Lauren Dixon

Health and nourishment. How good does that sound at the start of a new year?

According to Proverbs, that doesn't come from self care, or reaching a new career milestone, or a fitness regime.

It comes from seeking God's wisdom instead of relying on our own.

This morning my 11 month old son was in a cuddly mood.

He was up to his usual tricks of crawling around with today's favourite toy in his hand. But as soon as I walked past, he reached up for me.

Now usually, he can hang on to his toy and reach for cuddles. But this time the toy slipped out of his hand.

He hesitated for only a split second, thinking of grabbing the toy again. But he chose to keep reaching.

So I picked him up and then grabbed his toy for him too.

My first thought was how special it was that he chose me over his toy.

And he got to have his toy too! Because I picked it up for him.

Then I realised this is what it means to choose God first.

We reach for God, which sometimes means dropping our favourite activity of the season.

But when we drop something to reach for God, He can pick it up for us.

Are you distracted by chasing perfection?

Great quote from and

Has someone finished the year off on a high by delivering a project well?

Let them know they've done a good job by tagging them in the comments below.

And maybe give some encouragement to anyone else in the home stretches of their project before the holidays.

Let's finish the year well!

Have you learnt something from one of your peers lately?

Give them a shout out and let them know.

Also drop what you've learnt in the comments. I love learning new things!

This was not the person I wanted to be.

Had I really almost yelled at my boss in a public café?

Surely not.

I was the mild mannered home-schooled girl who always did everything "right".

I packed up my one-too-many bags, plugged my headphones in with music to distract myself, and jumped in the elevator.

I stared out at the last glimpses of a sunset over the cityscape of Perth. My gym bag hung particularly heavy on my shoulder.

I should’ve gone for a run. My mood was always better when I got a run in. But the day had just left me with no mental energy to get those shoes on and force myself out of the building for a run. I’d kept myself busy with fine tuning some report or other until it was too dark for a run.

The music failed to do its job to distract me.

I kept replaying the meeting over in my head.

The meeting had been to discuss my business case for manager.

It wasn’t very manager-ly to slap my hand on the table in a café.

I’d never get the promotion now. No matter how well crafted my business case was.

- - -

This was one of those formative moments in my career. Continue reading on the blog to hear what I learnt: https://www.laurenbdixon.com/post/work-and-the-quest-for-meaning

Work and the quest for meaning This was not the person I wanted to be. Had I really almost yelled at my boss in a public café? Surely not. I was the mild mannered home-schooled girl who always did everything "right". I packed up my one-too-many bags, plugged my headphones in with music to distract myself, and jumped in the eleva...

Boom 💥

I just finished editing my recent podcast interview with

We covered so much ground but this quote stuck with me: Many people believe they don't have the right to put boundaries in place.

Do you feel able to put boundaries in place at work?

If not, you should definitely subscribe to Work Upgraded wherever you get your podcasts so you can listen to the interview with Terry when it comes out on Monday.

(And even if you do, listen in for more insights from Terry including balancing success and happiness; and how to navigate workplace politics)

Are you feeling thankful?

Tag someone who you appreciate at your work or in your career journey to date.

Spread the thankfulness!

There’s a famous saying “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” In true internet style, this is variously attributed to Confucious, Mark Twain and even Marc Anthony.

However, I think it leads to this false belief that if we can just find a job we love enough, we will be immune to burn out and unhappiness.

The reality is, having a meaningful career doing work that matters and experiencing burnout are not mutually exclusive experiences. It is possible to be quite literally doing your dream job and to still experience overwhelm and get burnt out.

In fact, sometimes having meaningful work or work you enjoy can be a risk factor for burn out.

Read more in my latest blog post: https://laurenbdixon.medium.com/when-you-hate-the-job-you-love-3ff4ce470cd2