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Squiggly Careers

Squiggly Careers

By: The Squiggly Career
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Squiggly Careers is a weekly podcast that will help you take control of your career development. Hosted by the founders of Amazing If (https://www.amazingif.com/), Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper, together they cover all things work: from how to manage stress and overcome your confidence gremlins to micro-aggressions and discovering your strengths. Each episode is full of ideas, actions, hints, and tips that you can put into practice straight away. Every so often they take a break from talking to each other to interview other people who are leading the way in making work better. Past guests include entrepreneur and philanthropist Dame Stephanie Shirley, author of The Joy of Work Bruce Daisley, and neuroscience expert Amy Brann. The Squiggly Careers podcast has been recommended by Harvard Business Review, Stylist, Marie Claire and Management Today. For more ideas, tools and inspiration every week, you can also sign up to their newsletter Squiggly Careers in Action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.3dde6ae0-10a9-11f1-ba69-4db03cc06081 Career Success Economics Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • #571 How to Get Better at Holding Uncertainty at Work

    #571 How to Get Better at Holding Uncertainty at Work
    Jun 30 2026
    Uncertainty isn't going anywhere. So what if the goal wasn't to get rid of it, but to get better at holding it? In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from a feeling and dive deep into one of the most relevant topics in work and careers right now. Drawing on Margaret Heffernan's Embracing Uncertainty, Sam Conniff and Katherine Templar-Lewis's Uncertainty Toolkit, and a brilliant HBR article, they explore what it really means to develop the capacity to hold uncertainty, and what your default response to it reveals about you. 🎯 What You'll Learn – Why the goal isn't uncertainty to certainty, but uncertainty to the capacity to hold – How to find your own uncertainty tolerance score (with an AI prompt on the podsheet to help) – Why leaders feel more pressure than most to appear decisive, and what the research says about that – How to use a simple matrix to plot your uncertainty by impact and duration, and respond differently depending on which quadrant you're in – Why patience might be the most underrated skill in uncertain times, and how Helen and Sarah both score themselves on it – What it means to reframe uncertainty as opportunity rather than threat For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    41 mins
  • #570 The Four People Every Squiggly Career Network Needs

    #570 The Four People Every Squiggly Career Network Needs
    Jun 25 2026
    Your career doesn't need a bigger network, it needs a better one. In this Squiggly Shortcut, Helen shares the four roles that matter most for your career community, and why focusing on just these four makes building your career relationships feel a lot more doable. 🎯 What You'll Learn – What a mentor actually is (and why they don't need to be senior or long-term to be valuable) – Why a peer — someone going through what you're going through right now — can be one of the biggest accelerators for your career – How to spot a sponsor and what you need to do before they'll advocate for you – Why a coach doesn't have to be a qualified one, and what to look for instead – What to do if you're lucky enough to have one person who plays all four roles 📚 Resources Mentioned Episode 215 - How to find a career sponsor with Sylvia Ann Hewlett: https://www.amazingif.com/listen/how-to-find-a-career-sponsor/ For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    8 mins
  • #569 Why zero distance will make you better at your job

    #569 Why zero distance will make you better at your job
    Jun 23 2026
    How close are you to yourself, your team and the people you serve? In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from the concept of zero distance, a philosophy championed by brands like e.l.f. Beauty, and turn it into one of the most honest and practical self-reflection exercises they've done on the podcast. Using Post-it® Notes and a simple scale, they plot themselves live on six different dimensions of distance, from how well they know their own strengths and feelings, to how much feedback they really get from their team, to how close they are to the people they're there to help. This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Post-it® Brand. If today's episode sparked an idea, stick it down - find out where to buy Post-it® products at go.3M.com/squiggly 🎯 What You'll Learn – What zero distance means and why brands like e.l.f. Beauty have made it their entire philosophy – How to use the zero distance framework across three areas: distance from yourself, your team and your customers – Why knowing your strengths isn't enough if you're not spending time on them – What Helen's "I'm fine, it's fine" taxi moment reveals about emotional distance at work – How to make feedback unmissable rather than occasional, and why rhythm matters more than quantity – What zero distance from your customers or learners actually looks like in practice (including a story about a credit card in a glass of orange juice) For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    50 mins
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So far I have found all their podcasts interesting and very easy to listen too. They cover lots of relatable topics in a light hearted way, in my view anyway. I'll keep listening.

Interesting and informative

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Not really a review as I'm sold to your podcast and books. keep doing what you do and thank you for this podcast and the hardwork you put in it

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