Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep240: The only 4 things you need for career growth in 2025.

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

✅ Watch FREE WORKSHOP, newsletter, work with me ⮕ http://www.meiphing.com ✅ Corporate Survivor™ is the BEST career program on how to navigate the 9-to-5 corporate world, work smarter, earn more and stress less using Mei Phing's 3-Step Framework [Get Clear, Get Confident, Get Visible] so you can grow your career & salary without sacrificing work-life balance... 🚀 ⚡ 📌 ABOUT THIS PODCAST: Welcome to Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing — ex-Corporate Leader turned Career Coach & Founder of The Corporate Survivor™. On this podcast, Mei Phing shares her 10+ years of corporate world insights, experiences and wisdom so you can grow your 9-5 career with clarity, confidence and opportunities. ✅ WEBSITE ⮕ https://www.meiphing.com ✅ NEWSLETTER ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co/newsletter ✅ FREE WORKSHOP ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co/workshop ✅ CAREER PROGRAM ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co ⚡

Welcome to the Corporate Survivor Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your career confidence, build your skills and value, increase your salary, and the many lessons we learn in the corporate world. For more career support, click on over to www.mayping.com. This is Mayping, your corporate leader turned career coach. I hope you enjoy, like and subscribe. Oh, hello, hello. Happy New Year, Happy New Year, Happy New Year and welcome to 2025. No matter what has happened in the last 12 months, the good thing is that you can always

choose to make a change. You can always choose to make a positive change. You can always choose to do something differently and do something better this year. So four things, and these are four things that may sound really easy, but I want you to really ask yourself, say, hey, you know, if whatever Mipin is saying right now sounds so easy, then why haven't I done it yet? So I want you to have like this kind of like mindset as I share, and I think this kind of like perspective is going to get you a lot of value as you go through the next 12 months because you know the 12 12 months it can feel like it's really long it's a really long time but 12 months can also feel very short as well it can feel like oh

poof you know the whole year is already gone so let me share the four things. If you really, really want to get results in 2025, then you really, really need to focus on. Now, the first thing is that I want you to apply the strategies that you have learned for career improvement. Now, keyword here is to apply. Because first thing is that if you keep learning, learning, learning, you keep gaining more knowledge but you don't do anything about it, then honestly nothing is going to change. Now the second thing also is that if you don't apply the strategies that you've learned, the knowledge and information that you have gained, then you wouldn't really know whether it works for you or not. You wouldn't really know whether you're doing it right or not and finally you want to make sure that as you're applying any career strategy, any And finally, you want to make sure that as you're applying

any career strategy, any workplace strategy, any skills that you have picked up, you want to make sure that you're applying it in the right sequence. You want to make sure that you're not skipping steps because the right method, if it's applied in the wrong sequence or inconsistently, it might still be the wrong method. So something worth thinking about, because one thing I'm seeing is that a lot of people, we spend a lot of time, you know, just going online, looking for all these like career tips, career advice and career guidance, which is actually a good thing. But I find that for a lot of people,

what they do is that they keep hunting for more information. And sometimes they also lose track. And this may be you as well. And honestly, it's quite easy to get distracted online. So I find that a lot of people, they would then try different strategies and try different methods and then giving up quite quickly.

So you don't want to do that because if you don't focus on consistency, continue to apply, then like I said, you wouldn't really know whether you're doing it well or not. And many things in your career, it's kind of like planting the seed. So if you plant the seed, then the tree will grow. But if you plant a bunch of seeds and you don't care about it after three days, then you wouldn't really know whether something is going to work out

or not. Now, for me, I have a career program. It's called the Corporate Survivor. And usually for my members in the program, there are two main courses. So the first one is the three-step career growth framework, where we focus on get clear, get confident and get visible. So that's all about meeting work performance, meeting your boss's expectations and navigating the corporate world. So usually what I teach is I really want to make sure that you have the foundations down, meaning the lessons that's in the three-step career growth framework that I teach in my career program, The Corporate Survivor. I tell all my members and all my clients to focus on applying the lessons, applying the strategy, applying the lessons, applying the modules.

Then when you have the self-confidence, when you have the self-belief, then you can move on to the next course, which is the 30-day job search. Then you can seek opportunities because when you have the confidence, when you have the self-belief, then actually it's a lot easier to get opportunities because you know your value, you know what you are worth. It's going to be a lot easier to be able to ask for it. So if you want to find more, if you want more information about the Corporate Survival Career Programme on how I teach the three-step career growth framework,

get clear, get confident, get visible. If you're someone that really cares about meeting work performance, at the same time, having work-life balance, you want to stress less, you want to work smarter, you want to earn more, then definitely you can go to www.mayping.com, then you can check out the course outline.

Now, as I said, the first step is to apply the strategies that you have learned, right? So it's application. It's actually doing the thing. Now, moving on to the first step is to apply the strategies that you have learned, right? So it's application. It's actually doing the thing. Now, moving on to the second thing is that after you've been doing the thing, then the question is, okay, but like, how do I know if I'm doing it right? So the next step, step number two, is to seek feedback. Now, seeking feedback sounds so simple,

but you'll be very surprised how many people are actually really, really afraid to seek feedback. Because most people don't want to feel stupid. They don't want to feel, oh, I'm so naive. How come I didn't know this? You know, I can't believe that, you know, I've worked for so long and I didn't know this. Actually, this is really, really normal. In fact, I was telling one of my corporate survivors, one of my career course members the other day that, you know, schools don't really teach you how to survive in the working world. Nobody teaches you

that. You kind of like teach it, learn it yourself. And definitely I have learned it myself after more than 10 years in the corporate world. So now I teach it to members in my career program. But in the most instances, there is no need to feel bad that you don't know it. In fact, I would say you should expect to start afresh and to expect to not really know anything. Then you can have that beginner's mindset of being open to feedback, getting advice, getting guidance, so that you can see what you have done right and what you have done wrong.

Because if you're not open to getting feedback, then you might be putting in more effort. You might be working hard. You might be doing the same thing over and over again. but how do you know whether it's working or not? And you don't want to waste a lot of time, a lot of effort and energy then to realize that, oh, actually, I didn't get the work recognition I wanted. I didn't get the opportunities I wanted. I didn't get the salary or promotion that I wanted. Now, that's not really a good use of time. So usually what I recommend to my corporate survey members is to make sure that

they get advice and they get feedback during our monthly mentoring Q&A calls. So as part of the program, I actually host monthly mentoring Q&A calls where members would join and if they have specific questions on their latest career situation, their workplace situation, or even job search situation that they want my advice, they can submit the question and then we would discuss it as a community and as a group. Now, this is really, really important because it trains you to seek help, to seek support, to gain a different perspective so that you learn how to solve your problems in the future. So if you want to check out one of the sample members Q&A call, you can click at www.mcpain.com. You can actually watch a full session that's about an hour and I'm very

sure you will gain clarity and insights as well. Okay, so now that you have applied the strategy, right, whether it's focused on career clarity, work performance or even job search, you have applied the strategy, then step two, you have sought, you have seeked feedback. Now, step three is really, really important and this is, I think, something that a lot of people don't feel comfortable doing, and that is learning from mistakes. Now, the reality is that nobody, it is almost impossible to get things right doing it the first time, right? Mistakes actually is normal. In fact, mistakes are pretty much lessons learned. The only thing I'll say about mistakes is that you want to make sure that you're always learning new lessons. You want to keep repeating

the mistake because if you keep repeating the mistake, it means that you actually didn't learn anything. So overall, making mistakes actually, it's a good thing. Now, a lot of people think that it's a bad thing. And sometimes I feel like it's in the Asian culture as well. We always think that, oh, you know, I don't want people to say that I'm stupid. I don't want to be wrong. But actually, making mistakes, it's just part of the process. Now, what is better than making your own mistakes and learning from your own mistakes is learning from other people's mistakes. Now, it's a good thing to progress from making mistakes. Like we said, it's lessons learned, but what would be even better is to learn from other people's mistakes. Meaning that

if you can understand why certain people face certain challenges, understanding the root cause problems, being able to see the root cause problems so that you can find solutions, then this actually accelerates your learning process. Like I spent 10 years in the corporate world. I would say that a lot of the times, the reason why I could progress so quickly in my career is that I am very curious and I'm very observant. Particularly when other people make mistakes, I always feel curious as like, okay, how did this thing happen?

Why did it happen? And if it's me in that situation, how would I have reacted? And what would I have done instead i found all these questions are really really useful and over time i pretty much drilled it into me that you know nowadays i can see it so naturally and this is actually something that i teach to my corporate survey members as well so currently when you join the program you get 12 months of monthly q and a support and aside from getting support on your career situation,

actually what members find most valuable is learning from other people in the community. Because in our library right now, aside from the monthly Zoom calls, the Q&A calls, there are more than 100 case studies. So many members said that as they go through other people's problems, right, other people in 9-to-5 jobs problems, they realize that like, oh, actually, if it's me in that situation, situation honestly i don't really know what i would do and that is actually the learning opportunity of realizing that okay actually i don't know what i would have done in this situation and now you're going to get creative now it's like okay this is a gap

there's something that i don't know how to react so now i'm going to learn how to react so that's why i say that when you're open to learning from mistakes and not just your mistakes you're learning from other people's mistakes it actually opens up an element it's like open up a fresh mindset of like wanting to learn as fast as possible it actually helps you progress so much faster which i think is really really really valuable so again you know if you want to watch um one of the members q and a call which is around the problem solving and learning from other people's mistakes, you can click on www.maping.com.

You'll be able to get access to that full session as well. Now, as we have gone through, as I said at the beginning, there are four things that you want to do, right? So first thing is applying the strategy. Second thing is seek feedback. And you've already done that. And then you're also learning from mistakes, which is step three. Now, step four is actually really, really important.

And initially, I called it the stay motivated phase. But I think it should actually be called staying accountable stage, right? Why staying accountable is because most people and myself included, right? It's very difficult to stay motivated and inspired every day on your own all the time. Personally, I don't think it's really possible. I think it's really normal to feel good on some days, to feel a bit bleh on some other days. I think that's really normal. But what is not good is to continue feeling lost, is to continue feeling defeated and not sure how to bounce back up again. I think that part is not good. But the feelings of like

ups and downs, actually, that is really normal. But what you don't want is to continue staying stuck, continue staying down, not because you don't want to rise up, but you just feel like I don't really know where to start. And that can be a very frustrating feeling. So I have found that when you spend time in a community of other people who are also pursuing their career goals, now they may be same career goals as yours, right? You could be looking for career clarity. Someone else may be looking for work confidence. Someone else may be working on their corporate skillset. Another person may be working on getting recognized for their hard work. Another person may be working on getting recognized for their hard work. Another person might be looking for job promotion or even a new job. But all these

are career goals. When you spend your time in a community of people who are committed every single month to assess their own progress, to assess their own growth month on month, you stay reminded that, hey, actually I did set this goal at the beginning of this year right i'm not gonna like abandon it i'm not gonna forget it just because it's already february and march and in fact it's very normal that probably right now in january especially first of january or your first week of january it's the time where you are the most motivated. Your motivation is like the highest, right? But what happens when February or March comes by? Sometimes the motivation kind of dips, right? The mood kind of like goes blah, and then we kind of like gradually give up and give up and give up. So this is really something that you don't want. So that's why I find that monthly

accountability sessions, right? Monthly catch-up sessions are super duper valuable. Now, when I started, I mentioned that I have a career program. It's called the Corporate Survivor. And I'll say that at the beginning, when I started this program in 2021, there were very, very specific step-by-step course lessons, step-by-step career strategies. But at the same time, I gave a bonus one-on-one coaching call. But we didn't really have monthly catch-up sessions. And after a couple of months, I realized that, hey, actually, I want to see more of my clients.

I want to really find out what are my clients actually doing. I want to make sure that they are progressing. So remember I said at the beginning, you want to apply the lessons, but getting feedback and learning from your mistake and other people's mistakes are really, really valuable as well. So after a couple of months, sometime 2022, I then introduced the monthly mentoring Q&A calls for members.

So this is really to make sure that you want to stay active, you want to stay accountable, you want to stay on track towards your career goals. And this is something that you want to decide for yourself that is important. And then you're going to commit to coming to the monthly calls, or you're going to commit to learn from the video recordings. Even if you cannot attend, when you get access to it, you're going to continue to learn from it because this is how you stay sharp. And i think this is a decision that only you can

make at some point so as i started today sharing i mentioned that there are four things and right now as i said it may sound very simple you're like maybe i know all these things already like what are you talking about okay then let me ask you honestly how much are you actually doing the thing? How much are you applying the career strategies, the career steps, right? The career growth steps that you have learned? Have you applied them consistently? Are you applying them in the right sequence? Then are you getting feedback or whether you're doing it right or not? Are you getting some guidance on how you can improve further? Are you also getting some perspectives on whether you're missing on something?

And then next thing, how often are you recognizing certain mistakes, certain blind spots that you may have? And how much are you being open to learning from other people's career mistakes so that you will not avoid, so that you will not make this happen in your own careers, right? So basically, you can avoid them and avoiding these pitfalls without actually going through the pain of encountering this reputation-damaging mistake. So how much have you done that? And more importantly, how consistent have you been beyond January? Now, January,

everyone's the most excited. But we're talking about once it goes into February, once it goes into March and rolling, rolling, rolling month by month, how are you making sure that you are actually progressing?

You're actually taking action. You are staying accountable, right? What you don't want is to start the year, rah, rah, rah, rah, and then, you know, the mood kind of like dies down a little bit. So what you want instead that would be better is to set your goal at the beginning of the year,

then apply the four steps that I've just mentioned. Like I said, apply the strategy, whether your strategy is focused on corporate career clarity, your focus on the corporate mindset, the corporate skillset, or even learning how to get visible and gain recognition for your hardware, or even learning how to find a new job, right? That is something that you want to focus on, applying the strategies that you have learned, applying the lessons. If you're in my career program, then the next thing is to seek feedback and to learn from other people's mistakes so if you're in my career program then i'll see you in our members monthly q a call that you can you know get advice and

get some guidance if you need help on your latest career situation otherwise you will be also be able to learn from other students as well but you really want to focus on doing these things and finally how are you making sure that you have that mechanism or you have that ecosystem cheerleader situation where you can get the support that you need to stay accountable? You don't want to have a yo-yo sort of mindset of like, okay, I feel good and then tomorrow I don't feel good and then next month I just give up.

That is not really a good situation. And I want you to reach December 31st of this year or even next year to kind of be in the same situation again and again. So recently I thought about this for quite a bit and someone told me that, or rather it's a quote that we listen to all the time, which is like, new year, new you. For a very long time, I thought, yeah, I agree with that. But recently I think I changed my mind a little bit i think that if we say new year new you but you are not doing

anything differently you're not taking better actions you're not doing something that you're not doing something better then how can it be a new you then it's just going to be a new year the same old you which doesn't sound like progress. It doesn't really sound like growth. And definitely your career and workplace situation probably is not going to improve. So I think what would be better is to think of it as in new year, new habits, new strategies, new commitment,

new decisions to actually commit to wanting career development. Now, I've been telling a lot of my clients and members that like career development, it's a slow process, but the moment something hits, it feels like magic. It feels like, oh, how come, right? I've always struggled, but suddenly I feel like everything is so smooth sailing. It's not because it's magically smooth sailing. It just means that you have laid down all the foundations, you have laid down all the blocks,

and now you're getting results. So it's something that is worth focusing on. It's something that is worth thinking about if you are someone who is serious about getting results this year. And if you really want to follow the steps, as I mentioned, then focus on yourself. Apply for lessons, seek feedback, learn from mistakes, then ultimately make sure that you stay accountable.

Otherwise, if you miss out on any one of it, then it's going to be very easy to get distracted. It's going to be very, very easy to give up as well. Just some resources for you. If you are looking for career clarity, confidence, competence, and opportunities, you can follow the Corporate Survivor Podcast. You can go to www.mayping.com. So I have more than 200 episodes all about the corporate world. So careers, workplace, job search, perspectives, guidance.

I think this will be super duper useful. I've heard from many, many people that they find it so inspiring. It's a very, very different, like a new perspectives and things that they have not really thought about, which is great. And in fact, many people who listen to the podcast eventually join my career program and they are actually now part of my monthly members community as well. So if you want some inspiration, you want a great place to start, you can go and check out the podcast. You can go to www.maping.com, but it's basically hosted wherever podcasts are hosted. But if you go to the website, you can actually find the blog version where I have some of the key highlights for more than

200 episodes, which I think will be super duper helpful. Now, if you want to dive a little bit deeper, you'll be like, okay, Maping, can you give me the actual steps, right? Something very specific. Then you can get the free career guide and training. So this is a five-day career guide with a five-day email training that is delivered to your inbox. So it's kind of like a mini course on email. So it will actually go through career clarity, job confidence, work competence,

value positioning, and online branding. So super-duper practical, something that I personally use in and online branding. So super duper practical, something that I personally use in my own career. I think you'll find it super duper helpful as well. It's free. So if you want it, you can download it at www.maping.com. Thousands of people have already gone through it. They love it. Everyone loves it. So I think you'll love it as well. So if you enjoy my posts and my content, I think you'll really enjoy this career guide and training also. And finally, if you have been following me for a while, you've looked into all my resources and you want to work closer with me this year, then definitely check out Corporate Survivor. So Corporate Survivor is my career program where I teach you everything that I know and everything that I've learned in the corporate world.

So this is something that is relevant if you're a 9-5 working professional, whether you're an experienced professional or you are someone who is a fresh graduate. We have students all the way from fresh graduate all the way to director level. So it's super, super relevant because as I said, I teach frameworks and concepts. It works for every career, every career level, every job, every industry, because the foundations of what makes you successful in the corporate world, it is the same. So you want to master the right thing. And as I said, apply the right strategy, seek feedback, learn from mistakes and stay accountable.

And I think that's really, really how you will then get real results in 2025.