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Erin, welcome to unlearning work, where we empower you to redesign your job by rethinking work habits, behaviors and strategies. I'm your host. Erin Merideth, a work behavior enthusiast and leadership strategist, join me as I explore various work related topics and provide practical insights and real life examples. We'll examine the nature of work from the ground up and deliver bite size episodes with actionable advice twice a month. Welcome to unlearning work, the podcast that helps you break free from outdated patterns and rethink how we work. Lead and grow. I'm Erin your executive coach and work strategist, and today, I want to let you in on a secret. If you're listening to this feeling behind stuck or like you just can't get it together at work, you're not alone. Maybe your to do list keeps growing no matter how much you check it off. Maybe you're great under pressure, but everything feels like pressure. Or maybe you've you're tried every planner app or productivity hack and still feel like you're failing at some invisible game. Well, here's what I want you to hear before anything else. You're not broken, you're not unmotivated, you're just working against your brain. So in this episode of unlearning work, we're going to talk about how to shift that, starting with understanding how you're wired. Because when your systems don't fit your mind, it's not a motivation problem, it's a design problem, and that's something we can fix. We'll talk through four dominant work styles I've identified through years of coaching and research, and show you how to find yours using a free quiz that's helped 1000s of professionals build systems that actually work for them. If you're tired of feeling like you're constantly behind, like nothing sticks, or like work just shouldn't feel this hard. Stay with me. This episode might be the beginning of a whole new way forward. Let's talk about the science behind it, why your brain needs structure that fits. And here's what I wish more people understood. Most of what we call productivity problems are actually system mismatch problems. Let me explain. Your brain is constantly working behind the scenes to conserve energy. It's trying to automate as much as possible your routines, reactions, even your emotional patterns. That's why habits are so powerful. They're energy saving shortcuts. But here's the catch, your brain has a unique blueprint for how it processes motivation, time and action, trying to use a productivity system built for someone else's brain. Someone who loves rigid schedules or thrives on long term planning can feel like trying to force your foot into the wrong size shoe. You can shove it in. You can walk for a bit, but eventually it's going to get hurt. Now imagine four people standing at the bottom of a hill. They all have to get to the top, but each one has different gear. One has running shoes and sprints up and bursts of energy. One has hiking boots and needs a step by step trail. One shows up late with flip flops, but somehow races up when the sun's about to set, and one studies the map, first watching for the safest route, and moves steadily upward once the plan feels right, same goal, different systems, different styles. When we force ourselves to use tools that don't align with our cognitive style, we experience what behavioral scientists call friction costs. These are the invisible barriers, mental, emotional and physical that drain your energy before you even started the task. So let me ask you, have you ever spent more time organizing your to do list than actually doing what's on it? Have you abandoned a project not because it didn't matter, but because you just couldn't figure out how to start that's not a character flaw. That's a misalignment between the tool you're using and the way your brain is wired. And here's the science. Neuroscience tells us that your prefrontal frontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for planning, decision making and goal directed behavior, has limited capacity. When we overload it with unclear processes, conflicting priorities or unrealistic expectations, it shuts down. That's when we reach for our phones, clean the fridge or just stare blankly at the screen. But when your system is designed to match how you naturally think, you reduce that cognitive load. You make it easier for your brain to say, Yes, this is called cognitive congruence, and it's a secret behind effortless follow through. That's why I don't teach one size fits all productivity strategies. I teach people how to understand their brain's wiring and then design systems that align with it, because when the structure fits, it stops feeling like discipline and starts feeling like flow. In the next segment, I'll walk you through the four work styles we use to help people figure out what kind of structure actually fits their brain and which systems they should probably stop forcing. And trust me, once you hear them, it'll. All start to make so the four work styles, which one of these sounds like you and so through research, coaching and real world testing, we've identified four dominant work styles. Think of them as operating systems, each with its own strengths, blind spots and systems needs. So we have the inspired starter. So you're an idea machine, quick to start, not always quick to finish. When inspiration strikes, you move, but when it fades, you stall. You thrive with short sprints, visible progress and systems that reignite your spark. We also have a system strategist. You love planning. You think in frameworks and timelines. You're most productive when there's structure, clarity and order, your growth edge is not getting stuck in planning mode. We also have the just in time performer deadlines are your adrenaline. You do your best work under pressure, but without urgency. Things drift. You thrive with time constraints, fast feedback and structured urgency that doesn't burn you out. And finally, the thoughtful planner, you move with care and intention. You like to reflect before acting. You need space to think things through, but that can slow momentum. You thrive with buffers, reflection time and step by step, roadmaps. Which one are you? You might already be nodding your head, but to really know you need to take the work style quiz. It's free, fast and shockingly accurate. Let's talk about what happens when you actually know your work style. I've seen this moment in real time again and again in coaching sessions, workshops and even emails from people who've taken the quiz. It usually goes something like this. Wait. You mean I'm not just inconsistent or bad at follow through. You mean, there's a reason I crash after I play it, plan everything perfectly. You mean I'm not broken. I'm just not built for the system. And that moment, it changes everything, because once you understand your style, you stop trying to fix yourself, and you start learning how to support yourself. Let me give you a real world example. There's a client I worked with, a VP at a fast growing startup, super smart, high achieving, always the person who could pull a miracle out of thin air when something was on fire, but behind the scenes, she was exhausted. She told me, I'm great in a crisis, but I can't seem to stay on top of things unless there's a fire, I feel like I'm failing at being a real leader. When she took the quiz, she landed as a just in time performer. Suddenly, her entire work history made sense. We didn't try to change her. We built around her. We gave her structured deadlines earlier, check ins, micro urgency cues, like visual trackers, and she thrived. She wasn't disorganized. She just needed the right kind of pressure in the right places. That's the power of this work. It terms turns shame into strategy. Because here's what happens when you try to operate in a system that doesn't match your brain, you burn out from over planning or under planning. You waste time building tools that look beautiful but don't work. You keep changing apps, routines or goals, hoping the next one will finally stick. You start to internalize the friction as failure. Maybe I'm not just good at this, but when you name your work style, you take back the power. You realize, oh, there's nothing wrong with me. I just need a better design. Knowing your style gives you three things, clarity. That is, you can understand what energizes you and what drains you, compassion. You let go of that shame that's been weighing you down, and choice, you can finally build systems that support real change. This isn't just about getting more done. It's about feeling less friction in your day, it's about making work feel a little lighter, a little more aligned and a lot more human. When your systems match your style, you stop wasting energy on the how and start focusing on the what matters. That's why we built the work style quiz to help you move from confusion to clarity and from friction to flow. When people learn their work style, they stop trying to fix themselves and start supporting themselves. They build custom systems, ones that feel natural, not forced. They start following through on the things that matter most. Think about how much energy you've spent trying to be more productive, focused, consistent. What if you could redirect that energy into building systems that actually stick. That's what the quiz unlocks. Let me introduce you to Chris. Chris is a non profit founder with a million ideas and a heart the size of Texas, but she was exhausted, burning out, trying to be more organized using tools that never seemed to stick. When she took the quiz, she found out she was an inspired starter. We built a new system around her style, visual sprint boards, weekly check ins and progress she could see. Within a month, her energy came back. She wasn't more disciplined. She was finally working with her brain. This stuff works because it's true to how you're wired.
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What's holding you back here? Is the part where I invite you to pause. What's one thing you've been struggling to follow through on a project, habit, a side hustle or a goal that keeps slipping. Ask yourself, What if the problem isn't effort, it's design, and what if that could change starting today. You don't need another productivity tip. You need a system that fits your brain. So here's your next step. Take the work style quiz. It takes less than five minutes, and it's free. You get a personalized breakdown of your style, your top work challenges, and what to do about them, action steps and tools you can use right now. Once you take the quiz, we'll guide you through toward the systems, templates and small shifts that can actually change how you work. Go to unlearningwork.com or click the link in the show notes. To wrap up, I need you to know you don't need to change who you are to get things done. You just need to unlearn what doesn't work and build What does I created this quiz, this framework and this podcast for people like you, because productivity should energize you, not drain you, and success should feel aligned, not forced. So let's stop white knuckling our way through work. Let's start unlearning and rebuilding on your terms. Take the quiz. Know your style. Let's build your system until next time, be kind to your Brain and keep unlearning what no longer serves you. You
