Heather Maietta, Ed.D., CDFI

Director of Career Services/Asst. Director of the Professional Development Seminars Program

Coach for Career Coaches | Delivering Internationally-recognized Career Coaching Certifications | Follow Me for Daily Career Insights

I train professionals in the career coaching space on how to LAND MORE CLIENTS through better coaching. 

📌 Trained and certified over 1,000 career coaches.
📌 Guided over 10,000 clients through career development and coaching.
📌 Author of Coaching for Coaches Handbook (NCDA, 2023).
📌 CMCS Credential Commissioner 

For the past 20 years, I’ve trained career coaches how to get actionable results from their coaching. 

My clients span private practice, career services, workforce development, academia, HR, and talent acquisition. 

My mission is to help career professionals generate a steady base of clients by developing and honing their coaching skills.

🔑 How I Can Help You:

Career professionals who master coaching techniques, integrate cutting-edge tools, and refine their approach consistently land more clients and deliver better results for their ICP.

✔️ Training & Certification – Courses that deliver practical, real-world coaching strategies and resources you can use immediately.
✔️ Personalized Coaching – Whether you're launching your coaching career practice or refining your coaching approach, I’ll help you generate more clients by strengthening your coaching muscles, improve your techniques, and grow your toolkit of strategies.

🌏 Why This Work Matters:

My own career path wasn’t linear. I tried 14 different jobs before finding what truly fit. That journey taught me how critical the right guidance is during career transitions.

Now, I help career professionals become that guide for others.

Career coaching changes lives. Every coach deserves top-tier training and support to attract clients and make a lasting impact. Over the years, I’ve worked with professionals worldwide, helping them build thriving careers while making a difference in others’ lives.

📩 Let’s Connect:

Ready to elevate your coaching practice? I’d love to help.
📧 Email me: heather@careerinprogress.com
📅 Register for the FCD Course or book a consult today

Owner

Executive career and professional development coach for aspiring and seasoned career coaches and career changers. 

Coach and mentor professionals in the career services delivery space to grow and develop their own coaching talents. Work with organizations to train their workforce development and career services staff members on career delivery and industry trends. 

Certified MA Small Business and Women-Owned Business. Certified by MA Dept of Education to award PDP for professional development.

At some point, hiring stopped being human.


I've spent 20 years in the hiring space. 

Hiring practices are always changing. Always evolving.

But somewhere along the way, we've lost site of the main goal.

Mutual benefit for employer and employee.

In an effort to streamline and automate, we've slowly replaced efficiency with cold and overcomplicated.

It reminds me of my last visit to the DMV-to be honest, I didn't think anything could get worse.
 
Here are 6 things I wish were just basic standards again:

1/ Be clear about your hiring process
↳ What are the steps? What’s the timeline? When should applicants expect to hear back?
↳ You don’t need to write a novel. Just don’t sound like a robot. (Also: recruiting shouldn’t be fully handed off to AI. At some point, you'll actually need to talk with a candidate).

2/ Respect everyone's time
↳ Don’t interview someone if you already know they’re not in the running.

3/ Stop ghosting people
↳ If someone applied, respond. 
↳ If someone didn't advance, respond.
↳ If someone asks for feedback, respond.

4/ Don't make the interview a scientific discovery
↳ If the hiring process has six rounds, a personality test, a case study, and a get together with every member of the team, you better be paying 7 figures. 

5/ Take a chance on someone
↳ Most of us got a break because someone believed we could grow.
↳ And let's face it, most hard skills can be taught. 
↳ If you don't remember starting from scratch yourself, you've lost sight of your mission.

6/ Get curious beyond the resume
↳ Seriously. You ask candidates to condense their history down to 1-page of bulleted outcomes and expect it to tell a complete story.
↳ Learn how to ask questions that help you actually realize the mutual benefits of hiring.

These six asks are baseline. 

If they aren't doable, you've forgotten what its like to put yourself out there. To juggle stress, bills, rejection, hope… all at once.

Hiring can be professional without being cold.
Treat candidates the way you’d want to be treated.

Most of us have been there.
And none of us are above ending up there again.
______
🖇️ Repost and save to take a stand on humane hiring practices.

🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for coaching advice that makes a difference.
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Dr. Heather Maietta

I transform career coaches into career architects without the guesswork!

Over the last 20 years, I’ve helped career coaches, advisors, and workforce professionals build the skills they need to become trusted partners in their clients’ career journeys. 

My career didn’t follow a straight line. I tried 14 different jobs before discovering what felt right. This experience taught me just how important it is to have the right guidance during big career decisions.

Now, I help career professionals be that guide for others.

💼 Why Work with Me?

I’ve dedicated my career to equipping professionals with the tools and skills they need to guide others through life’s biggest transitions.

Some highlights include:

📌Trained over 1000 career professionals in various settings, including workforce development, academic and career advising, HR, and talent acquisition.
📌Delivered career coaching and development to over 10k clients.
📌Wrote a Coaching for Coaches Handbook (NCDA, 2023)
📌Sat on the inaugural credentialing board for the FCD training.
📌 Board Certified Coaching faculty through NACE

🔑 How I Can Help You:

I’m here to help career professionals feel confident in their work. My courses, including the well-regarded Facilitating Career Development (FCD) program, are designed to help coaches deliver real results for their clients.

✔️ Training & Certification:
I offer courses that prepare coaches to tackle real-world career challenges with confidence. The focus is on giving you tools you can actually use.

✔️ Personalized Coaching:
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your skills, I’ll help you improve your approach, strengthen client relationships, and grow your practice.

🌏 Why It Matters:

Career coaching changes lives, and I believe every coach deserves the right training and support to do it well. Over the years, I’ve worked with people from all over the world, helping them grow in their careers while making a difference for others.

📩 Let’s Connect:

If you’re ready to take your coaching practice to the next level, I’d love to help.
➡️ Email me: heather@careerinprogress.com
➡️ Register for the FCD Course or book a consult today

Award-Winning Coach for Career Coaches | Delivering Internationally-Recognized Career Coaching Certifications | Follow Me for Daily Career Insights

Søren .

People won’t remember your title. 
They’ll remember how you made them feel.

I still remember the humiliation.
The sting.

It's been years.
Yet, the memory resurfaces every time I hear the organization's name. 

When employees are treated with disrespect or disregard, it sticks with them long after they've moved on. 

People remember how you treat them.
Good or bad.

Because titles change:
➤ Promotions happen (or don’t)
➤ Teams reorganize
➤ Companies merge
➤ Your “role” becomes a line in someone’s org chart archaeology

Your impact sticks.

Most people can’t list their old coworkers’ job titles, but they can tell you exactly who:
➤ made them feel small in a meeting
➤ took credit and disappeared
➤ gave feedback without humiliation
➤ advocated when it was inconvenient
➤ made work feel safer

If you want a reputation that lasts, be unforgettable for the right reasons.

Your title is what you do.
Your presence is what people take home. 
And store.
____
🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for career tips that stick.
♻️ Share to help others realize the impact of their actions.

Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches 

We talk about soft skills like they’re optional.

Your nervous system disagrees.

Oxytocin is one of the body’s connection chemicals.

And it’s doing more for your day-to-day life than most people realize.

It’s our emotional Wi-Fi: When connection is strong, our system runs smoother.

When it’s weak, everything feels slower and more stressful.

Oxytocin is involved in bonding and trust (the “I feel safe with you” signal) and stress buffering.

Oxytocin tends to amplify social signals, so if an environment feels safe, connection grows. 

If it feels unsafe, people may get more guarded or cliquey.

This matters at work (and in life)!

If you want to support oxytocin the non-cringey way:

✔️ Put your phone away for 10 minutes with someone you care about
✔️ Give sincere, specific appreciation
✔️ Spend time with a pet
✔️ Do something in sync with others (walk, workout, sing, volunteer)

Connection is not a vibe.
It’s biology with a calendar invite.🩵
———
🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for life-changing career advice

🖇️ Share to increase emotional connection! 

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You’re doing everything right. And somehow… your career still feels stuck.

Like no matter how much you do, nothing really moves.

-Saying yes.
-Replying fast.
-Keeping your calendar full.
-Staying on top of all the moving pieces.

That busy but going nowhere feeling?

It’s usually just a focus problem.

There’s a simple idea I come back to again and again: The 80/20 principle.

Basically, a small % of your actions drive the majority of your results.

When you start thinking about it, the pattern shows up everywhere.

You’ll start asking yourself, “What part of my time and effort spent will actually matter?”

Applied to career growth, the 80/20 principle looks something like this: 

1/ Skills: Which ones make your work easier?

2/ Visibility: Are the right people seeing the right things at the right time?

3/ Relationships: Who are the few key people in your corner that matter most?

4/ Opportunities: Not all work is created equal. Which projects will compound? 

Coaches who create real impact help their clients build a strategy around 80/20. 

You don’t need more effort.
You need better focus.

———
🖇️ Save to draw upon when you need inspiration. 
♻️ Share to encourage targeted progress.

The effort is real.
The audience is small.

Career transition isn't hard because of the job search.

It's hard because of everything no one sees.

For so many of my clients, it's emotionally exhausting not to know what comes next. They're drained by the invisible labor no one sees or realizes.

Rebuilding your narrative is difficult, life-changing work. 

Not only are you creating a new you, but you're also redefining priorities, rules, routines, and most importantly, relationships.

These things shift as your identity shifts.

This is what drains you during a career transition, and nobody prepares you for it.

Here are 5 types of invisible labor you're probably experiencing right now:

1/ Emotional regulation work
- Managing anxiety between interviews, processing rejection, trying to make sense of ghosting, holding on to hope. 
- Sustained emotional endurance, day after day takes its toll.

2/ Narrative construction work
- You're trying to build a story that makes sense to you but doesn't (yet) make sense to others. 
- Reframing your past so it supports your future is literally rewriting your professional identity in real time. Some will get it. Others will not.

3/ Relationship management work
- You're explaining your decisions to people who question them, whether they deserve an explanation or not. 
- Setting boundaries around unsolicited advice and absorbing other people's uncertainty is risky, and not always helpful.

4/ Decision fatigue work
- Every choice feels massive when outcomes are unclear, especially when you're constantly second guessing yourself. 
- It's hard not to compare options when each decision is weighted with uncertainty.

5/ Identity reconciliation work
- You're becoming someone new before the results are evident. 
- This puts you in this weird, undefined limbo between your old self and your new self.

Here's what I need you to understand:

Transition is exhausting.

But it's often the most rewarding work you'll ever do.

If you're in it. Congratulations!!
I can't wait to see what you become.

🎯 Join my free career coaching masterclass https://lnkd.in/epyeuSwU
______
♻️ Share with someone in transition

🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for strategies that recognize the full journey.

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The one person critical to your promotion (hint: it’s not your boss):

Let’s get real for a minute.

I work with incredibly talented, high-achieving professionals every single week. People who are crushing KPIs, leading complex projects, and keeping the wheels turning.

But when I ask them, "What are you most proud of accomplishing?"

I get two responses:

Crickets.
Or worse, the immediate deflect.

It was nothing.
I got lucky.
It was the team's good work.

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

Stop right there. 🛑

Why are we so allergic to owning our awesomeness?

We've internalized the idea that being proud of our work equals arrogance. 

We were taught to put our heads down, work hard, and wait to be noticed.

Here's what I tell my clients, even the executive ones: Waiting to be noticed is a terrible career strategy. 

I mean terrible.

If you are waiting for the universe to validate your hard work before you validate it yourself, you will be waiting a long time. 

Everyone else is too busy worrying about their own careers.

Having your own back means recognizing the sweat equity you put in. 
It means allowing yourself a moment of genuine pride before rushing off to the next fire drill.
It means being your own best advocate.
Your own best friend.

If you don't believe in yourself.
Why should anyone else?

If you don't loudly champion your wins.
Who will?

If not you, then who?

In the comments, I want you to practice. 
Drop one win from this week!
____
🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for supportive career advice.
♻️ Share with someone who needs to hear this message.
🖇️ Save for days when self advocacy is low.

Seek first to understand.
Then to be understood: 

Awkward feedback can shut down a coaching relationship fast.
 
Not because people are unwilling to hear.

But because most feedback is unstructured.

If you coach, manage, or lead people, you've seen (and probably gave your fair share of) feedback.

And I’d venture to guess that most of it was vague, untargeted, and impossible to act on.

I just wanted to share… 
Something I've noticed… 
In general... 

Sound familiar?

Feedback needs an anchor.
A container that makes it usable.

Here are 8 feedback models I keep in my coaching toolbox.

And when I use each: 

1/ GROW (Goal-Reality-Option-Will) 
➤ Use when the feedback is really a decision conversation.  

2/ SBI (Situation-Behavior-Impact) 
➤ Use when you need clean, specific, non-dramatic feedback. 

3/ Feedback Sandwich 
➤ Use sparingly (like cologne). 
➤ Works only when the middle is specific.

4/ Pendleton’s Rules (Self-assess first) 
➤ Use when you want to foster ownership.

5/ DESC (Describe-Express-Specify-Consequences) 
➤ Use when a boundary needs to be set and maintained.

6/ Start/Stop/Continue 
➤ Use when someone needs a reset.

7/ Feedforward (Focus on future)
➤ When defensiveness or shame blocks learning. 

8/ Build-Up Model 
➤ When confidence is low, but potential is high. 

Quick guide on choosing the most appropriate model based on your desired outcome:

Decisions → GROW 
Clarity → SBI 
Motivation → Feedback Sandwich
Boundaries → DESC 
Defensiveness → Feedforward or Pendleton 
Behavior change → Start/Stop/Continue 
Confidence → Build-Up 

Being good at feedback isn't about being nicer.

It's about being structured.

And structure is kindness. 

It tells the other person: 
I care enough to be clear. 

🖇️ If you coach, lead, or manage people, save this for future reference. 
____
 Join my free career coaching masterclass: https://lnkd.in/epyeuSwU

♻️ Share to improve feedback

Your network is bigger than you think. And you're probably underutilizing it.

Most professionals think networking means connecting on LinkedIn and an occasional coffee chat with industry peers. 

But your most valuable connections might be sitting next to you at church or sweating next to you at the gym.

Thinking about all of the networking channels completely reframes your potential for career growth:

➤ Your NEIGHBORS have diverse professional backgrounds you've never asked about.
➤ Your PARENTS have decades of career wisdom and their own professional networks.
➤ Your VENDORS know multiple industries from the inside.
➤ Even STRANGERS can provide fresh perspectives through informational interviews.

Career growth happens when you expand new network channels and activating the one you already have.

My 2026 networking challenge is 52 in 52: connecting with 1 person each week for 52 weeks. 

That friend's coworker? 
An introduction away. 

Your alma mater? 
A built-in alumni network. 

The people at your volunteer organization? 
They share your values AND have professional connections.

Those who make the fastest career progress are the ones who think creatively about the connections already around them.

This week, I challenge you: 
➤ Identify one "non-traditional" network category from your life. 
➤ Reach out to someone there. 
➤ Ask a question. 
➤ Share what you're working on.

Or better yet, join me this year for 52 in 52! 

Your next opportunity might come from somewhere you least expect! 
______
🖇️ Save when you need a future networking boost.
♻️ Share to elevate your networking game.

If you’re white-knuckling your career right now, read this.

There’s a fable that perfectly explains why forcing your way forward often backfires. 

It goes something like this...

The North Wind and the Sun get into an argument about who’s stronger. To settle the argument, they agree on a challenge: Who can get a traveler to remove his cloak?

The North Wind goes first. He blasts the traveler with gusts of cold, harder and harsher. But the more he pushes, the tighter the traveler clutches his cloak. 

Then the Sun takes a turn. He shines steadily, radiating warm and calm.

Little by little, the traveler relaxes.
Eventually, he removes the cloak on his own.

The Sun wins.

Not by force, but by influence.

This isn’t just a cute fable. 
It’s basically a workplace case study on how people change.
Including you.

1/ Force creates resistance. Support creates movement.
Career stress often comes from North Wind strategies. Resistance often sounds like:

► “I should already know this.”
► “If I push harder, I’ll figure it out.”
► “I just need more discipline.”

That kind of pressure can work short-term, but usually leads to overthinking and burnout.

Approaching with Sun energy is often better better: 

► steady skill-building
► realistic pacing
► encouragement and accountability

Environments that make you want to grow help you build momentum without frying your nervous system.

2/ Progress is often self-led. After the conditions are right.

► The traveler removes the cloak by choice. 
► Same with career moves.

The most durable decisions, like pivoting and negotiating tend to happen when:

► clarity increases
► confidence rises
► fear decreases
► support exists

In your career, you don’t just make moves, you make moves you can sustain.

3/ Influence beats intensity.

The North Wind is intensity: forceful, immediate.
The Sun is influence: consistent, strategic.

In your career, influence looks like:

► building credibility over time
► showing your work without chest-thumping
► earning trust through reliability
► investing in relationships before you need something

Opportunities start coming to you because people remember how working with you feels.

4/ It applies to coaching, too.

If you coach or lead people, this is your reminder:

► Pressure creates compliance
► Respect creates commitment

You stop getting performance theater and start seeing real behavior change.

Try the Sun Strategy this week:

Loosen the grip: 
↳ What are you pushing too hard on that needs a different approach?

Turn up the warmth: 
↳ What support would make this easier? 
↳ How can you draw on mentor feedback, clearer goals, a boundary?

Choose influence: 
↳ What small action can you repeat for 10 days?

Your career journey doesn’t have to be a battle of endurance.

The next level doesn’t come from blowing harder.
It comes from working smarter and steadier.
______
🖇️ Save for future reference
♻️ Share with someone who could use a career boost

Most job seekers make one costly mistake. 

They don't execute with a strategy:

My husband recently had hip surgery.
In his downtime, he rewatched the Star Wars trilogy.

I found myself thinking: 
This storyline has a lot to say about career growth.

You don’t need Jedi powers to land your next role.
But you do need more than just a resume update.

There’s a sequence to an effective job search.
And when you follow it, things fall into place faster:

🗡️ Start with your mindset.
Confidence and resilience are non-negotiable.

🗡️ Sharpen your skills.
Get clear on the technical and soft skills today’s roles demand.

🗡️ Expand your network.
Most opportunities come from people (not job boards). 
Start with mentors, former colleagues, industry peers.

🗡️ Update your materials.
Tell a story that connects with the role you want.

🗡️ Be intentional with applications.
Target roles that match your goals and values.

🗡️ Practice your interview presence.
 Prepare stories. Ask questions. Show how you think.

🗡️ Negotiate with clarity.
Know what matters to you. 
The best outcomes benefit both sides.

The Force is optional.
A strategy isn't.
_________
👉 Save this if you’re job searching.
💬 Share with someone who'd appreciate the lightsaber logic.

Follow your passion sounds inspiring.
Until rent is due:

I’ve coached a lot of people through career changes, and here's what I’ve learned:

Career advice is a paradox buffet.

Most contradictory advice isn’t wrong. 
It’s just missing context.

Let’s break down a few classic contradictions and the nuance nobody talks about:

1/ Follow your passion vs Passion doesn’t pay the bills
↳ Passion is a compass. Bills are calendar reminders. 
↳ Build a paycheck lane while you develop a passion lane 

2/ Be humble vs Own your wins
↳ Humility is how you treat people. 
↳ Visibility is how you communicate results.

3/ Fake it ‘til you make it vs Be authentic
↳ Borrow confidence; don’t fake competence. 
↳ Practice until it’s real.

4/ Don’t let opportunity pass vs Set boundaries
↳ Some opportunities are doors. 
↳ Others are traps with nice branding. 

5/ Find work-life balance vs Hustle to succeed
↳ Balance isn’t static. It’s seasonal. 
↳ Sprint with intention. 

6/ Your work will speak for itself vs Speak up or be overlooked
↳ Your work doesn’t talk in performance reviews. 
↳ Share your wins.

7/ Stay in your lane vs "Go above and beyond
↳ Focus first. 
↳ Then expand with intention.

8/ A degree matters vs Skills and experience win
↳ Degrees can open doors. 
↳ Skills keep you in the room.

9/ Be a team player vs Stand out to get noticed
↳ Give credit freely. 
↳ Claim your unique value clearly.

10/ Your reputation is everything vs Don’t be afraid to walk away
↳ Reputation matters. 
↳ Toxic damages more than a clean, professional exit.

When you're caught between two truths, try this filter:

What’s my biggest constraint right now?
What’s the real tradeoff?
What signal do I want to send?
What’s my next best move?

Career advice shouldn't feel like juggling flaming swords... protect yourself with knowledge. 🩵

🎯 Join my free masterclass for career coaches: https://lnkd.in/epyeuSwU 
______
🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for credible career advice.
♻️ Share to inform your network.

Going back to work after the holidays can feel harder than expected:

The good news?
Time off helps.

The APA Work and Well-Being survey reported 58% of working adults felt more productive after a holiday or work break.

The challenge? 
The effect doesn’t always last. 

In the same survey, respondents said the benefits disappeared immediately (24%) or lasted only a few days (40%).

So, how do we preserve the recharge? 

Create structure that helps you maintain momentum.

1/ Make a re-entry plan for your first day
💡Identify no more than 5 priorities:
➤ One fast win, one must-do, one delayed task, one follow-up, one preparation for tomorrow.

2/ Prep before action
💡Set a timer to avoid getting pulled into reactive work.
➤ 20 minutes to review your calendar and upcoming deadlines.
➤ 20 minutes to scan your inbox, archive what you can, flag what needs action.

3/ Define your top 3 outcomes for the day
💡Choose 3 results that would make the day successful. 
➤ If you don’t choose them, your day will be driven by other people’s priorities.

4/ Use short momentum blocks
💡If focus is low, start with 15 minutes on a single task. 
➤ Progress increases motivation more than waiting for motivation to arrive.

5/ Protect one uninterrupted focus block
💡Schedule 45 minutes of distraction-free work.
➤ Move results forward to reduce the backlog feeling.

The first week back isn’t about doing everything at once. 

It’s about re-establishing routines so the recharge benefits of your time off last longer.
_____
🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for sane career advice.
♻️ Share to brighten someone's Monday.

65% of professionals say they feel stuck in their current roles: 

If you coach career changers, you've met a few of them.

Stuck often shows up as high effort preparation and low effort execution.

But here's what most coaches miss: 

Stuck disguises itself as endless research and preparation.

Kind of like reading 67 restaurant reviews and never making a reservation.

The client who's been exploring for 4 months is using research as a respectable hiding place.

The diagnostic question on my mind, "Is my client legitimately gathering intel or fear-based stalling?"

Red flags that indicate exploration has turned into avoidance:

➤ Repetitive research - same articles, same internet rabbit holes
➤ Information consumption with no application
➤ Multiple informational interviews with zero follow-up action  
➤ Always preparing to prepare, never quite ready to apply
➤ Endless credential comparison-shopping with no registration

When a client says, "I need to research a bit more" for the 6th session in a row...

...that's a coaching moment.

What to do when you spot the pattern:

1/ Name the function of the research
→ Ask: "How does additional data gathering benefit your goal?"

2/ Use the 70% rule
→ Help them act when they have enough to test.

3/ Set micro-deadlines with accountability
→ What are 3 action-oriented ways to test your research?

4/ Replace passive research with active experiments  
→ Swap "research UX careers" for "ask one UX designer for feedback on a mock project outline."

5/ Teach the difference between uncertainty and paralysis
→ Productive uncertainty leads to targeted action. 
→ Paralysis leads to more research.

The difference between good coaching and great coaching? 

Great coaching uncovers the avoidance.

Great coaching recognizes patterns and interrupts with precision.

This diagnostic skill transforms everything.

🎯 Join my free career coaching masterclass https://lnkd.in/epyeuSwU
______
🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for advanced diagnostic strategies
🖇️ Save and share with fellow coaches who need this framework

(Source: Glassdoor 2025).

Your brain thinks your terrible job is keeping you alive.

That's the problem.

I work daily with talented professionals who stay in draining careers not because their nervous system confuses familiar with safe.

They want to get out, but they don't know how and worse, they're too exhausted to try. 

Your biology wasn't designed for career strategy.
It was designed for survival.

Here are 5 biological patterns hijacking your career decisions:

1/ Loss aversion is louder than opportunity

Your brain weighs losses twice as heavily as gains.

Leaving a known situation triggers the same threat response as physical danger.

Even when that situation is toxic.

The override:
➤ Write down what staying costs you
➤ Make invisible losses visible

2/ Status quo bias protects comfort, not growth

Humans are wired to prefer things stay the same.

Change requires energy. Your brain conserves it.

The override:
➤ Staying isn't neutral. It's an active choice.
➤ Ask: "Am I choosing this, or just not choosing something else?"

3/ Sunk cost fallacy keeps you hostage

You've invested years. Training. Identity.

Your brain screams: "Don't waste it."

Time already spent isn't a reason to spend more.

The override:
➤ Ask: "If I were starting fresh today, would I choose this?"
➤ Past investment doesn't obligate future sacrifice

4/ Fear of regret paralyzes more than failure

Your brain runs disaster simulations on repeat.

Meanwhile, the regret of staying never gets airtime.

The override:
➤ Name the fear specifically
➤ Test it: How likely is that outcome?
➤ Balance it: What's the cost of never trying?

5/ Social proof validates staying put

Everyone around you is doing the same thing.

Your brain reads that as: "This must be right."

Collective misery isn't wisdom.

The override:
➤ Find people who made the move you're considering
➤ New reference points reset what feels possible

Your biology isn't broken.

It's operating on outdated instructions.

Survival once meant staying with the tribe.

Now growth requires the opposite.

You can retrain your threat response.

Start by recognizing when biology is driving.

Your career isn't life or death.

Even when your nervous system insists it is.

🔔 Follow Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches for strategies grounded in how humans actually work.

📌 Ready to override your biology and make the move? 
Join my free career coaching masterclass: 
https://lnkd.in/epyeuSwU

We do not rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems. 

Career transition creates instability.

It’s hard to nail down a system to navigate this instability.

But having a system might just be what you need when panic, fear, and uncertainty take over.

That’s why I use the P.A.S.T.O.R. Method with my clients.

It’s not magic.
But it might as well be.

Here's the system:

➠ Prepare before you engage
➠ Search beyond job boards
➠ Apply with intention
➠ Talk (to humans)
➠ Organize your activity
➠ Review offers strategically

Most people skip these steps. 

That’s why most searches are exhausting and misaligned.

Why this matters:
✦ 70–85% of roles are filled through networking.
✦ Job seekers with structured plans apply faster. And get more offers

TL;DR: Systems and relationships beat spray-and-pray every time.

If you’re job searching (or coaching others), use the graphic below to audit your current approach.

Your future self will thank you.

Want more?

Here is a playbook of some of my most useful coaching systems: 
https://lnkd.in/eAkQ-MNw

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Easy wins are forgettable.
Even when they feel amazing.

Because most things worth having take time. And time has a way of exposing something most people don’t want to admit:

Motivation is a terrible plan.
Motivation feels great… until it doesn’t.

And it will fade. Trust me.
Because it’s tied to mood, energy, convenience.

Discipline is different.

It’s what keeps you moving when nothing feels exciting anymore.

When you work for months (or years) toward something and finally get there, the win feels different.

Because you remember what got you there: the boring days, the repetitive tasks, the late nights, the times you wanted to quit, but didn't.  

The win feels different. 

I’ve felt this many times:
-when I got my doctorate
-when I started my coaching practice
-when I wrote my first book

None of those were built on motivation.
They were built on follow-through.

When you finally achieve what you set your mind to; it's proof you can do hard things.

And that’s why discipline is a better indicator of success than motivation because it doesn’t require you to feel ready.

It just requires you to show up.

Easy wins feel good in the moment. 
But they fade FAST.

The hard-earned stuff? 
That stays with you. 
It changes how you see yourself.

So if your goals are taking longer than you thought they would, stay the course because it might just mean you're building something that will actually matter when you get there.

The wait isn't wasted time. 
It's where the work happens.

🎯 Join my free career coaching masterclass:
https://lnkd.in/epyeuSwU
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