February 18, 2025 • 13 mins
Are you stuck in the past without realizing it? In this episode, we uncover how to change your mind and shift from probability to possibility. From there you can create a career and a future that excites you.
What you’ll learn:
- How your past thinking limits your future opportunities
- Why possibility thinking is the key to real change
- Practical steps to start living from your future self today
Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).
Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:
- Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
- Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
- Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
- Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
- Keynote Speaking
- Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE
Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, this is Jill Griffin, a strategist board
member, executive coach, andI'm welcoming you back to the
Career Refresh.
This is your go-to source forexperienced professionals
looking to level up, lead withimpact and confidently navigate
the ever-evolving workplace.
I spent the last 15 years as anexecutive coach working with
professionals to sharpen theirskills and amplify their careers
(00:22):
, and also providing actionablestrategies to create change and
to give them tools and tips thatactually work.
All right, today I want to talkabout something that's a little
bit of a brain twist, and it'show we're always living in the
past and it keeps us stuck, andI want us to get out of that.
Live in the past when we needto, and live in the future,
(00:45):
which will take us into massiveamount of change.
Here's the thing your brain isthis incredibly efficient
meaning making or pattern makingmachine.
It's constantly looking at yourpast experiences, your past
failures, also your pastsuccesses, and it's using that
(01:06):
to predict what's safe, what'spossible, right, makes sense.
It's a machine that's makingsense and then giving you an
output or a blueprint of how youneed to move forward.
Sounds great, right?
Well, it is, unless you'retaking your past with you all
the time.
This is where it getsinteresting.
It's actually.
It's kind of messed up.
It's like you're taking yourpast with you all the time.
This is where it getsinteresting.
It's actually.
(01:26):
It's kind of messed up.
It's like you have a big bag oftrash over your shoulder and
you're bringing it everywherewith you.
Or, if that analogy doesn'twork, you are sitting in the
blender of past experiences,hitting that puree button and
you're serving yourself up thesame dish over and over.
I want to dig in more and talkabout how to change that
(01:49):
thinking and move into what'spossible.
All right, we're going to digin.
All right, picking up on thatthought.
Your thoughts are in theblender Same ingredients, same
taste, same results.
So let me put this into careerspeak.
(02:11):
You have a goal and your brainimmediately goes to all right,
how do I go about this?
And it pulls from your pastexperiences, right, the
historical data that's floatingaround in your brain, or even
the Excel spreadsheet in frontof you.
It's all of your failures, anyof your doubts, anything about
being realistic, keeping yourexpectations realistic or what's
(02:33):
possible within the departmentor the organization.
And now you've limited what'seven possible before you've even
started.
So it keeps you with a ceilingand you're not just bringing all
of those past experiences withyou.
You're bringing all your pastinterpretation, your stories and
(02:53):
all of those past limitations.
It's like trying to driveforward while only looking in
the rearview mirror.
So I want us to break that cycleand, moving from where you're
in, this place of past of like,all right, well, this is
probably what's going to happen.
Based on past expert right.
This is where experts can getthemselves into trouble, because
(03:16):
they're only relying whenthey're tired or angry or hungry
or lonely I call it halt.
You tend to only be relying onthe what you know factor.
So this is a whole other placecalled possibility.
And why it's so different fromprobability is probability, has
your brain saying based on this,this is probably going to
(03:37):
happen, whereas possibility issaying well, what if something
completely new could behappening?
And possibility, it's going tofeel different.
It's going to feel lighter,curious, because it's not
weighted down by all that pastbaggage.
When you're in possibility,you're not analyzing what went
wrong beforehand, right?
(03:59):
It's like pre-traumatic stressor pre-traumatic failure.
You're imagining all the thingsthat are going to go wrong
before you've actually done it.
When you're in possibility,you're thinking about what could
go right or what is possible,because it's not being hindered.
Every major innovation,breakthrough, massive success
(04:21):
started with someone steppingout of that probability space
and going into the possibilityspace, and they weren't always
looking at what had happened,because they were trying to
imagine something new.
So when you put this towardsyour career, I know you want
something new, and whether thatis you want to move up within
(04:43):
your company or over, or youwant to take on a new initiative
or you want to be seendifferently, any of those
career-based challenges, thosecareer-based goals and vision
that you're going after, youhave to approach it from the
future.
So most people think that ifthey're going to make a big
career change, they need tofirst achieve it and then, when
(05:05):
they get into it, they'll figureout.
All right, well, how do I nowmanage what I've achieved?
And I'm saying, what if we gointo the future?
And whether the future is aminute from now, a month from
now or a year from now, what ifyou went into the future and
then worked backwards?
I often make the parallel orthe analogy to running a
(05:27):
marathon.
In order to run that marathon,if you're sitting there today,
having never run before and onlygoing on what you know about
how your body works today, thenyou're going to be thinking of
every single difficulty andbeing like, wow, that 26.2 miles
feels like a bear.
How am I going to do it?
But if you're working backwardsfrom already being there or
(05:50):
crossing the finish line, you'reable to then step into the
place of what you've alreadycreated and start to work back.
So I want you to think first.
If you started from that placeand you brought different energy
and a different outcome, then,no matter where you are in your
career, you can create thisvision from that future.
(06:12):
You're using your imagination,possibility, thinking,
inspiration and you have thisopportunity to shift everything.
So if you already had that job,that promotion, that new
leadership role, that new team,what would the future you tell
you?
How would you be starting yourday?
How would you be thinkingthrough where you need to be on
(06:34):
your A game?
What conversations would you behaving?
Who would you be having thoseconversations with?
What's different in your waysof being?
How are you asking betterquestions?
All of those things are thesteps to be thinking about now
and being excited or insertpositive emotion, inspired or
eager or earnest about any ofthose.
(06:55):
That's where you get the placeof going into the future and
preparing your brain, for yourbrain starts to get calm right
when you're in the place whereyou're trying to create a new
reality and you're like, all theway out there your brain is
going, but I don't know how todo this.
(07:15):
I don't know how to do this.
But when you start workingbackwards and tacking and almost
like doing a project managementmap of all the things that you
need to do and then realizing Icould do that, I can do that.
Okay, I can figure that out.
That's not that hard you startgetting excited and now, when
you come back to today, you'resitting in today looking at the
future, but now you're excitedabout it, versus bringing all
(07:36):
the things from the junky pastthat didn't go well and using
that to navigate forward.
That's what I'm talking about.
That is the trap of thepredictable thinking.
Our brains love to makedecisions based on the past
because it feels safe.
We kind of know well it's goingto either be between this and
that and here's how it's goingto work.
And your strengths are rootedin that data, your history, your
(08:01):
analytics, your careernarrative.
So going out into the future isgoing to feel really natural
because we don't know what otherstrengths and skills you're
going to acquire in the futureis going to feel really natural
because we don't know what otherstrengths and skills you're
going to acquire in the future.
But your brain can start tonavigate and create the project
map or the blueprint for whatthat is.
So one of the easiest ways todo this is to think through your
(08:23):
future, your career, yourrelationships, your goals and
notice where your mind goes.
Are you in probability mode?
Give yourself a little chuckle.
If you are.
Are you recycling all thosepast experiences and what your
last CEO did or the C-suite did?
Or are you in possibility mode,where you're wondering and
(08:44):
imagining something totally new?
The real opportunity isn't aboutgetting better at using your
past to predict the future.
It's about letting yourselfthink beyond it.
It's in the asking what if?
Instead of saying what's likely.
And also what I will tell youfrom my own personal experience
(09:08):
is continue to ask yourself howthis can be fun when I ask
myself that, even if it's themost dodo bird answer, when I
come from a place of fun wellone it makes me pause and smile
and maybe even giggle and laughat.
That feels outrageous, but ithelps me put down all the
shoulds and find a way to let mybrain wander.
(09:30):
And I'm talking like, well,what if we approach the
brainstorm only through fingerpainting, right, and that's
ridiculous.
And then you start imaginingyour executive level client and
your C-suite and all your fellowpeers doing it with you and
you're like that is outrageousand it just provides a little
bit of possibility and pause.
And that's what we're saying.
We're letting your brain wanderin the ridiculous as much as
(09:53):
it's wandering.
You want to try on a movie or abook or a piece of content
you've seen and you're inspiredby it and you say what's
possible there for yourself.
And let's make sure it's notseverance Hopefully you're
watching the latest seasons,because it's kind of amazing
(10:14):
Letting your brain wander.
And if you need to borrow fromsomebody else's possibility, as
long as it creates a positivefeeling for you, then go for it.
And again, we want to make sureit's that positive feeling,
because when our brain is notlet me say it the other way when
our brain is in positivity,it's able to be strategic.
When our brain is in fear ornegativity, that is that
negative bias that we all haveand our brain is trying to
(10:35):
protect us.
So it's not going to bethinking about secondary systems
like thinking.
It's going to be saying youknow what?
We need the heart and the lungsto work right now really fast,
because I'm going to have to runright.
So digestion shuts downsecondary things like strategic
thinking is going to shut down.
So when we're coming frompositive emotion, it keeps it
(10:57):
open and loose so you're able tothink clearly.
I want you to think about thatnext big possibility of what you
might want.
Again, whether you're doing itin the notes app or your pen and
paper, whatever it is, writethat down and then really think
through.
How are you going to carryyourself differently?
What's different in yourpersonal brand?
(11:18):
What is your personal branddoing and saying?
And how might you approach thework, your team, your career?
What goals might you set foryourself, the team, others,
where else might you shift inyour current job or your
responsibilities?
And if you're a small businessowner because I know I talk to
many of you as clients too, it'sthe same questions you don't
(11:41):
have to be on a large corporateteam, it could also be within
your organization.
Remember your past is justinformation.
It's not a fortune teller, andsometimes we feel safe and we
want it to be the fortune teller.
But just because somethinghasn't gone our way or it didn't
work one way in the pastdoesn't mean that it's going to
stay that way.
(12:01):
The change happens not whenwe're in the safe, predictable
space of probability, but in theexciting, out in the wild space
of possibility.
So I want you to imaginepossibility for today.
All right, friends, when youwant to break through and that
past and get into possibility,first of all hit subscribe.
(12:23):
And if you love this episodeand like what you're hearing,
please rate and review Five-starratings, please.
It helps.
It helps across all platforms.
It helps.
It helps across all platforms.
It helps me get this contentinto the people's hands that
need it.
And if you're looking for helpto get to that place of
possibility, I would love to beyour coach.
And if you want to work with medirectly, you can check out the
show notes or my website,jillgriffincoachingcom, and you
(12:46):
can see the various ways to workwith me privately or bring me
into your organization and team.
All right, friends, until nextweek.
Stay in possibility.
It's delicious, be intentionaland please be kind.
I'll see you soon.
Hey there, this is Jill Griffin, a strategist board
member, executive coach, andI'm welcoming you back to the
Career Refresh.
This is your go-to source forexperienced professionals
looking to level up, lead withimpact and confidently navigate
the ever-evolving workplace.
I spent the last 15 years as anexecutive coach working with
professionals to sharpen theirskills and amplify their careers
(00:22):
, and also providing actionablestrategies to create change and
to give them tools and tips thatactually work.
All right, today I want to talkabout something that's a little
bit of a brain twist, and it'show we're always living in the
past and it keeps us stuck, andI want us to get out of that.
Live in the past when we needto, and live in the future,
(00:45):
which will take us into massiveamount of change.
Here's the thing your brain isthis incredibly efficient
meaning making or pattern makingmachine.
It's constantly looking at yourpast experiences, your past
failures, also your pastsuccesses, and it's using that
(01:06):
to predict what's safe, what'spossible, right, makes sense.
It's a machine that's makingsense and then giving you an
output or a blueprint of how youneed to move forward.
Sounds great, right?
Well, it is, unless you'retaking your past with you all
the time.
This is where it getsinteresting.
It's actually.
It's kind of messed up.
It's like you're taking yourpast with you all the time.
This is where it getsinteresting.
It's actually.
(01:26):
It's kind of messed up.
It's like you have a big bag oftrash over your shoulder and
you're bringing it everywherewith you.
Or, if that analogy doesn'twork, you are sitting in the
blender of past experiences,hitting that puree button and
you're serving yourself up thesame dish over and over.
I want to dig in more and talkabout how to change that
(01:49):
thinking and move into what'spossible.
All right, we're going to digin.
All right, picking up on thatthought.
Your thoughts are in theblender Same ingredients, same
taste, same results.
So let me put this into careerspeak.
(02:11):
You have a goal and your brainimmediately goes to all right,
how do I go about this?
And it pulls from your pastexperiences, right, the
historical data that's floatingaround in your brain, or even
the Excel spreadsheet in frontof you.
It's all of your failures, anyof your doubts, anything about
being realistic, keeping yourexpectations realistic or what's
(02:33):
possible within the departmentor the organization.
And now you've limited what'seven possible before you've even
started.
So it keeps you with a ceilingand you're not just bringing all
of those past experiences withyou.
You're bringing all your pastinterpretation, your stories and
(02:53):
all of those past limitations.
It's like trying to driveforward while only looking in
the rearview mirror.
So I want us to break that cycleand, moving from where you're
in, this place of past of like,all right, well, this is
probably what's going to happen.
Based on past expert right.
This is where experts can getthemselves into trouble, because
(03:16):
they're only relying whenthey're tired or angry or hungry
or lonely I call it halt.
You tend to only be relying onthe what you know factor.
So this is a whole other placecalled possibility.
And why it's so different fromprobability is probability, has
your brain saying based on this,this is probably going to
(03:37):
happen, whereas possibility issaying well, what if something
completely new could behappening?
And possibility, it's going tofeel different.
It's going to feel lighter,curious, because it's not
weighted down by all that pastbaggage.
When you're in possibility,you're not analyzing what went
wrong beforehand, right?
(03:59):
It's like pre-traumatic stressor pre-traumatic failure.
You're imagining all the thingsthat are going to go wrong
before you've actually done it.
When you're in possibility,you're thinking about what could
go right or what is possible,because it's not being hindered.
Every major innovation,breakthrough, massive success
(04:21):
started with someone steppingout of that probability space
and going into the possibilityspace, and they weren't always
looking at what had happened,because they were trying to
imagine something new.
So when you put this towardsyour career, I know you want
something new, and whether thatis you want to move up within
(04:43):
your company or over, or youwant to take on a new initiative
or you want to be seendifferently, any of those
career-based challenges, thosecareer-based goals and vision
that you're going after, youhave to approach it from the
future.
So most people think that ifthey're going to make a big
career change, they need tofirst achieve it and then, when
(05:05):
they get into it, they'll figureout.
All right, well, how do I nowmanage what I've achieved?
And I'm saying, what if we gointo the future?
And whether the future is aminute from now, a month from
now or a year from now, what ifyou went into the future and
then worked backwards?
I often make the parallel orthe analogy to running a
(05:27):
marathon.
In order to run that marathon,if you're sitting there today,
having never run before and onlygoing on what you know about
how your body works today, thenyou're going to be thinking of
every single difficulty andbeing like, wow, that 26.2 miles
feels like a bear.
How am I going to do it?
But if you're working backwardsfrom already being there or
(05:50):
crossing the finish line, you'reable to then step into the
place of what you've alreadycreated and start to work back.
So I want you to think first.
If you started from that placeand you brought different energy
and a different outcome, then,no matter where you are in your
career, you can create thisvision from that future.
(06:12):
You're using your imagination,possibility, thinking,
inspiration and you have thisopportunity to shift everything.
So if you already had that job,that promotion, that new
leadership role, that new team,what would the future you tell
you?
How would you be starting yourday?
How would you be thinkingthrough where you need to be on
(06:34):
your A game?
What conversations would you behaving?
Who would you be having thoseconversations with?
What's different in your waysof being?
How are you asking betterquestions?
All of those things are thesteps to be thinking about now
and being excited or insertpositive emotion, inspired or
eager or earnest about any ofthose.
(06:55):
That's where you get the placeof going into the future and
preparing your brain, for yourbrain starts to get calm right
when you're in the place whereyou're trying to create a new
reality and you're like, all theway out there your brain is
going, but I don't know how todo this.
(07:15):
I don't know how to do this.
But when you start workingbackwards and tacking and almost
like doing a project managementmap of all the things that you
need to do and then realizing Icould do that, I can do that.
Okay, I can figure that out.
That's not that hard you startgetting excited and now, when
you come back to today, you'resitting in today looking at the
future, but now you're excitedabout it, versus bringing all
(07:36):
the things from the junky pastthat didn't go well and using
that to navigate forward.
That's what I'm talking about.
That is the trap of thepredictable thinking.
Our brains love to makedecisions based on the past
because it feels safe.
We kind of know well it's goingto either be between this and
that and here's how it's goingto work.
And your strengths are rootedin that data, your history, your
(08:01):
analytics, your careernarrative.
So going out into the future isgoing to feel really natural
because we don't know what otherstrengths and skills you're
going to acquire in the futureis going to feel really natural
because we don't know what otherstrengths and skills you're
going to acquire in the future.
But your brain can start tonavigate and create the project
map or the blueprint for whatthat is.
So one of the easiest ways todo this is to think through your
(08:23):
future, your career, yourrelationships, your goals and
notice where your mind goes.
Are you in probability mode?
Give yourself a little chuckle.
If you are.
Are you recycling all thosepast experiences and what your
last CEO did or the C-suite did?
Or are you in possibility mode,where you're wondering and
(08:44):
imagining something totally new?
The real opportunity isn't aboutgetting better at using your
past to predict the future.
It's about letting yourselfthink beyond it.
It's in the asking what if?
Instead of saying what's likely.
And also what I will tell youfrom my own personal experience
(09:08):
is continue to ask yourself howthis can be fun when I ask
myself that, even if it's themost dodo bird answer, when I
come from a place of fun wellone it makes me pause and smile
and maybe even giggle and laughat.
That feels outrageous, but ithelps me put down all the
shoulds and find a way to let mybrain wander.
(09:30):
And I'm talking like, well,what if we approach the
brainstorm only through fingerpainting, right, and that's
ridiculous.
And then you start imaginingyour executive level client and
your C-suite and all your fellowpeers doing it with you and
you're like that is outrageousand it just provides a little
bit of possibility and pause.
And that's what we're saying.
We're letting your brain wanderin the ridiculous as much as
(09:53):
it's wandering.
You want to try on a movie or abook or a piece of content
you've seen and you're inspiredby it and you say what's
possible there for yourself.
And let's make sure it's notseverance Hopefully you're
watching the latest seasons,because it's kind of amazing
(10:14):
Letting your brain wander.
And if you need to borrow fromsomebody else's possibility, as
long as it creates a positivefeeling for you, then go for it.
And again, we want to make sureit's that positive feeling,
because when our brain is notlet me say it the other way when
our brain is in positivity,it's able to be strategic.
When our brain is in fear ornegativity, that is that
negative bias that we all haveand our brain is trying to
(10:35):
protect us.
So it's not going to bethinking about secondary systems
like thinking.
It's going to be saying youknow what?
We need the heart and the lungsto work right now really fast,
because I'm going to have to runright.
So digestion shuts downsecondary things like strategic
thinking is going to shut down.
So when we're coming frompositive emotion, it keeps it
(10:57):
open and loose so you're able tothink clearly.
I want you to think about thatnext big possibility of what you
might want.
Again, whether you're doing itin the notes app or your pen and
paper, whatever it is, writethat down and then really think
through.
How are you going to carryyourself differently?
What's different in yourpersonal brand?
(11:18):
What is your personal branddoing and saying?
And how might you approach thework, your team, your career?
What goals might you set foryourself, the team, others,
where else might you shift inyour current job or your
responsibilities?
And if you're a small businessowner because I know I talk to
many of you as clients too, it'sthe same questions you don't
(11:41):
have to be on a large corporateteam, it could also be within
your organization.
Remember your past is justinformation.
It's not a fortune teller, andsometimes we feel safe and we
want it to be the fortune teller.
But just because somethinghasn't gone our way or it didn't
work one way in the pastdoesn't mean that it's going to
stay that way.
(12:01):
The change happens not whenwe're in the safe, predictable
space of probability, but in theexciting, out in the wild space
of possibility.
So I want you to imaginepossibility for today.
All right, friends, when youwant to break through and that
past and get into possibility,first of all hit subscribe.
(12:23):
And if you love this episodeand like what you're hearing,
please rate and review Five-starratings, please.
It helps.
It helps across all platforms.
It helps.
It helps across all platforms.
It helps me get this contentinto the people's hands that
need it.
And if you're looking for helpto get to that place of
possibility, I would love to beyour coach.
And if you want to work with medirectly, you can check out the
show notes or my website,jillgriffincoachingcom, and you
(12:46):
can see the various ways to workwith me privately or bring me
into your organization and team.
All right, friends, until nextweek.
Stay in possibility.
It's delicious, be intentionaland please be kind.
I'll see you soon.
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