Verified by 
As a career expert and freelance writer plugged into the career market, I'm always intrigued by books that land across my desk but this particular one, Stop Saying You're Fine (Random House, 2011) really caught my attention. On her nationally syndicated radio show, The Mel Robbins Show, author Mel Robbins provides no-nonsense advice so I couldn't wait to devour this book.
I spoke with Mel recently and perhaps the most interesting part of our conversation was the power of saying no. If you're overworked or overburdened, she noted, you have no choice but to speak up. As for the alternative, well, if you don't you'll just end up with more work and eventual burnout and the only person to point blame at is yourself.
And I have to say it's interesting when people have blockages within their career in terms of not knowing how to network or feeling burned out and underappreciated. Technically, it's the same skill set we use in other areas of our lives whether it's managing our money, relationships or fitness/nutrition. We need to be authentic with ourselves and clearly outline our goals and become stronger during the journey.
For instance, with the state of the economy, so many people may be in denial things are greater than they are or accepting the status quo as no news is good news. However, Mel debunks that by saying the first step to unblocking yourself is downright admitting the truth: "Face it, you are not fine." It reminds me of the old adage of the first step of moving forward is admitting you have a problem.
In this case, the problem, of course is convincing yourself everything is ok when it's really not. She writes, "Whatever you desire exists. The hard work is already done. Someone else has blazed a trail and you can just follow his or her lead and draft behind. Your only real job is to focus on finding that trail and pushing through whatever self-defeating talk comes up in your head."
That's just it. The self-defeating talk. I wonder how many of us would be in different careers or living in another state if we didn't let the self-defeat take over. According to Mel, the key is creating a map to get unstuck and also get perspective about where you stand in relationship to the life you want.
"Think of a program like Google Maps. You input where you are, where you want to be, and suddenly you not only have a map but a much larger perspective on where your journey fits into the world. You can zoom in to examine important details, or zoom out for the big picture. Anytime you get lost on your trip, you can just glance down at the map and see how to keep moving in the right direction." Amen.
