, I'm usually
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  thinking by bucket what my kind of goals are.
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  And then I have monthly milestones and I have actually
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  weekly milestones and I often reflect on it with like every
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  day or so just kind of like where I'm at in my, but I'm a
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  very, I like to sort of feel on track and then also just kind of
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  readjust so that I can win my buckets.
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  I love that. That's awesome.
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  You know, it's funny you say that because I make my New
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  Year's resolutions based on my buckets too.
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  And I think it's a really good way of kind of thinking about
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  your life. And one thing I did this year
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  that I thought was really interesting is I actually told
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  my husband my buckets because it was really helpful for me to
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  tell him so that he was aware, like if he saw me in a funk or
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  something, He was like, did you hang out with your friends?
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  I was like, oh, man. So telling a friend, telling a
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  partner to like, help them keep you accountable because it can
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  be really hard to get caught up in the like, hey, I have to do
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  the laundry. I have to make dinner.
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  I have to do this, I have to go to work.
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  But like, your buckets are what makes you feel like you are a
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  human being who is happy and healthy.
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  And if you ignore all of that and put everything into one
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  bucket, it really means that you're just neglecting all of
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  the other parts of you and you'll feel off it.
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  This won't feel right. Yeah, one of the ways that I
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  hold myself accountable is actually like my calendar is
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  often color-coded. But again, because I've got a
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  color scheme, so my sometimes I just look back at my time and I
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  can really see how I've spent my time.
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  And honestly, orange always dominates, right, because I've
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  got a busy job and I've got a full job.
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  So it's not about necessarily balancing it perfectly, but it's
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  about seeing that you have what is necessary for each of those
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  buckets sort of covered. And I mentioned this already,
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  but your buckets can change and that's OK.
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  You know, when when I was like fresh out of college, like my
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  buckets were very different than my buckets are now, right?
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  I have more responsibilities, I have more stuff that I have to
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  worry about, which is fine. But it's really kind of
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  understanding the core of what makes you happy and what will
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  make you feel fulfilled. And to Cara's point, I love that
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  you reevaluate it because there can be a time in your life where
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  like, hey, maybe something's happening with your family or
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  like maybe something's happening with your kids and you really
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  you have to put so much more into that bucket.
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  Even if you take 5 minutes for yourself or or 10 minutes of
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  something that like makes you feel fulfilled, it's like really
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  just kind of taking those baby steps.
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  It's not about like, hey, you have to go on a vacation every
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  month because travel is something that fulfills you.
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  Like even just planning one trip and then looking forward to it.
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  It doesn't have these be these big extreme things.
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  It can be kind of those micro moments.
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  Yeah, it's funny, My buckets haven't changed literally since
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  like JG. And my buckets haven't changed,
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  but my what's in them has like, and also the order, like the
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  priority order, you know, and that sometimes changes on a
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  weekly basis. And actually kind of interesting
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  to see like, oh, I'm valuing this more right now or this,
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  like you said, there's, there's a fire, you know, that I need to
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  fix this. Focus on.
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  Yeah. Well, that's a great point,
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  Cara. I, I think the in terms of
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  order, my bucket when I got out of school was like really career
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  focused and I like really over indexed on that.
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  And I think as I got older, I really kind of figured out there
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  was much more of a balance and that's OK.
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  Again, like you can figure out what works for you and it can
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  change and it will change and that's natural.
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  And you can have a conversation with your friends about this.
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  Actually, we encourage you to do this.
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  Cara and I now have had the conversation together, have this
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  conversation with your friends and also help them kind of keep
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  you accountable. If you're calling your best
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  friend, you're just like, oh, I'm in a funk.
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  Maybe she can be like, did you fill that bucket?
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  Like, just something to think about.
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  Yeah, I like, I, like I said at the start, I love having this
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  conversation because I also learn a lot about other people's
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  values and how they make time for things that are important to
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  them. And you kind of learn your
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  through this. Like in some ways you sort of
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  learn your friends love language a lot of the time where you
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  learn what like makes your friend feel whole or your
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  partner feel whole. And that's, that's really cool.
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  I love it. OK, so key take away.
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  We need more than one thing to help us feel fulfilled, so we
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  need to figure out what those things are.
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  You can call them whatever you want.
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  We're calling them buckets. You can call them whatever makes
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  sense for you and whatever makes you feel good about it.
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  The sooner you define what your buckets are, the sooner than you
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  can really kind of calibrate your life to make sure that
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  you're feeling fulfilled and kind of getting out of any of
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  those funks. It's OK that they change.
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  It's OK that you're going to recalibrate throughout your
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  life. That's what's supposed to
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  happen. And I really encourage you to
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  ask yourself just a a few questions, right?
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  Like which buckets do I have right now?
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  Which ones are important to me? Maybe which buckets have I been
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  neglecting? And what can I put on the
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  calendar, whether it's a micro moment or one specific thing to
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  make me feel better? And just how can I realign with
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  what is making me feel, what will make me feel fulfilled?
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  So just some questions to ask yourself and we encourage you to
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  have this conversation with your friends.
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  Yeah. I'll add one more question,
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  which is like, do you need accountability for your bucket?
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  And then what would bring you that accountability?
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  And not all buckets need accountability because you might
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  feel it, but some of them it actually benefits to have some
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  forcing function that make sure you you kind of fulfill that
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  bucket. I love it.
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  All right, everybody go find your buckets.
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  And that's a wrap. Thanks for joining us on
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  Unspoken Career Truths. Don't forget to follow us on
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