Speaker 1: You're listening to amm with mea podcast.
Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to biz your work life sorted. Last
Speaker 2: week we covered the essential workplace hacks you need to
Speaker 2: know for twenty twenty five. It was those foundational skills
Speaker 2: to set you up for success. But now it's time
Speaker 2: to level up because we all know that the second
Speaker 2: half of the year is where things actually get really intense.
Speaker 2: Tax time is looming, performance reviews are on the horizon,
Speaker 2: and your to do list has more dues than done.
Speaker 2: That is for me personally. So today we are hitting
Speaker 2: you with Part two, the exact strategies you need to
Speaker 2: finish twenty twenty five strong when everyone else is burning out.
Speaker 2: Like always, no fluff, just practical hacks to maintain momentum
Speaker 2: when your motivation has completely ghosted you. We are covering
Speaker 2: how to sound more confident by simply saying less, the
Speaker 2: exact phrases to shut down condoce sending colleagues without getting fired,
Speaker 2: networking techniques for people who'd rather be anywhere else, and
Speaker 2: why your mental strategy might need a complete overhaul. But first,
Speaker 2: let's tackle the number one skill for the second half
Speaker 2: of any year, how to stay motivated when motivation has
Speaker 2: completely left the chat. We've all done it. Your boss
Speaker 2: asks a simple question and suddenly you're delivering a ted talk,
Speaker 2: complete with the backstory, three examples, and a disclaimer about
Speaker 2: why your answer might be wrong. And then you see
Speaker 2: their eyes glaze over and realize that you've completely lost them.
Speaker 2: Over explaining is the silent killer that most of us
Speaker 2: don't even realize we're doing. It's a nervous tick. The
Speaker 2: next hack completely transformed how I communicated work, and it
Speaker 2: all comes down to one brilliant metaphor.
Speaker 1: There is one tool that I teach when it comes
Speaker 1: to over talking or over explaining, and it's this mindset,
Speaker 1: be a waterfall, be a well. So rather than feeling
Speaker 1: like they have to give you have to give all
Speaker 1: the information, there's this feeling we have to give all
Speaker 1: the context. What happens when we over explain. It's almost
Speaker 1: the opposite effect, this idea of the more words it
Speaker 1: takes to tell the truth, the more it sounds like
Speaker 1: a lie. The more you explain, the longer it takes
Speaker 1: you to get to the point, the more it sounds
Speaker 1: like you may not know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: So instead you want to think of yourself as a well.
Speaker 1: That means short responses, and if somebody else has a question,
Speaker 1: they will ask. I teach this to when I prepare
Speaker 1: my clients through depositions and cross examinations. I say, when
Speaker 1: you answer, only answer the question. Keep it short and
Speaker 1: brief and sweet, because the longer your answer, I can
Speaker 1: be rest assured the more questions they're going to get. So,
Speaker 1: rather than being a waterfall, be a well.
Speaker 3: My god, it's so true, especially when you are communicating
Speaker 3: with any leaders. We feel nervous. They ask us a
Speaker 3: question after our presentation and will want to talk for
Speaker 3: like three paragraphs. And really they wanted like it's launching
Speaker 3: in June, you.
Speaker 1: Know exactly, they wanted three words, that was it.
Speaker 2: Less really is more when it comes to sounding like
Speaker 2: you know your stuff. In a world where everyone's fighting
Speaker 2: to be heard, speaking less actually gives your words more
Speaker 2: weight and people instinctively trust your expertise more. This tiny
Speaker 2: shift in communication style can be the difference between being
Speaker 2: seen as a junior talent or leadership material. Okay, can
Speaker 2: we please talk about those colleagues who speak to you
Speaker 2: like you somehow miss the adult orientation day. You know
Speaker 2: exactly who I mean it's that person who's just popped
Speaker 2: into your head, who explains your own job to you,
Speaker 2: or uses that tone that makes you want to change
Speaker 2: careers just to avoid them. Being patronized at work is infuriating.
Speaker 2: But before you start drafting up resignation emails, here are
Speaker 2: some brilliant responses that shut it down without making you
Speaker 2: the office villain.
Speaker 3: Example, some things you can say is like a lot
Speaker 3: of young people get patronized for being young right in
Speaker 3: the workplace. So it might be like someone might say, oh,
Speaker 3: because you learned that at UNI, and you can be like,
Speaker 3: I did learn this at UNI, but why did you
Speaker 3: say it like that? So you can just want to
Speaker 3: ask them a question, and if you can get a
Speaker 3: tone that is genuinely curious, like I'm genuinely curious as
Speaker 3: to why you said it that way, that can be
Speaker 3: really good. Then you can go a little bit stronger
Speaker 3: and you can kind of give them an opportunity to
Speaker 3: course correct if they maybe didn't mean it that way.
Speaker 3: It sounds like your colleague did intend to be brud
Speaker 3: to you, though, But you can say something like, the
Speaker 3: way that you said that actually sounded a bit patronizing.
Speaker 3: Is that how you meant it to sound and then
Speaker 3: people might be like, oh, no, I didn't mean it
Speaker 3: to sound like that. And one you've let them know that,
Speaker 3: like you're onto them, even if they did mean to
Speaker 3: say it like that, but it can give them an
Speaker 3: opportunity course correct. And sometimes people will do that. They'll
Speaker 3: kind of know when they'll stop if they keep doing it.
Speaker 3: So for example, if someone's like really in the workplace,
Speaker 3: patronizing you about you're so young, whatever, say they're like
Speaker 3: over explaining something to you a lot, and you you
Speaker 3: can kind of say, you know, it's cool. I am
Speaker 3: actually pretty familiar with this topic. I'm keeping up with
Speaker 3: what you're saying. You don't need to over explain it.
Speaker 3: Or it might be something like, you know, I'm not
Speaker 3: sure you know this, but I have actually got a
Speaker 3: year of experience doing this in my previous job. Is
Speaker 3: there something in the way that I'm doing it that
Speaker 3: makes you think that I don't know how to do
Speaker 3: it or something like that, So you can kind of
Speaker 3: just like start to bring in language.
Speaker 2: That's so good. I also have one that I think
Speaker 2: it's a bit sneaky, but I've used it a few
Speaker 2: times now and it's worked every time. If someone makes
Speaker 2: a snarky comment towards you in like a big meeting
Speaker 2: or with a group of people, I pretend I didn't
Speaker 2: hear it, and I ask them to repeat themselves. I'm like, sorry,
Speaker 2: what was that? And they never do. They always change
Speaker 2: up the language. These techniques are gold professional but powerful.
Speaker 2: I especially love the sorry what was that?
Speaker 3: Move?
Speaker 2: It forces people to either own their rudeness or backtrack completely.
Speaker 2: These responses work for everyone, from man explaining colleagues to
Speaker 2: condescending leaders, letting them know you won't create drama, but
Speaker 2: you also won't be spoken down to. Let's talk about
Speaker 2: that moment when your manager drops another quote unquote quick
Speaker 2: task to your max out plate and somehow you still
Speaker 2: hear yourself saying yeah, sure, no problem. We have all
Speaker 2: been there. That cycle of taking too much on isn't
Speaker 2: just exhausting, it's actually hurting your career. Quality always suffers
Speaker 2: when quantity takes over. So how do you say no
Speaker 2: without looking uncommitted? This technique completely changed how I managed
Speaker 2: to workload conversations.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people think it's up to
Speaker 3: my manager to prioritize my work for me, and it's
Speaker 3: actually not it's everyone's responsibility to protect not just their focus,
Speaker 3: but to protect the focus of their whole team by
Speaker 3: pushing back and saying no. So this is sort of
Speaker 3: the whole point of the thing that I'm going to
Speaker 3: share with you. Let's bring it back to our gen
Speaker 3: z and millennial friends listening to You're sitting there thinking, so,
Speaker 3: how do I actually do less? How do I say no?
Speaker 3: And how do I push back? So internalize this. People
Speaker 3: are going to keep piling work on top of you
Speaker 3: until you can't take it anymore. It's not that they're
Speaker 3: trying to hurt you. It's just human nature. And I
Speaker 3: think it is harder when you're more junior because you've
Speaker 3: just got all this stuff coming down and you're not
Speaker 3: in that position to sort of be pushing back in
Speaker 3: and making big decisions. So learning to protect your focus
Speaker 3: and push back is like top three core skills that
Speaker 3: you need to learn, and it is extremely hard. But
Speaker 3: come with me. I'm going to give you one really
Speaker 3: simple thing that you can start doing today that's going
Speaker 3: to help you. So that is saying no to your
Speaker 3: manager with respect. And here's the secret. You might actually
Speaker 3: be better placed to make decisions about certain things than
Speaker 3: your manager, because you are closer to the work. You're
Speaker 3: the person on the tools, you're the person in the details,
Speaker 3: and you actually know how long things take, how much time,
Speaker 3: and how much effort tasks actually take, and your manager
Speaker 3: doesn't always know that. So it's not like they're trying
Speaker 3: to overload you with tasks. It's just that they don't
Speaker 3: have that information. So it's sort of your responsibility and
Speaker 3: it's in your power to push back. But it is
Speaker 3: really difficult. So you know, has this ever happened to you?
Speaker 3: Your manager says this should take about twenty minutes, it
Speaker 3: should be easy, right, and in your head you're thinking
Speaker 3: like that actually takes two to three hours. But then
Speaker 3: out loud you're like, no, worries, I can do it.
Speaker 3: What you want to do instead is you want to
Speaker 3: position it as a trade off. And that's the thing, right.
Speaker 3: It's not like the ideas and tasking your manager is
Speaker 3: giving you are bad. It's just that there's a lot
Speaker 3: of other things in your plate and everything, in a
Speaker 3: way is a trade off. So this script I'm going
Speaker 3: to share. It's from a global work expert and entrepreneur.
Speaker 3: Her name is wes Ko. I don't want to give
Speaker 3: her credit. She's brilliant and this is her favorite way
Speaker 3: to say no to a manager. So imagine your manager
Speaker 3: has just like throwed another bloody idea of task you.
Speaker 3: So thanks for the idea. I've added it to my
Speaker 3: list quick heads up. A task like this usually takes
Speaker 3: two to three hours. We had talked about prioritizing this
Speaker 3: other task because it was going to help us hit
Speaker 3: this big goal of block. I can refocus on the
Speaker 3: new task, but we'll probably need to make some trade offs,
Speaker 3: and you drop those in, for example, some other things
Speaker 3: that you're going to delay. My recommendation is that I
Speaker 3: work on the new task after the other task is done.
Speaker 3: Let me know if that sounds good or if you're
Speaker 3: thinking about it differently. And that last point is really
Speaker 3: important because you are showing respect to your manager. You
Speaker 3: know more details about the time and effort, but they
Speaker 3: might be more exposed to some of those conversations withining
Speaker 3: your leadership or other types of priorities. So if they say, well, actually, yes,
Speaker 3: I do see it differently, you do need to respect
Speaker 3: them and it's a conversation, but this is a way
Speaker 3: to do it that's going to make you feel good
Speaker 3: and it's not going to feel like you're saying I'm
Speaker 3: not going to do that.
Speaker 2: I love this approach. It refrains saying no, from confrontational
Speaker 2: to strategic. The surprising truth is that managers respect this
Speaker 2: thoughtfulness more than blind agreement, and people who master this
Speaker 2: boundary setting actually gets promoted faster because they deliver excellent work,
Speaker 2: not rushed work. Next up, networking for people who'd rather
Speaker 2: be doing literally anything else. Okay, let's talk about networking
Speaker 2: events aka my personal nightmare. For years, I used to
Speaker 2: break into a cold sweat literally just receiving the calendar invite.
Speaker 2: I'd end up either stuck in endless conversations with the
Speaker 2: wrong people or awkwardly clutching my drink like it was
Speaker 2: a life raft. But I've learned this actually a science
Speaker 2: to this madness, and it all comes down to where
Speaker 2: you actually physically stand in the room. So get ready,
Speaker 2: grab a pen and paper, because this is a really
Speaker 2: good one.
Speaker 4: So if you know someone at the event, and it
Speaker 4: can feel so natural to just go and seek that
Speaker 4: person out and find comfort in that existing relationship, but
Speaker 4: it's going to hold you back. So a good idea
Speaker 4: is to if you see someone you know, be like, hey,
Speaker 4: great to see you. I'm just going to go and
Speaker 4: chat to this person. I'm going to come find you later,
Speaker 4: and just like park those ones and give yourself the
Speaker 4: best opportunity to meet new people. The third zone, and
Speaker 4: this is where you want to be existing. There's two options.
Speaker 4: The first one is by the bar, so she says
Speaker 4: that as people are leaving the bar, they've got their drink,
Speaker 4: they're feeling settled, and they're ready for a conversation, and
Speaker 4: a really easy in can just be like cheers, cheer someone,
Speaker 4: introduce yourself and that's a good opportunity to start a
Speaker 4: conversation where you're probably both ready. The second good zone
Speaker 4: to be in is near the host. So going up
Speaker 4: to the host, introduce yourself, thanking them for inviting you,
Speaker 4: and then you could even ask them, is there anyone
Speaker 4: here that you would suggest I speak to, and then
Speaker 4: maybe they can help introduce you to someone else who's
Speaker 4: in a similar space to you or someone that they
Speaker 4: think might be a good connection for you. But by
Speaker 4: the host, they're also going to have a lot of
Speaker 4: people just around them, so it's also a good zone
Speaker 4: to exist in.
Speaker 3: Mind blown that is epic advice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's so simple, but for someone who's a bit scared,
Speaker 4: I also feel like by the host is also a
Speaker 4: nice icebreaker as well, like this is someone who's there
Speaker 4: to welcome you, is going to be down for a chat.
Speaker 4: But she does make a point actually like only if
Speaker 4: they're looking available, like you don't want to loiter around them.
Speaker 4: So yeah, by the bar or buy the host. That's
Speaker 4: how you're going to nail where you stand at a
Speaker 4: networking event.
Speaker 3: I love it, and one super quick build. If it
Speaker 3: is a sit down dinner, often the people or like
Speaker 3: the two people that you're chatting to write before everyone
Speaker 3: goes to sit down will be the people you end
Speaker 3: up sitting with. If it's not like a named they
Speaker 3: haven't decided where people are sitting, because you'll end up
Speaker 3: walking sort of into the seating area with those people.
Speaker 3: So very strategically, if there's a particular person that you
Speaker 3: really want to sit next to at dinner, try to
Speaker 3: make sure that you are talking to them or close
Speaker 3: to them right before they say okay, everyone come and
Speaker 3: sit down.
Speaker 2: The zone strategy is brilliant, such a simple lift, but
Speaker 2: it completely transforms networking from random chance to strategic connection.
Speaker 2: No more hiding in the bathroom to avoid talking to people.
Speaker 2: We need to talk about work mentors because I've always
Speaker 2: wanted one, but I didn't know where to start or
Speaker 2: where to find them. Everyone would just tell me just
Speaker 2: connect with people who inspire you. As if it was
Speaker 2: so easy, I'd spend literal hours crafting these lengthy, overly
Speaker 2: formal emails that I'd never actually send because I'm so embarrassed.
Speaker 2: But you actually don't need some perfectly polished message it
Speaker 2: makes you sound impossibly impressive. You just need these five
Speaker 2: honest lines.
Speaker 3: Step one is to really ask yourself why am I
Speaker 3: doing this? So what am I trying to get out
Speaker 3: of it? And I thought it might be helpful to
Speaker 3: give you a live example. So let's use the example
Speaker 3: of someone who they currently work in sales and maybe
Speaker 3: they want to go and work in marketing and they're
Speaker 3: kind of thinking like do I do that now? Or
Speaker 3: should I just say in sales a bit longer and
Speaker 3: work my way out? So Step maulble one is asking yourself,
Speaker 3: what am I trying to get out of it? And
Speaker 3: why do I want to have these chats? Step number
Speaker 3: two is to actually build yourself a short list of people.
Speaker 3: So to do that, you're going to be looking at, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm trying to pivot my career from sales to marketing.
Speaker 3: Let me maybe try and find some people that have
Speaker 3: done that. So you can first look at your internal network.
Speaker 3: There might be people within your company that have done it.
Speaker 3: You can then go and do a bunch of LinkedIn stalking,
Speaker 3: so people have so much information about their careers. It's
Speaker 3: actually so easy to find people who have done something
Speaker 3: similar to what you're trying to do, and then also
Speaker 3: just ask you around. You want to try and land
Speaker 3: on three to five people who have done something similar
Speaker 3: to what you're trying to do. Now on too. Step three,
Speaker 3: which is the very simple five line email that you
Speaker 3: were going to send them. So I wouldn't normally read
Speaker 3: out an email live, but because it's so simple, actually
Speaker 3: just wanted to share that with you. Now, if you're
Speaker 3: up for it, love it. Let's go the five lines.
Speaker 3: Line one is HI, person's name. I know you're busy
Speaker 3: and you get a lot of emails. Part two you're
Speaker 3: going to start with them. This is very important. So
Speaker 3: you want to show I have spent time researching you,
Speaker 3: I know something about you. And you're going to start
Speaker 3: with them. So an example of that might be I
Speaker 3: admired the way you pivoted your career from X to Y.
Speaker 3: Or it might be I've been following your career for
Speaker 3: a while now and I love the way you talk
Speaker 3: about topic X. Part three you're going to link to
Speaker 3: you and why you actually want to have that conversation.
Speaker 3: So an example might be the reason I'm interested in
Speaker 3: this is because I'm also trying to pivot my career
Speaker 3: from sales to marketing. And you know I'm currently working
Speaker 3: in this role at this company and it would really
Speaker 3: help me to understand your process. Line four. It would
Speaker 3: have a huge impact on my career if you're able
Speaker 3: to give me twenty minutes on the phone or zoom
Speaker 3: for a career chat so I can learn from your experiences.
Speaker 3: And five give them an out so you say, I
Speaker 3: know this is a long shot, and I understand you
Speaker 3: might need to say no due to bandwidth. Even getting
Speaker 3: a reply from you would make my day.
Speaker 2: I love this. Networking isn't just about perfection, It's about
Speaker 2: being specific and brief. I wasted years not reaching out
Speaker 2: because I was terrified of rejection, when actually most people
Speaker 2: are just happy to help if you make it easy
Speaker 2: for them, keep it short, be genuine, and suddenly those
Speaker 2: intimidating career connections actually feel possible. That is it. You
Speaker 2: are now officially equipped with every workplace hack you need
Speaker 2: to absolutely dominate the second half of twenty twenty five
Speaker 2: while everyone else falls. Apart from pushing back on your
Speaker 2: manager without getting fired to mastering the strategic networking zones,
Speaker 2: You've got the complete toolkit to smash those ends of
Speaker 2: your goals and glide into December as the only person
Speaker 2: who is in drowning in deadlines and burnout. In huge news,
Speaker 2: we are launching a fresh new season of BYZ with
Speaker 2: two new hosts at the Helm, bringing you a completely
Speaker 2: new perspective and wealth of expertise. Keep your eyes glued
Speaker 2: on our Instagram at Beiz by Mamma Mia this week
Speaker 2: for the big host reveal, and remember our biz Inbox
Speaker 2: episodes dropped this Thursday, where we solve all of your
Speaker 2: professional dilemmas, So drop us your questions through the link
Speaker 2: in our show notes. Mamma Mia Studios are style with
Speaker 2: furniture from Fentin and Fentin. Visit Fentinanfentin dot com, dot au.
Speaker 2: All of today's info is waiting for you in our
Speaker 2: very free newsletter. If you want to jump in there
Speaker 2: and sign up, there is a link in our bio
Speaker 2: to do so, same time, same place next week for
Speaker 2: our new season of BYZ. Until then, go forth and
Speaker 2: do less the better.
Speaker 3: Bye.
Speaker 2: Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
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