Hi, I'm Helen and I'm Sarah and this is the Squiggly Careers podcast, a weekly show where we

dive into the ups, downs, ins and outs of work and give you some ideas for action, some tools to try out

to give you a bit more confidence and control over your career. And this week we're talking about

how to escape or overcome or maybe even avoid, best case

scenario, what we're describing as the and overload.

I always think with these podcasts you get a lovely sense into Helen and I's working week

and what's going on and what we need some help with.

So what is the and overload, this phrase that we've coined.

This is the idea that often now in our squiggly careers and the jobs that we do, we're trying to balance two things that can often

feel like they create a bit of tension or conflict, but they are both things that are important.

And we do want to be able to do both. We sort of just need to find a way

to make it happen. So a few examples of what can create the and overload. Being strategic and

focusing on what you're trying to do day to day. Thinking long term and short term. Thinking and

doing, focusing on people and performance,

investing in your career for the future and developing the skills you need today,

managing senior stakeholders and everyone else, understanding internal dynamics and what's

happening in the external environment. So those

ands are often, I think, connected in some way. And often like one helps you to achieve the other,

but there's often a bit of a sense of, well, one ends up feeling like it gets prioritised more

consistently than the other. So Helen, talk to us about your and overloads right now.

I feel overwhelmed just listening to it. I'm like, oh, all of them. She's already got her head in her

hands, everybody. So let's see how this podcast goes. Do you know what I was thinking as well? I've got

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