The Secret Ingredient to Sustainable Career Growth: Composting
Composting is not just for nature lovers, eco-warriors or sustainability pro’s. Composting is the secret ingredient for any professional seeking long-term career growth, sustainable work-life balance or going through a career transition towards more meaningful work. In this article I share with you why composting should be a key strategy to make your career a success and what I have learned over the past years as a leading career coach for climate careers. But first, let’s travel back in time for a moment.
Think back to the time you entered the workforce, whenever that was. Visualise your career since then. The highs of learning, achievement, promotions, great colleagues that became friends, and amazing projects you completed. But also the lows filled with self-doubt and that imposter feeling, a set back, having to start again, a terrible boss and work culture, feeling stuck and knowing that there is more out there for you to fulfil your potential. The reality is, that most of our careers are like life: they have ebbs and flows, highs and lows, excitement and boredom, progress and stillness.
So why do we constantly pretend that our careers are the most amazing path of growth, ongoing success, crushing it and being on top of the world? When we are honest to ourselves, the way we are presenting our careers to the world, on our CV, on LinkedIn, in our own storytelling - it is most likely a path of impressive growth. Climbing the ladder of job titles, of more responsibility, higher salaries. And after a while, we start to believe - dare I say to expect? - that this is how our careers should look like.
Now, let’s travel to the future together. Are you ready? Follow me to the life of your future self in 10 years from now. If you are reading this in 2024, we are now in the year 2034. How old will you be in 10 years? What do you see for yourself? More growth? More steps climbed on the ladder? More responsibility? Bigger clients? Bigger projects? Bigger paychecks?
When I pose this question to my career coaching clients, a surprising shift tends to happen. Instead of envisioning being on top of the career ladder, with endless growth that is so present in the here and now, they start to draw a vision where they have more time, more joy, more freedom. In that future, they envision that work is not this all-consuming heavy weight in their lives that sucks out all energy, fun and passion. Instead they speak of a true integration between having a good life and doing what they are passionate about. Yes, they still work, but in that future, they do work that feels fulfilling, empowering and deeply meaningful.
So how can we get from this endless hustle we are in today, to that balanced, joyful and fulfilled future? Or in other words:
How can you create long-term sustainable career growth that doesn’t burn you out?
The answer is: composting.
Wait, what? Let me explain. Composting is nothing new. In fact it’s as ancient as life on Earth. It’s a pretty amazing invention of nature and one of the key processes in the natural world that helps to keep the cycle of life alive. And we can observe it easily in our garden, streets and parks. Think of a tree in your neighbourhood that you pass by frequently. Every year this tree goes through a cycle of new abundant growth in spring, standing in full bloom in summer, bearing fruit or nuts in autumn, before retracting the energy from it’s leaves until they wither, and fall to the ground. If you live in an urban area like me, chances are that at this point the leaves will be taken away by the maintenance company and we think that’s that. But in an undisturbed natural cycle, this is the moment where true magic begins. These fallen leaves are starting to compost. Through small crawling animals, fungi, soil bacteria and a million microbes, the material of the leaves is composted, their nutrients and minerals absorbed back into the soil until we don’t see any leaves anymore. So in nature, the end of the autumn, when things look bare and dead to us, what really happens is a phase of essential renewal. Composting is not the end of things. On the contrary. Composting is life! The materials that are composted feed new life, and that is the starting point of new growth. And the cycle begins again. This goes for all plants and the rhythm of life: from seed to seedling, to leaves and flowers, to withering, setting seed, composting, and renewing again the following year. Without composting, there is no new life.
So here is my thought experiment for you:
What if we build composting into our careers?
More and more people feel like their career needs to be a showcase of endless growth, reaching new highs with every career step. At the same time, more and more people feel burned out, in a constant chase and rarely find the time to breathe. In that state, even holidays don’t feel like they do much for recharging. But it is possible to break that pattern.
When we use the analogy of the seasons, many people have come to believe that our careers are always supposed to be in a time of spring and summer: abundant growth, shiny flowers, plentiful fruit to harvest. We forget that the dying back of things in autumn, composting and renewing during winter are an equally important part of life. They are necessary for new growth to emerge and life to sustain itself.
By not allowing ourselves to compost in our careers, we deplete ourselves of important nutrients. As a result, work starts to feel flat at best, and sucking the life out of us at worst. Embracing the concept of composting in our careers opens up new ways of thinking and doing things. In the next part I share a few ideas how you can add composting to your career.
4 ways to start composting to create a sustainable career
Working with the concept of composting in your own career can open up transformative reflections and a process of re-designing your career to what is meaningful in your life right now. Below are four examples of how to rethink common beliefs, assumptions and notions about how our careers are supposed to look like - and to inspire new ways of thinking and doing work in the 21st century that doesn’t burn you out, but instead fills you with passion and new life. Let’s start composting:
Beliefs about what a successful career has to look like. The first thing to put on our compost pit is the belief that a successful career means climbing some pre-defined ladder, adding projects, responsibility and new skills every quarter, and earning more and more money every year. We often carry a deep belief that a career without titles, progress and high salaries is not a successful one. Working on something that feels meaningful, yet may not provide an endless trajectory of growth in these areas feels like a non-success. Now, let’s compost that stiff idea of success. Take a moment to reflect, what your beliefs around a successful career sound like? Who or what has influenced your definition of success? What definition of success would you like to create for yourself going forward?
The assumption that money equals happiness. Even though research has proven over and over again that the correlation between money and happiness only holds true until a certain threshold (depending on where you live that value fluctuates, but ultimately its the monetary value that secures your basic needs of shelter, food and safety being met), yet a lot of us still carry that assumption that more money and bigger titles must lead to a happier life. This is an illusion. It’s also the core narrative of the capitalist society and one we need to actively challenge in our process of composting. What is the amount of money you need to live happily? What influences this threshold? How does your consumption of non-essential items influence this (be self-critical about what classifies as an essential item)?
Composting the concepts of failure and linearity. Neatly tied into the two points above, we believe that any career that is not paying a 6-figure salary and provides growth every single year, must automatically be a failure. Scrap that. Endless growth is not a concept present in nature. Linearity is also not embraced anywhere else than the human mind. Look at the shapes in nature. Nothing is linear, and if so not for long. All is squiggly, goes in circles and is interconnected. When you start composting the concepts of failure and linearity it can be helpful to invite something else instead: the concept of your career as a journey. A journey is a process of exploration, learning, experimentation and adaptation. It’s rarely a straight line, it has times of movement, of resting, of observing. Your career is also a journey. And times of rest, pause, introspection and re-evaluation are a normal part of this journey. This also means that we need to shift our thinking and start understanding the time of composting not as a failure, but an essential part of life, which can allow new explorations and perspectives of what your career means to you going forward.
Composting feelings that don’t serve you anymore. Composting is a process of letting go. And being comfortable with that letting go. That process is always emotional. While we live in a world of work where we are told that emotions have no place, composting in your career is also strongly connected with learning to honour your emotions, be with them (yes, also the uncomfortable ones) and then letting go of the ones that linger longer than they are useful. Some feelings to consider to add to your composting pit:
Self-doubt, worry, fear, uncertainty: aren’t they all too familiar? All of these have a role to play and can be powerful teachers. So it’s not about dismissing them, but taking the lessons they have to teach us, and then also making sure to release them again so that they don’t linger. When self-doubt lingers it blocks us from moving forward. When our minds are busy predicting worst-case scenarios, we may find ourselves paralised. Uncertainty is part of this rhythm of life. We like to think we can predict the future, but we have far less control over it than we think. The process of composting self-doubt, worry, fear and uncertainty prepares the ground for growing acceptance, hope and confidence. And I don’t have to tell you that this is the type of ground that allows much more exciting ideas to emerge.
Unreciprocated loyalty, hope, and the illusion of safety: Jobs with big paychecks, an abundance of benefits and a proclamation of the most resonating company values often don’t hold up to their expectation. These types of companies create an illusion of safety and a strong sense of loyalty - from your side, not necessarily from the company’s side. Big industries like tech and finance have shown their true values in post-pandemic times, going through unstructured and unethical layoffs, demanding people to come back to the office and prioritising shareholder value over people and planet. What once felt like a cool place to work at, with a strong sense of camaraderie and financial abundance, has become a place of increased uncertainty and volatility. This drives many people to re-evaluate their career choices and requires a process of composting to let go of an (often false) sense of safety, belonging and optimism.
With these new perspectives in front of you, I invite you to take a moment to reflect and maybe write about some of your evolving thoughts. Career composting requires bravery, being honest with yourself and being ok to sit with uncomfortable feelings. But trust me, it’s worth it. New growth, joy and happiness will be possible because of the work you put into composting.
Journaling prompts to start composting in your career:
What needs composting to support you in your career towards the next phase of growth?
How could the act of composting in your career look like? Think about rituals, ceremonies, building new habits over time, inviting support like coaching or mentoring, or joining new communities that are aligned to that future vision of the good life.
What will be different when you start composting? What will die off, and what will have a chance to grow in this renewed soil?
What would a change of pace mean to you and how you relate to your career?
How much time do you want to invite for the process of composting in your career?
Sometimes, the process of composting and all its new concepts, ways of being and thinking, can feel overwhelming. You may benefit from having a guide by your side who knows the secrets and tricks about healthy composting. I have guided people successfully through their process of composting for more than four years now and I would love to support you too. Here are three ways how you can work with me.
