Oh, hey there! 👋

Thanks for dropping in. Come in, come in! Welcome to The Empowered Workplace, where we cultivate career satisfaction and well-being for the neurodivergent professional. The business world has changed a lot, and it’s head-spinning how quickly the modern workplace has evolved in just a few short (and long) years.

I invite you to enjoy a moment of pause (go ahead – take a slow breath to calm your nervous system), reflection, dreaming, and a cup of your favorite beverage. We’ve gone from the “Great Resignation” to the “Great Exhaustion.” Settle in for a moment and enjoy a bit of the slow business trend of 2024.

We are at a remarkable moment—the most significant changes in the workplace since the Industrial Revolution. Let’s acknowledge how challenging it is to be alive, functional, and productive during this unique time.

The perfect storm of:

• The wildest ride in the job market in our lifetime
• The power struggle between employers and employees
• Remote, hybrid, and flexible work arrangements proving effective
• Inflation, rising prices, insecure housing, and mass layoffs
• Blatant discrimination, brutality, and murder of people of color
• Wars that capture our attention and impact friends, colleagues, and family
• Mass shootings leaving countless dead
• The climate crisis unfolding one event after another
• Aging and dying parents
• A new generation entering the workforce full-throttle
• Four distinct generations in the workplace at once
• Incredible technological advances like AI and tools like ChatGPT
• Digital connectivity and globalization of workplaces and social circles
• The Gig and Content Creator economies
• Endless bits of information bombarding us

All this follows years of political divisiveness that have severed friendships and family relationships.

Oh yeah, and we’re living and working through a pandemic that has killed over 6 million people (parents, children, spouses, friends, and colleagues) and counting. We are just beginning to realize the pandemic’s impact.

Let’s just stop here. There’s more, so much more. It’s left us in a state of shock, grief, anxiety, depression, and the inability to focus.

You Are Here

Do you know those “You Are Here” signs? You see them in malls and on hiking trails. They help us understand where we are in the bigger picture, giving us perspective.

Well, here’s your sign.

You don’t have to:

• Be a victim of your circumstances and life experiences.
• Tolerate a crappy work life, being undervalued and unappreciated.
• Sacrifice your well-being for a successful career.
• Continue your people-pleasing tendencies, killing your inner peace.

You can:

• Rewire your mindset, enabling you to make different decisions and take healthy actions.
• Surround yourself with people who believe in you and encourage you to thrive.
• Decide that you are worthy of living a good life and workplace.
• Choose to take a series of small actions that add up to a life you are proud of.

If the past five years have taught us anything, it’s life is precious and short.

Something happened during those pandemic years.

In March of 2020, it seemed like the whole world pushed pause. A lot of us stayed home from work. Others courageously braved the conditions to support society. There were hardly any cars, planes, or trains whizzing by. It was quiet. You could notice the birdsong on your daily walks.

We realized many of us could still get the job done from home in our comfies, perhaps getting some extra sleep instead of commuting or finally starting that morning exercise routine.

For a brief moment, employers recognized they employed humans and not machines. They granted extra days off for mental health recovery, if you didn’t lose your job.

The veil dropped during this time. We’ve woken up.

We are fundamentally changed and can’t go back to the old ways. We know we don’t need to be chained to the office to do good work. We know technology has advanced enough to enable effective work teams across distances.

We know we work better when we get ample sleep and exercise regularly. We know that our mental health matters—a lot! And it’s a worthy endeavor to be as healthy as possible because we are at our peak performance as professionals when these basic human needs are met.

We are at a defining moment in business. The old ways no longer work. People are no longer willing to sacrifice their health and well-being for outdated business models. They’ve tasted freedom and autonomy and aren’t giving it up so that managers don’t have to change how they lead.

The “old way” of doing business, with command-and-control leadership relying on fear tactics, is being met with the highest turnover rate in decades. Or it was until a handful of influential CEOs decided to turn the tide of power and lay off hundreds of thousands of employees.

The reality that managers don’t actually know how to lead and manage effectively is setting in, as their only tool of controlling time and watching over shoulders is no longer working.

The Silver Lining

One of my greatest gifts is reframing just about anything into a more empowering storyline.

Yes, there is a silver lining to all of this.

First, we’ve finally reached the threshold in business where we realize that humans, not machines, work in our organizations. That means we need to tend to their mental and emotional well-being instead of asking them to check their feelings at the door because “that’s personal,” and we are here to “work.” People working from home, including in their bedrooms, have forever blurred the lines between work and personal life.

Smart businesses will grasp this concept of “humans, not machines” and run with it. Those businesses will win the quest for top talent and maximize profitability.

Secondly, there are so many opportunities out there right now—it’s unprecedented. Many folks will opt out of corporate enslavement, reclaim their lives, and either start their own business, work for a small business that aligns with their values, or just create a genuinely pioneering lifestyle.

We are on the brink of something truly transformative in our work cultures. I, for one, am here to help usher in new ways of doing business where companies care and invest in their employees over maximizing shareholder profits. How much money needs to be funneled to already rich people at the expense of the everyday person? Enough already.

There isn’t a way to win the game. The only way to win is to opt-out. Iykyk #genx

Too many people remain stuck due to a mindset that prevents them from overcoming fear and effectively managing their nervous systems. They get trapped in fight, flight, or freeze mode. What if the key to your freedom was working on yourself? Would you take that step?

Friends, we covered a lot in this post because it’s a lot to live through. Take another slow breath. Feel into your body.

I’ll leave you with these last thoughts.

Possibility Awaits

We don’t have to stay stuck or continue living a life that makes us miserable, frustrated, and unhealthy.

You can create a career that fulfills and excites you. You can earn more than enough money to live the lifestyle you want. You can feel great about yourself and those around you. You can live a life that lights you up and enables your vibrancy.

It’s totally possible.

People are doing it every day.

You can too.

And, you don’t have to do it alone.

Join us for weekly virtual co-working where you can be supported and encouraged to shed your work shackles and find your sweet spot in work and life. Check out the schedule and register here. It’s free to attend. And it just might be the small step that leads to a transformed life. I’ll let you be the judge of that.

In service to your greatness,
~Aubrey