Winding Paths Ep. 5

How to make focused career decisions with Paulina Cameron

Talent Collective
Talent Collective

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In our video series Winding Paths, we explore women’s unique career journeys. In this episode we connect with Paulina Cameron, Regional Director of Futurpreneur Canada and Author of Canada 150 Women. The focus of our discussion: how to decide what to say “yes” and “no” to in your career.

Below are some of the insights Paulina shared with Talent Collective co-founder Crystal Henrickson in the interview.

What has been important for you to prioritize when it comes to your career and what have you had to learn to let go of?

I was talking to a friend the other day and I was saying that having a child has basically been my number one prioritization tool! But there are probably cheaper, quicker and easier ways of really figuring it out. 😀

I’m a recovering workaholic who is learning to embrace boundaries, embrace time and project management. I have become very clear on what I do say yes to and I’m forever practicing what I say no. What I’ve found important to prioritize in my career and in my life career overall life is the fact that I’m actually not career driven but have always considered myself impact driven. The distinction for me there is that I’m really driven by making a difference and making an impact. That doesn’t necessarily have to be only in the non-profit or social enterprise world. What’s more important is being connecting to making a change.

📺 Paulina’s full answer to this question right here.

In your book Canada 150 Women you must have gotten some unique insights into their career and life experiences. How are those stories shaping you now?

Their courage is something I really admired. It’s a great reminder of how remarkable women are. They really embraced saying “Yes!” to opportunities that came their way even if they didn’t even feel ready for them. And opportunities often came because of their community. It’s important to contribute, volunteer and share your passion as you never know to what opportunities it may lead.

📺 Check out more on this topic here.

How do you decide to what opportunities to say ‘Yes!” or “No” to?

Really early on in my career a mentor taught me a framework that she uses which is to have filters when making decisions. You can then evaluate opportunities based on those filters and they may change over the years.

I re-evaluate my filters regularly and right now one of the most important things for me to have is flexibility. And then there is simple gut feeling. If you said yes to something and the next day all you want to do is get out, you just know it wasn’t the right decision. And for other opportunities you know you’d move all the mountains to make this happen and you’d totally regret not doing it.

📺 More on how to apply the filter framework here.

👉 Do you have a unique career story you’d like to share? Reach out, we’d love to hear from you!

We love hearing about not-so-straight-forward career paths. Our video series “Winding Paths” features unique career journeys and we are looking for individuals interested in share their stories.

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A compilation of career adventures, the full-time and freelance kind. Helping you thrive in your career. Talentcollective.co