Thriving in todays workplace takes a lot more than having a specific skill set. True success and happiness lies in an integrative approach to your career. In this book, Mary so beautifully lays out that exact approach. With over twenty years of experience in the corporate world, Mary has taken her years of leadership training, her passion for mindfulness tools, and her love of neuroscience and wrapped into a seven-step process that will give even the most burned out professional a renewed passion back. This is a must read for anyone who wants to love their job again!
Dr. Mindy Pelz, Best-Selling Author of
The Reset Factor and The Menopause Reset
Mary and I worked together closely at Cisco and when it comes to combining leadership development, mindfulness and nutritionI can attest that Mary is the real deal. She not only practices what she preaches, she lives it every single day. Mary offers clients who wish to explore this area a thoughtful, well-researched perspective grounded in real-life practicality.
Robert Kovach, PhD, Director, Conscious
Leaders & Teams, People & Communities, Cisco
Mindful Career is a complete resource for navigating our careers. With insightful and compelling writing, Mary Mosham creates a clear evidence-based path, chapter by chapter, for bringing our whole selves to the workplace, and ultimately, to life.
Jennifer Prugh, Founder of Breathe Together Yoga,
Author of River Offerings
Copyright 2020 by Mary Mosham
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the publisher. For information or permission, write mary@marymosham.com.
This is a work of creative nonfiction. The events herein are portrayed to the best of the authors memory. While all the stories in this book are true, some names and identifying details may have been changed to protect the privacy of the people involved.
The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for health and well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author assumes no responsibility for your actions.
Editorial work by Eschler Editing
Cover design by MiblArt
Interior print design and layout by Sydnee Hyer
Ebook design and layout by Sydnee Hyer
Production services facilitated by Scrivener Books
Published by Mindful Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-578-78594-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
To my nieces and nephews, may you have the courage to follow
your hearts calling and create a career and life that brings you
success, happiness, and deep fulfillment. I love you.
Contents
Foreword
N ever before have working professionals been challenged to maintain their physical and mental well-being. Over the last decade, work-related stress has increased to unprecedented levels, with nearly 70 percent people experiencing emotional and physical fatigue related to internal and external stressors. This has led to declining job performance, job dissatisfaction, job burnout, and harmful levels of anxiety, isolation, and depression. This problem has exacerbated with the 2020 pandemic. I imagine most of us want the world to return to a level of normalcy, where we can socialize without masks, take our children to school, and enjoy a flourishing economy. When uncertainty prevails, stress and worry escalate. Over time, chronic stress leads to negative physical and mental effects, such as impaired cardiovascular system, elevated blood sugar, poor sleep, and cellular aging.
As a Stanford physician and professor for over thirty years, I have witnessed stress and burnout among my fellow physicians as we manage increasingly demanding schedules, growing administrative duties, and loss of autonomy. We are trained to deliver exceptional quality care to our patients, but not necessarily how to take care of ourselves. Healthcare professionals are not alone with respect to this burnout epidemic. Other professions, including those in the technology field, face this challenge every day. Many people work long hours under high performance pressure, often at the expense of their own well-being.
In her new book, Mindful Career: Seven Keys to End Burnout and Unlock Your Greatest Potential , Mary Mosham presents an antidote to stress and burnout. She guides the reader along a path of awakening to ones true authenticity and potential, providing an accessible roadmap to success and happiness. Mindful Career offers evidence-based and time-tested tools for curbing burnout, building resilience, and unlocking our potential to maximize the quality of our career and home life during these uncertain times. This book is filled with engaging stories from her leadership journey and other top leaders on how to maintain peak performance without sacrificing what matters most. She reveals her own vulnerabilities with such candor which puts the reader at easeshowing how we are much more alike than different.
Mary brilliantly integrates seven keys to transform personal and professional challenges into courage and wisdom, as well as how to balance our work and life needs to make our unique contribution. This power-packed toolbox will provide a practical step-by-step guide to finding our purpose, building resilience and courage, mastering our negative mindsets, and authentically living our destiny with more success, happiness, and meaning. This is an essential book for busy working professionals to navigate their careers, especially in this fast-paced, changing world.
Greg Hammer, MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology,
Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
Author of GAIN without Pain
Introduction
The Wake-Up Call
Lifes greatest wake-up calls are an invitation to remember
why we are truly here on this planet and to give space for
something new to emerge that sets our soul on fire.
W e are living in extraordinary and unprecedented times. Over the last decade, the speed and stress of work and life have accelerated at astronomical rates. From growing technology innovations, fluctuating financial markets, looming climate crises to pandemics increasing death rates, we are experiencing more volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) across the globe. The term VUCA was based on Warren Bennis and Bur Nanuss leadership theories to help business leaders navigate complex organizational changes and U.S. Army War College students to analyze war conditions after the Cold War.
The constant changes in the global economy and workplace has created a heightened level of uncertainty. Its challenging us to predict the future beyond historical forecasts while responding quickly to changing market conditions. The problems we face are now multi-layered, harder to understand, forcing us to drive decisions and choose the right path forward with limited information. The one-size-fits-all approach no longer works in a VUCA world. We must rely more on clear communication, collaboration across teams, short-term strategic priorities, and the courage and awareness to forge an unchartered path.
