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How to Be True to Yourself in Your Career · Our Pandora's Box

• 0:00
  Maria Giarmeniti: At some point, my therapist, she asked me the, the aha question and she said, Maria, do you think you like your work?
• 0:06
  Do you enjoy? And it suddenly hit me.
• 0:08
  I mean, I think it was, it was there, it was in the subconscious, but I was never able to admit it before.
• 0:14
  And the minute I said it out loud, I think everything started getting into motion.
• 0:20
  That was for me, the crucial moment, that changed everything.
• 0:23
  Maria Eliades: Our Pandora's Box was born out of an ending.
• 0:27
  After months of my work being turned upside down by the second Trump Administration, I have left the government and now I'm winding through the streets of Corfu Town in Greece.
• 0:33
  It's 10:00 PM and the town is packed with people everywhere taking in the summer night, I sit down on a bench for gelato, the perfect ending to a perfect day.
• 0:39
  I've clambered around a Venetian fortress and women's voices have wafted in the breeze in a choir.
• 0:45
  I've eaten dinner a taverna that's tucked into an alley, and now the night is warm, but cool enough that I want to stay out forever.
• 0:51
  But on that bench, I tuck into a sour cherry gelato, and then I allow myself to read the news.
• 0:57
  Iran has struck a U.S. air base in Qatar.
• 1:00
  There are more killings in Gaza and Turning Point USA has had a conference for young women in Texas.
• 1:06
  That organization, one of the ones that had nurtured people who dismantled the federal government and who are still there reshaping the government and are continuing to destroy the post- World War II position of the U.S.
• 1:12
  and the world. And who has the right to aspire to the American dream.
• 1:17
  In Texas, there are speakers who are preaching, "Less burnout, more babies." "Less Prozac, more protein," to young women.
• 1:23
  When the attendees are asked by Charlie Kirk, "How many of you every single day is your purpose for being finding a husband," he tells them that all their hands should be up.
• 1:29
  My stomach burns.
• 1:31
  Rage, a feeling I had become all too familiar with from the beginning of the year my body Once again I can't believe we're taking another step backwards.
• 1:37
  I get up and message my boyfriend.
• 1:40
  We are so cooked, I write.
• 1:42
  The conservatives are taking advantage of women's search for meaning to convince them that they should go back to the kitchen.
• 1:48
  By now I'm striding across the park by the shoreline where a couple is making out on a bench and a yiayia is watching kids running around a playground.
• 1:54
  I had come to Corfu to leave behind what had happened in the States.
• 1:59
  I had come to do the one thing I knew I could do right and create as well as to rest in a country that has nourished me so much over the years.
• 2:05
  But now my body crackles with anger and that familiar urge to do something comes over me.
• 2:11
  And then an idea hits me. What if what we need is a counter narrative?
• 2:16
  What if what we need is other voices informed ones I do communications work.
• 2:21
  What if I'm the one or one of the ones to bring that all together?
• 2:27
  So that's why I created Our Pandora's Box.
• 2:30
  We're in a timeline that I think we can all agree we'd like to get out of no matter what our age is.
• 2:36
  But I think specifically for young women like you who are listening today who have not had the chance to shape things outside of this particular post- COVID timeline.
• 2:42
  That things are particularly dystopic, for lack of a better word.
• 2:46
  But even though things are so difficult, I know you're still looking to live life on your own terms, out of your own choices.
• 2:52
  And maybe like the women who attended the Turning Point conference-- and maybe that is you --you want a more joyful, less burned out, more connected life.
• 2:58
  You want the life that you've dreamed of since you were six, since you were 13, since you were 21, since you were older than that.
• 3:04
  You want a life that involves friends, travel or living abroad, a life that has an incredible partner and incredible sex and great community, and one that feels like it's yours.
• 3:10
  Maybe this is a life that involves having children and not working.
• 3:14
  Maybe it involves being child free.
• 3:16
  Maybe it involves a career that you love, or just a job that lets you do whatever else you want to do in your life.
• 3:22
  In the end, I want the choice to be there for you.
• 3:26
  So every other week on Our Pandora's Box, I'll bring on experts from all over the world to chat about how you can have that life you've always wanted.
• 3:32
  My name is Maria IDIs, and I'm your elder millennial sister who has lived her twenties across four continents and several careers in the wake of the 2008 economic recession.
• 3:38
  I don't have all the answers myself, but with my ever changing life, I've developed some good instincts on routing out the truth for myself.
• 3:44
  So I'll be here on every episode and online to unpack this Pandora's box that we're living in right now with actionable advice from experts.
• 3:50
  You might be wondering at this point, why call a podcast Our Pandora's Box?
• 3:55
  So for those of you who aren't familiar with the myth of Pandora articular protagonist was given in marriage to the brother of Prometheus.
• 4:01
  You know, the guy who's known as Atlas, stuck holding up the earth in punishment from the gods because he stole fire.
• 4:07
  Well, his brother, Epimetheus, not the brightest of guys, um, but in a fit of revenge on people and, and on this family, the Gods give Epimetheus Pandora.
• 4:13
  She's a woman who's full of grace and beauty, as well as an unquenchable curiosity.
• 4:19
  Among her gifts for her wedding, she's given a box or a jar, and she's told: Under no circumstance do you open this box.
• 4:25
  You can guess how this goes.
• 4:27
  She opens a damn box and in doing so, she unleashes all the ills of the world we know today: Famine, disease, old age, war, mistrust, possibly also conspiracy theories.
• 4:33
  This isn't exactly a woman positive story, but I like it because there are versions in which the very last thing that Pandora shuts into the box after everything else is escaped is hope.
• 4:39
  And in subverting the story I think what we're left with here, Pandora's curiosity and that hope are the two exact things that are going to get us out of this mess and the exact things that we need in order to explore where we are right now.
• 4:45
  So let's look at this hope and curiosity about the world and look at what we can get from it.
• 4:51
  I think we can use this curiosity to reclaim the world that we find ourselves in and reshape it in a way that really works for all of us.
• 4:57
  So that's what we're gonna be doing. Every single time on Our Pandora's Box.
• 5:02
  ​
• 5:04
  This is Our Pandora's Box, a podcast where we stare down the worst of what you're dealing with right now with curiosity to find out what you can do to create a life that rings true to who you really are, led by Maria Eliades, your elder millennial sister.
• 5:10
  In our first episode, we're gonna talk about work and having a career that aligns with who you are, a topic that I want to tackle first since in the United States, a lot of us center our identities in our jobs, but we're increasingly burned out, unsatisfied, or disconnected from what we do to make a living that's on top of if our jobs even pay us enough or if we can find work.
• 5:16
  This is nothing short of being heavy and weighted, which is a veritable Pandora's box of survival, meaning and selfhood.
• 5:22
  I will personally confess that in my twenties I ran away from having a career.
• 5:27
  I spent that time in Turkey bopping around from one job to another, from teaching English to journalism, to being a student again, to digital PR, and then finally to academia.
• 5:33
  My loadstar at the time was doing everything I could to support my real calling, which was researching and writing my first novel.
• 5:39
  So I focused on getting work that would let me stay in Turkey and would allow me time to write.
• 5:45
  If the job was more interesting and paid better than the last one, that was even better.
• 5:51
  And that was about it for how I thought about work.
• 5:55
  But by the end of my twenties, there was a refugee crisis that was happening right there.
• 6:01
  And even though I was teaching at one of the best universities in the country, I remember wondering if this was all there was, the world was burning.
• 6:07
  And I felt I wasn't doing a single thing that was helping out at that point.
• 6:13
  I could have used someone like Maria Giarmeniti, who is the guest of this episode.
• 6:18
  Maria might have saved me a lot of trouble floundering around both at the end of my time in Turkey and when I returned to the U.S.
• 6:24
  to help me figure out what my actual loadstar is.
• 6:28
  Maria has been a career coach in Athens, Greece for close to a decade.
• 6:33
  She's helped people and companies figure out their values to guide not only their careers, but I should say their lives.
• 6:39
  But before Maria was changing lives herself, she worked in corporate finance.
• 6:43
  Despite making good money, despite the family approval and having fun in the rest of her life, Maria felt something was off, which was when she had her realization about what she should be doing in her career instead.
• 6:49
  I have always found Maria to be an insightful and sensitive guide.
• 6:53
  When I worked with her, I can say that she really helped me get to realizations about my own life and my own values, almost by magic.
• 6:59
  So today we're welcoming her onto the show to give you that very insight.
• 7:04
  We're gonna help you recognize your values so that you can have a career that works with them.
• 7:10
  Along the way, we're gonna hear about moments in Maria's childhood that I relate to a lot as a child of immigrants, as well as the life purpose exercise that Maria and I once did when we worked together.
• 7:16
  We will also get to hear Maria respond to a listener question towards the end of the episode, and I'll reveal the life purpose sentence that Maria and I came up with that I still reflect on to this day.
• 7:22
  So without further ado, let's learn how you can get really clear about what you want out of your life and career in this episode with Maria.
• 7:28
  If you could go back in time to talk to yourself in your late twenties, what would you tell her?
• 7:34
  Maria Giarmeniti: I would say that, um, a, a beautiful future is waiting for you, even though it will take some time.
• 7:40
  Uh, be patient, be optimistic, and you will make it, I think this sense of not being afraid to shed your skin, let's say.
• 7:46
  And don't be afraid of that.
• 7:48
  Maria Giarmeniti: and if you really find your passion, you will eventually, enjoy what you're doing.
• 7:54
  Maria Eliades: I love that. Thank you.
• 7:57
  I wanna go back a bit in your experiences, you did high school at some point in Luxembourg as well as your, your degrees in, in the UK.
• 8:03
  Maria Giarmeniti: Okay. Yeah.
• 8:05
  Maria Eliades: So I'm curious about that international background.
• 8:08
  How do you think that that's affected your approach to your life and to your work?
• 8:14
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.
• 8:16
  I have contemplated about this, in the past few years how this has impacted me.
• 8:21
  And I realized that, you know, I was at a very young age in Luxembourg.
• 8:26
  I didn't speak any French or German. They just put me in the kindergarten there.
• 8:32
  I couldn't communicate with anyone.
• 8:34
  Coming back to Greece, I was struggling at school with the Greek language.
• 8:38
  I was behind from all of the kids at school. I was way behind.
• 8:43
  I had to learn very fast to try and keep up with them.
• 8:48
  And the culture difference was huge.
• 8:50
  I think this experience equipped me with the ability to adapt, and figure out, okay, what is this new environment?
• 8:56
  Where do I see any gaps that I have or what does this environment require from me and where do I need to maybe put more effort?
• 9:02
  Where do I need to, you know, spend more time in, learning, adjusting, so yeah.
• 9:07
  So today, even if I find myself in another country in a different environment,
• 9:12
  Maria Eliades: Mm-hmm.
• 9:14
  Maria Giarmeniti: it's very easy for me to, you know, read the room, and get the temperature of what is going on and, what do I need?
• 9:20
  Who am I in this new environment and what it's needed from me.
• 9:25
  And even now that I have shifted once, I'm more open to the, to the actual change.
• 9:31
  I realized that this was a skill that I had and it has helped me through this process.
• 9:37
  Maria Eliades: Yeah, I hear that.
• 9:39
  I mean, also as someone who's had quite the international background at this point in my twenties.
• 9:45
  But I think also, you know, it's a unique experience of growing up as a diaspora in another country
• 9:51
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.
• 9:53
  Maria Eliades: And so you feel like you straddle two different worlds, and I mean, that makes sense for you from Luxembourg, especially because that's very Western European culture and then coming into Greece, it's the similar clash of and ways of being and socializing and all these
• 9:59
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.
• 10:01
  Maria Eliades: things. Yeah. But it can be really handy because as
• 10:06
  Maria Giarmeniti: It can.
• 10:08
  Maria Eliades: you, know, you're like, okay, where am i? What am I doing?
• 10:13
  And as adults, we consciously think through it as kids, you don't.
• 10:17
  I I remember associating spaces with the Greek community is like, okay, I'm this person in this space, and then being in the rest of my life is like, okay, I'm this person, this other space and this is what what matters and what works.
• 10:23
  And so you do, I remember in high school, I especially had moments of being, well, well, who I am I, and what do I, what do I want out of these two, two things?
• 10:29
  And seeing maybe a little more keenly of where you disagree and places where you're like, this is what I believe in and this is what I want instead of what, this particular environment wants out of me.
• 10:35
  You spent 18 years
• 10:37
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yes.
• 10:39
  Maria Eliades: In finance before you switched to career coaching.
• 10:42
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yes.
• 10:44
  Maria Eliades: So, what was that aha moment that you had that you knew that you needed to change?
• 10:50
  Maria Giarmeniti: I was reaching gradually a burnout and, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.
• 10:56
  You know, like of course I had the stress with work and, you know, the workload was huge and long hours, but it was not that.
• 11:02
  At some point, my therapist, she asked me the aha question and she said, Maria, do you think you like what you are doing?
• 11:08
  You know, do you like your work? Do you enjoy? And it suddenly hit me.
• 11:14
  I think it was, it was there, it was in the subconscious, but I was never able to admit it before.
• 11:20
  You know, my parents had spent so much money on, getting me to study and, I said no.
• 11:26
  And the minute I said it out loud, I think everything started getting into motion.
• 11:31
  that was for me, the crucial moment, that changed everything.
• 11:35
  Maria Eliades: What happened after that?
• 11:37
  Maria Giarmeniti: She referred me, to a coach that she knew and she said, I don't think this is something that we need to deal with in therapy.
• 11:43
  Go, reach out to a coach and maybe she can help you, navigate through that. Yeah.
• 11:49
  Maria Eliades: That's so funny that you came to career coaching through therapy because that's also how I found you because my therapist said, You know, you, you might benefit from a career coach.
• 11:55
  And I'd i'd known for a while that I was not feeling like I was exactly in the right place.
• 12:01
  Maria Giarmeniti: yeah,
• 12:03
  Maria Eliades: But it is funny.
• 12:05
  I think that's a mark of a good therapist and both the ones we had at the time of saying, you know, this is not something that therapy addresses this is actually something where you need someone who's going to guide you on this path and be there to help you make this transition.
• 12:11
  So you, you knew at that point from the career coach you were talking to them.
• 12:16
  What, what was that like working with the career coach at the time and, uh, were they in Greece or were they someplace else?
• 12:22
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah, she was in Greece. It was something totally new to me.
• 12:27
  I didn't know, I didn't even know the, like, the existence of coaching back then.
• 12:33
  Maria Eliades: Mm-hmm.
• 12:35
  Maria Giarmeniti: So I was very open to explore and at the same time, a voluntary, exit scheme came out in my company, which was applicable for people over the age of 40.
• 12:41
  I had just reached the age of 40.
• 12:44
  And while I, I started with a coach and we started exploring things considered, leaving the company.
• 12:50
  And I did that. I did navigate through the process with a coach, so it was very useful.
• 12:56
  She helped me. clear out the fog because there was like a, a huge fog,
• 13:01
  Maria Eliades: Hmm.
• 13:03
  Maria Giarmeniti: in front of me. I didn't know what I wanted to do.
• 13:08
  I had just a feeling.
• 13:10
  I had a hunch, like, I just wanna help people, you know, all of my colleagues are coming into my office talking about, you know, their stuff, but it's not therapy.
• 13:16
  It's maybe it's, career. So there was something there, but it was not clear to me.
• 13:22
  Maria Eliades: How did that coach then help you take that feeling and that instinct and help you listen to it and, and form into something that was coherent?
• 13:28
  Maria Giarmeniti: Through her coaching and through her questioning, and, she used some tools to start exploring within me, what do I like?
• 13:34
  What are the skills that I can use, what are the fields that I could start working in?
• 13:40
  And I realized back then that I had to do this, um, mental reset.
• 13:45
  So I was exploring, oh, maybe I could get a part-time job in finance that I was doing to support me.
• 13:51
  But then this wasn't working, and it gradually started, becoming clearer that I, I am heading towards HR.
• 13:57
  So the minute I started figuring out, the field, it was easier for me to start selecting the, let's say the area of HR that would be, the best for me to start with.
• 14:03
  But I realized I had to reset and maybe I had to reset professionally at that point.
• 14:09
  So I would need to reskill and upskill myself and educate myself again, and learn and start from not, I wouldn't say the bottom, but start almost from the bottom at this new field that I was getting into.
• 14:15
  Maria Eliades: Was that scary for you?
• 14:17
  Maria Giarmeniti: It was, it was, and okay, of course I had the financial package that I had received from my previous employer when I left, but still, it's not only scary, it's like a humbling experience because I was, I was a director in my previous job.
• 14:23
  I had 10 people, supervising, leading them, and I had a, company car.
• 14:28
  I had a very good salary, so, it was a humbling experience in the sense that I needed to, maybe compromise a bit of all that and, maybe check again my, you know, my financial,my expenses, my budget, my, my whole expectations and humbling in also the sense that I would enter a company almost at an entry level.
• 14:34
  Maria Eliades: Wow.
• 14:36
  Maria Giarmeniti: I would learn on the job, while I was also training, as an HR and training as, a coach back then.
• 14:42
  Maria Eliades: I'm sure there are a lot of listeners who are thinking yes, like you.
• 14:48
  Maybe they have studied.
• 14:50
  Finance or engineering or something that their parents wanted them to study and now they're in the fields and they're saying to themselves, this isn't it?
• 14:56
  Or is this all there is?
• 14:58
  How did you deal with, if you felt any family pressure perceived family pressure to not make the change, how did you deal with that?
• 15:04
  Because that's a huge cultural thing for a lot of us.
• 15:08
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.There was a lot of pressure.I think back then I had to actually get the approval from my mother to quit.
• 15:14
  I don't know why, but I felt I had to discuss it with her.
• 15:19
  So when I actually did that they were thinking that it was like an, a temporary thing.
• 15:25
  Like, Maria is going through a, a mid life crisis. It's fine, it's fine.
• 15:30
  You know, let her.
• 15:32
  As the months started going by and we would go into family dinners and they would say, oh, so, um, when are you going back into finance?
• 15:38
  Like, maybe you should go back to finance because you know. the money's there.
• 15:43
  you could get a, six digit salary.
• 15:45
  and what kept me going was this inner, inner sense that it was so strong in me saying, no, you need to stay on this path.
• 15:51
  Because what I experienced in the other path was so exhausting and energy draining that I didn't want that never again in my life.
• 15:57
  Maria Giarmeniti: It's for my health.
• 15:59
  It's for me, no one can understand that better than me, and no one will ever do something other than me.
• 16:05
  Maria Eliades: Mm-hmm.
• 16:07
  Maria Giarmeniti: I was trying to keep all these voices, outside, which I can tell you, even, even after five years since I had done this, shift, my mother would still ask, So, you know, are you considering going back to finance?
• 16:13
  know?
• 16:15
  Maria Eliades: It sometimes takes 'em a while to get it if they ever get it
• 16:21
  Maria Giarmeniti: if I, yeah, exactly. Yeah.
• 16:23
  Maria Eliades: Yeah.
• 16:25
  I feel that really strongly during different parts of my career, my family has not understood what I've done.
• 16:31
  Actually, even at the State Department, they didn't understand what I did,
• 16:36
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.
• 16:38
  Maria Eliades: And that was one of my very official types of jobs that I had over the course of my career.
• 16:44
  So, I, I agree with you.
• 16:46
  Even before we worked together, I always had the sense, because I hadn't done anything that was very sciencey.
• 16:52
  And I come from a very science-oriented family.
• 16:55
  Everyone but me is doing something that's related to math or science, absolutely everyone, so I was already a bit of a black sheep.
• 17:01
  But I remember there the point that I didn't feel like I needed parental approval as much was actually when I was at Oxford.
• 17:07
  Maria Giarmeniti: Hmm.
• 17:09
  Maria Eliades: Not because I had gotten in, but because my mother didn't really understand what I was doing.
• 17:15
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.
• 17:17
  Maria Eliades: So I remember having this crisis moment with it:
• 17:21
  She doesn't think this is worthwhile, but I feel like I'm supposed to be here and event, there was this moment where it broke and I thought, no, this is what's right for me.
• 17:27
  I'm here, I know I can get this degree.
• 17:30
  It doesn't matter what she thinks I'm doing because she doesn't understand what I'm doing anyway.
• 17:36
  But it can be really hard.
• 17:38
  And for me, because I lived out my twenties in Turkey, it was a lot easier not to have that as a constant thing, but it was still, I, I just, I remember it especially then it, it took me a long time to get past needing all of that parental approval.
• 17:44
  And then I think it took well into my, my thirties maybe when my life changed a couple of times to really not need it.
• 17:50
  Of course there's still part of me that likes having family understand it's, an instinct, right?
• 17:55
  I think part of it's cultural.
• 17:58
  I think part of it's just an instinct as how we're raised, as who we are.
• 18:03
  So that's hard.
• 18:05
  but that gets to the other follow up that I wanted to ask, which I think will be really useful to listeners, which is about values.
• 18:11
  Now, that's one of the first things that we did.
• 18:15
  So how we take someone through about what their values are?
• 18:19
  Maria Giarmeniti: And why is it so important to identify them when we're thinking about our careers?
• 18:25
  So values is the compass that helps us navigate through dilemmas, through very important decisions in life, whether it is, career, relationship, whatever.
• 18:31
  So values is what holds us accountable.
• 18:33
  Values are what keeps us authentic to our true self.
• 18:37
  And you know that in any decision that you can make, whether it is applying for a job or, studying something new or, marrying someone, if you identify them, it's much easier for you to make these decisions.
• 18:43
  And if you are close to your values and being authentic, no one can actually move you so much from your position.
• 18:49
  And you don't have to prove anything to anyone else.
• 18:52
  So you have, like a very solid foundation once you have identified your values.
• 18:57
  Maria Eliades: So how can our listeners figure out what their values are?
• 19:02
  Maria Giarmeniti: If you think of the things that really get on your nerves or think of instances that have created anger within you.
• 19:08
  Like, for example, for me, when I hear, um, a supervisor blaming a colleague.
• 19:13
  For something that they were not responsible, I immediately get enraged, and I need to advocate for that person.
• 19:19
  So for me, justice, it's very important.
• 19:22
  Maria Giarmeniti: And the other part is what really fulfills you.
• 19:26
  So think about times throughout your life that you felt that was something very fulfilling.
• 19:31
  What were you doing? How were you feeling? And what did you gain from that experience?
• 19:37
  Maria Eliades: Mm-hmm.
• 19:39
  Maria Giarmeniti: For example, let's say I remember a moment in my life, when I was helping someone, land a, a new job, right?
• 19:45
  Maria Giarmeniti: So I was really, supporting them and, crafting their CV and talking to them, the day before the interview.
• 19:51
  So that felt so fulfilling and one could say, okay, the sense of, service to others.
• 19:56
  And so for me,
• 19:58
  Maria Eliades: that was a very fulfilling moment for me.
• 20:02
  So it's looking at, you know, very quickly what irritates
• 20:05
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yes.
• 20:07
  Maria Eliades: us, and then also what we find fulfilling as the first guidepost to make up that compass.
• 20:13
  So that sounds like a good place to start, I think, for people.
• 20:18
  Okay, so say someone has figured out their values.
• 20:21
  They're like, Okay, I know what really pisses me off. I know what really lights me up.
• 20:27
  What do I do from there?
• 20:29
  Especially if I see that what I'm currently doing is on the side of it does not line up with my values.
• 20:35
  Now what?
• 20:37
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.
• 20:39
  So, of course again, I would, I would suggest that, if they are struggling with that, they would need another person to reflect on that.
• 20:45
  So with the assistance of a coach or a therapist, but it's important for me once I have identified my values, if I am not in a place that it is aligned I need maybe to start exploring what would be these other places that align with my values,
• 20:51
  For example, if I'm struggling at work, the culture at work, the environment does not align with my values, I can start exploring hobbies or, other networks that align more, and identify what these networks have, what these hobbies have that I enjoy.
• 20:57
  Right? And then try um, explore in the work environment.
• 21:01
  So for example, if I have an interview with another company, let's say that I enjoy, the comradery or I enjoy, the transparent communication, right?
• 21:07
  So, if I want to find that in my next job, this could be something that I could explore maybe through the interview.
• 21:13
  So, it's important to figure out what are the components that, I feel that I'm aligned with when I'm there in this kind of networks.
• 21:19
  Maria Eliades: This leads me very conveniently to a listener question that we got.
• 21:24
  Maria Giarmeniti: Okay.
• 21:26
  Lexi: Hi Maria. I'm Lexi. I'm 28 and I live in Brooklyn.
• 21:30
  my question is about trying to decide or identify if you're on the right career path.
• 21:36
  It feels like in a lot of areas in life we're constantly searching for something better, whether it's dating or somewhere we live or what we look like.
• 21:42
  what criteria do you suggest people look at when trying to decide if for career path is the right one for them?
• 21:48
  Is any sense of doubt a red flag?
• 21:51
  Maria Giarmeniti: So this is also a very common challenge.
• 21:54
  Maria Eliades: I figured. Yeah.
• 21:56
  Maria Giarmeniti: There is not just a very simple answer to that.
• 22:01
  We have this exercise called the life purpose that we did.
• 22:05
  I think we did that together as well.
• 22:08
  Maria Eliades: We did.
• 22:10
  Maria Giarmeniti: So life purpose: your values, your skills, and what gets you out of bed.
• 22:15
  So there is all these things factored together that you need to identify.
• 22:20
  And once you identify these, you can find the matching, aspects in a career.
• 22:25
  So, just to give you an example, if, one of the values is, service to people and, building trust and, you want to go down the path of becoming an accountant, let's say.
• 22:31
  Right?
• 22:33
  So is this something even doing informative interviews with people who are in this profession, is this something that will fulfill the need of service to people?
• 22:39
  And, so all the values that you are carrying within you, is this profession going to meet them?
• 22:45
  Maybe someone will say, yes, I will be an accountant in Doctors without Borders, right?
• 22:50
  So service to people is my value, and this will be fulfilled, right?
• 22:55
  So to recap, your life purpose, your values, what gets you out of bed in the morning, you know, what really excites you?
• 23:01
  What is something that you do in your spare time?
• 23:04
  What do you read about what is interesting for you?
• 23:08
  And explore which professions cover these areas.
• 23:11
  Maria Eliades: Mm-hmm.
• 23:13
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah, it's not easy to do.
• 23:15
  Maria Eliades: No, and that's, I think where she refers to the end of, is there any sense of doubt about those criteria or values?
• 23:21
  Is that a flag that you're not on the right path?
• 23:25
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.
• 23:27
  I think especially with values, and it's not easy to understand before joining or before going to a specific career path,
• 23:33
  Maria Eliades: Mm-hmm.
• 23:35
  Maria Giarmeniti: you might realize it on the way.
• 23:39
  But especially what has to do with values, if you feel a clash there, you can't stay in this path for long.
• 23:45
  Maria Eliades: That's for certain.
• 23:47
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah.
• 23:49
  Maria Eliades: Did you feel any doubts when changing into hr, or especially now that you have launched off into your own company and business?
• 23:55
  Maria Giarmeniti: Yeah. I constantly have doubts.
• 23:57
  Maria Eliades: Okay.
• 23:59
  Maria Giarmeniti: And I think I, um, you know, I am, I am familiar with the sense of having the doubt, and this is something that is, it's keeping me alert in a sense, yes.
• 24:05
  I now have my own company.
• 24:07
  I'm a complete freelancer in hr, in coaching, in executive search.
• 24:11
  So every step of the way, I trust the process.
• 24:15
  I trust myself, but I always have this sense of doubt, but it doesn't stop me from going,
• 24:21
  Maria Eliades: Mm.
• 24:23
  Maria Giarmeniti: right?
• 24:25
  So it's okay to have these doubts and you will try things and see maybe this doesn't work for you.
• 24:31
  You can adjust.
• 24:33
  Maria Eliades: Mm-hmm.
• 24:35
  Maria Giarmeniti: But it's important to try, it's important to move forward.
• 24:39
  And I think having the doubt is okay because it keeps you alert and you question the process along the way and the minute you sensing that.
• 24:45
  Something doesn't work for me here.
• 24:47
  You know, it's important to, to pivot, to adjust if you can and as fast as you can.
• 24:53
  Maria Eliades: Before we go, If any of our listeners want to work with you, what's the best way to find you?
• 24:59
  Maria Giarmeniti: Of course they could reach out to me on, LinkedIn and they could also, um, get on my website.
• 25:05
  Maria Eliades: Thank you again for joining us on the podcast.
• 25:09
  I really, really appreciate it.
• 25:11
  I think that this will be useful to a lot of listeners who are trying to figure out what their values are in their careers and in their lives to go forward.
• 25:17
  Maria Giarmeniti: It was an honor. Thank you for having me.
• 25:21
  And, I really hope that they do get the value from this and, I'm always, always available if they want to reach out.
• 25:27
  Maria Eliades: Perfect. Thank you.
• 25:29
  Maria Giarmeniti: Thank you, Maria.
• 25:31
  Maria Eliades: I'm so glad you joined me here today on this first episode of our Pandora's Box.
• 25:37
  Our careers are part of a bigger picture of how we spend our days and our lives.
• 25:43
  The question of aligning our careers with who we are is not an easy one.
• 25:48
  We're up against a system of work that does not care if we are fulfilled.
• 25:54
  So taking a moment to ground yourself and realizing what you want out of your career and your life is one of the most radical things you can do.
• 26:00
  Not, what your mother wants for your career, not what your boss wants, not what your company or organization or clients want, what you want, what you uniquely want to get out of work, and what you want to give back to the world.
• 26:06
  Now the topic of how work became such a difficult place is a topic for another episode, but I wanna emphasize what I do believe about change and about systemic change.
• 26:12
  Systemic change starts with each and every one of us, realizing in ourselves what is wrong, what we need, what our truths are, what the people around us need.
• 26:18
  And making that shift that will push us towards change and then the change in other people will come because they'll see that you are doing things differently.
• 26:24
  I know I promised all of you that I revealed this sentence Maria helped me come up with at the end of the episode, and it's something that when I was back in Corfu leaving and resetting from what I'd left in in the U.S.
• 26:30
  It, it was something that, that stuck with me.
• 26:33
  So here's my sentence:
• 26:35
  My life purpose is to be trusted with and to tell other people's stories in order to feel grounded and excited so that others can truly understand what really matters.
• 26:41
  I'll let you sit with that for a moment and then I'll repeat it:
• 26:46
  My life purpose is to be trusted with and to tell other people's stories in order to feel grounded and excited so that others can truly understand what really matters.
• 26:52
  After I made the statement, I started to notice moments where I felt most alive at work, and I reflected on the moments in the past where my work had made me feel that sense of grounding and excitement.
• 26:58
  Creating this podcast for all of you feels to me to be deeply interconnected with that and with that quest to help others understand what really matters in the world, as well as having the privilege of having people share their stories with me.
• 27:04
  So I'm hoping that this episode will be something that cracks open curiosity for you so you can do that for yourself.
• 27:10
  If you wanna create your own life purpose statement or hear more about how Maria helped me create mine, come to the Our Pandora's Box Substack, where you can also check out resources from this episode and leave me a voice note with a topic and a question you'd like me to cover next.
• 27:16
  Our Pandora's Box is a Pentelic Productions podcast that was created, hosted, produced, and edited by yours truly.
• 27:22
  Maria Eliades, thanks again for joining us, and don't forget to stay hopeful and stay curious.
• 27:28
  I'll see you soon, on the next Our Pandora's Box.