Podcast
Moonshot Mentor with Laverne McKinnon
Hosted by Laverne McKinnon · EN
Stories, tools, and strategies to conquer career setbacks, including grief work, as unresolved loss can lead to diminished resilience—a career challenge faced by everyone at some stage in life. Each podcast is an audio blog post from Laverne McKinnon, a Career Coach and Grief Recovery Specialist, Film and Television Producer, and Northwestern University Professor.
Full archive of posts is available for paid subscribers on Substack.
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Got Career Progress? 🚀
Oct 1300:09:46Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit moonshotmentor.substack.comGoals and outcomes go together like peanut butter and jelly. Popcorn and butter. Mustard and mayonnaise.One without the other just doesn’t quite work. And might leave you feeling out of sorts like you’re spinning your wheels—not clear if you’re making any actual progress in your career.A goal on its own is isolated and can lose direction easily. But pair it with an outcome, and suddenly you have motivation, inspiration, and drive.An outcome on its own putters along, every once in awhile sputtering along in fits and starts. But give it a goal, and now it has gas in the tank.Understanding the difference between the two—and learning how to link them—is the key to building a career that has momentum and resonance.The Key DistinctionA goal is concrete and measurable. It’s the equivalent of plugging an address into Google Maps—step by step, turn by turn, until you arrive.An outcome in the Moonshot universe, on the other hand, is about how you want to feel once you arrive. It’s not the GPS directions to Venice Beach—it’s the desire to spend the day in the sun, relaxed and carefree.Here’s the difference in practice:* Goal = get promoted → Outcome = feel valued.* Goal = find a new job → Outcome = feel financially secure.* Goal = pivot careers → Outcome = feel happy.* Goal = expand your network → Outcome = feel connected and supported.* Goal = complete a certification → Outcome = feel capable and prepared for a career pivot or advancement.Now here’s a rub: You can get promoted and never feel valued. You can land the job and still feel insecure. You can pivot careers and be unhappy.That’s why it’s important to make sure your outcome and your goals are aligned with each other. After all, when peanut butter gets with jelly, it’s not just lunch—it’s a love story.Goals and Outcomes That Work Together, Stay TogetherI once spent invested a lot of money on a shaman when I was at a crossroads. After waiting patiently in line at a Viceroy Hotel conference room in Santa Monica, I had my chance for wisdom. The shaman told me, “Don’t go to New York expecting it to be San Francisco.”At the time, I was outraged by what I considered his flippant advice. And that it cost me a few thousand dollars. But eventually I got what he meant, and it’s helped me find peace and harmony in so many aspects of my life.If you seek a promotion to feel valued, you’re in the wrong city. A promotion can earn you more money, gain you more visibility, increase your responsibilities. But your value cannot be outsourced. It has to come from within.If you’re looking to pivot careers to feel happy, you’re in the wrong city. Pivoting careers can bring you fulfillment as an expression of your life purpose, but outsourcing your happiness is a recipe for disappointment.On the other hand, if you’re completing a certification to feel capable and prepared, you’re in the right city. Yay! Finally! Why? Because you’re not asking the certification to do something it can’t. Certifications are designed to teach and then show you that you do have the knowledge. That knowledge is what gives you confidence.The key here is to craft outcomes that are within your control. Any outcome that relies on other people will eventually frustrate you. You can’t make your boss respect you. You can’t make your company promote you. But you can set an outcome like: “I want to stay calm and assertive in difficult conversations.” That’s yours to own.Crafting Outcomes That Actually WorkHere are a few more tips to help you craft outcomes that will set you up for success.Positive framing. Focus on what you do want, not what you don’t. Saying “I don’t want to feel invisible at work” keeps you stuck in invisibility. Reframe it: “I want to feel recognized for my contributions.” That small shift gives you a direction to move toward.Specific and sensory. How will you know when you’ve arrived at your outcome? Anchor it in what you’ll see, hear, and feel. For example, if your outcome is “I want to feel confident in my role,” the markers might be making eye contact in meetings, speaking clearly without rushing, and feeling grounded instead of anxious.Values-driven. The best outcomes are rooted in what truly matters to you. If connection is a core value, then “expanding your network” isn’t just about LinkedIn requests—it’s about feeling supported and part of a community. When outcomes are tied to values, they carry staying power even when goals take longer than expected.When outcomes are positive, values-driven, and specific, they stop being lofty wishes and start becoming motivating guides.Giving Your Outcomes Gas in the TankOnce your outcome is well-formed, it’s time to put it into motion by turning it into goals—the step-by-step actions that bring it to life.Take this example: Outcome = “I want to feel confident at work.”* Goal 1: Speak up once in every meeting.* Goal 2: Take a presentation skills workshop.* Goal 3: Track weekly wins to build momentum.Here’s another example: Outcome = “I want to feel financially secure.”* Goal 1: Build a six-month emergency savings fund.* Goal 2: Track monthly income and expenses.* Goal 3: Apply for three higher-paying roles by year’s end.The outcome is the flavor. The goals are the bread that holds it together. On their own, they don’t satisfy. But when you stack them together, you don’t just get progress—you get a career that actually tastes like fulfillment.Bottom LineGoals without outcomes can feel empty. Outcomes without goals remain wishes.When you align the two, you don’t just achieve milestones—you create a career that feels purposeful, secure, connected, and satisfying.Related Content* Why Do We Make Desperate Choices? * How People Pleasing Screws Up Achieving Your Goals* What Are The Seven Big Mistakes Of Goal Setting?Perks for Paid SubscribersMoonshot Mentor paid subscribers get weekly journal prompts to spark personal and professional growth, guided meditations to help them center, reflect, and reset, plus exclusive career development and career grief workshops that build clarity, resilience, and momentum.Journal PromptsHere are 4 journal prompts for paid Moonshot Mentor subscribers. Use these to clarify the outcomes that matter most to you and ensure your goals actually align.
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Are Your Beliefs Holding You Back? 🤔
Oct 600:13:31Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit moonshotmentor.substack.comMany of us hold beliefs like: education opens doors, avoiding conflict keeps the peace, or opportunity is everywhere if we just look hard enough. These sound noble, but they can be more mistaken than true.In challenging times, we lean on our beliefs to carry us through. But some of them hurt us more than they help.This week, I’m reposting one of my most popular blogs for anyone feeling frustrated, stuck, or angry. One reason you may feel this way is that your belief system doesn’t match reality—and that realization can be painful.The way forward? Test your beliefs against the evidence. Ask: is this belief helping me, or is it holding me back?Mistaken beliefs and super glue are like two peas in a pod: fast, versatile, strong, easy to use, and inexpensive. They also work pretty well until you get some stuck on your fingers and lose the ability to use your phalanges.Take this mistaken belief: If I work hard, I will be successful.This belief developed as a result of comparing myself to others. I frequently came up short because of doubts about my talent, the depth of my experience, and whether I knew the right people. So, to counter these uncomfortable thoughts, I chose to take one thing I do—work hard—and make that into a way of being and a belief.This leads to another mistaken belief. If I’m successful, then I’m worthy of promotion, financial validation, and respect.Which then leads to: If I’m worthy of promotion, financial validation, and respect then I am lovable.Now I know the truth: everyone, including myself, is worthy of love without having to jump through hoops. However, belief frequently outweighs the truth.What Is A Mistaken Belief?A mistaken belief, according to Psychology Today, is “when someone has objective evidence that doesn’t support their belief, but these beliefs still govern their lives and motivate their actions.”It’s a concept that has been studied numerous times without clear results of why we believe what we believe – even when there is counterfactual evidence.For those who are looking to move ahead in their career, a close examination of whether your beliefs are helpful, hurtful, or mistaken can help clear the path to achieving your goals.The Purpose Of A Mistaken BeliefWhat I’ve come to realize is that the purpose of a mistaken belief is to be the super glue that holds our dreams and our actions together. If I dream X, then it will happen if I do Y. Let me give you a few examples to bring this alive.Let’s go back to: If I work hard enough, I will be successful. One of my dreams was to work in prime-time drama development at a network. This dream evolved when I was working in prime-time current, which is the role at a network or studio that creatively supervises TV series that are currently on the air.My challenge was that I was new to working in prime-time, having come out of children’s programming and animation for almost six years. I doubted my credibility, was concerned that I didn’t know who the players were, and didn’t know the “rules of engagement.” The underlying belief with these doubts is that “I need to know and not have a learning curve.”So I chose to work harder to try to hide my shortcomings: I was the first to read scripts, the first to have my thoughts organized, the first in the office (and the last to leave), and said yes to meeting with any writer or director who was interested.While there was evidence that people were getting promoted who didn’t do what I did, I refused to look at what made them successful. I was convinced I wasn’t as talented as them, so I needed to focus on what was within my grasp: working harder.So, this dream of being successful (getting promoted) was glued to the mistaken belief that it would happen if I worked harder.A few more mistaken beliefs related to being successful from my time clawing my way up the corporate ladder:* Morning people are successful: if I wake up early enough then I will be more prepared and energized, and yet there were dozens of executives higher up the ladder who didn’t get into the office until 10:00 am.* I need years of experience to be successful: if I can just stay in the “game” long enough, success will come my way, and yet there were a few executives who held more senior positions and were much younger.* Knowing the right people will help me be successful: if I can just network more and better, then I will have the necessary advocates (and maybe a mentor!) to be successful, and yet I had a good friend who didn’t come from an agency background and had no high-visibility friends and was still named head of a department at a major studio.Mistaken Beliefs Have ConsequencesUnfortunately, we can’t escape the downside of holding mistaken beliefs. Here’s the thing about them: mistaken beliefs like super glue rapidly bond to skin, can burn the eyes, repeated inhalation can cause dizziness, and when they set, they’re brittle. Let’s break the metaphor down:* Mistaken beliefs will stick to you like super glue. Once they touch the vulnerable parts of your heart or intellect, they will not let go, and they will feel like the truth, which makes them difficult to unstick.* Mistaken beliefs cloud your vision and stop you from seeing all the data. They burn the part of you that is the truth seeker and keep you small. Only the truth can move you forward.* Repeated use of mistaken beliefs will cause dizziness and drowsiness because they suck the oxygen out of your ability to thoroughly analyze a situation and choose the best option to move forward. So, you are not operating at full capacity.* Mistaken beliefs are brittle. They hold on and hold on until you have to break it off in order to be set free.More Examples Of Mistaken BeliefsIt can be challenging to identify your mistaken beliefs because (as I said) they can feel like the truth.One of the best ways to learn and see your mistaken beliefs is through hearing other people’s mistaken beliefs. Sometimes, we don’t even know that we have mistaken beliefs until we see how they operate in other people. I saw this phenomenon when leading a discussion about mistaken beliefs with a group of indie producers I led through my coaching practice.Here’s a smattering of some of those beliefs (I have permission to share them publicly). You may recognize some or all!* Everyone has to be happy* I must be fast to go far* It’s a young person’s game* Other people’s opinions hold more value* Work has to come first* You have to be in LA to be successful* Have to choose a lane* The younger you are, the more opportunities* I don’t have the right face shape to be successful* I need to have all the skills* If I say no, I won’t be asked again* I have to put myself out there more* I got in too late* Money sources are only good for money and should be kept at a distance* You are retired when you have kids* Projects need to be packaged in order to sell* It’s important to time the marketplace* Need to have a big budget to have production value* Latino film has to have a certain look / feel / aestheticThese beliefs hurt my heart — I can think of at least one instance in which each one of these statements is factually inaccurate. And yet, they are treated as universal truths and become the guardrails in which we conduct ourselves professionally.Do you see how limiting these beliefs are? The consequences of living these beliefs include:* Not meeting one’s potential* Living other people’s values* Missing opportunities* Not meeting your definition of successIf you’re wondering why you are stuck, there’s a chance you are operating under mistaken beliefs.Now What?Identifying and unpacking mistaken beliefs requires great, great, great courage. It also involves self-compassion, empathy, and grace. It demands curiosity, patience and a microscope.Course correcting from mistaken beliefs is not a light switch that you can easily switch on or off. The beliefs become ingrained in our thinking and way of being. Vigilance and tenacity are the handrails as you cross the bridge from mistaken belief to truth.So, how to go about confronting mistaken beliefs, if you’re so inclined:* Examine your beliefs by writing them down. Consider the beliefs that were taught to you by your primary caregivers. Talk to a trusted friend about what they see. Work with a therapist or coach.* Look for the evidence, facts, and the truth to support your belief. If there is none, look for a value to honor instead of the mistaken belief. For example, when I have the compulsion to work harder to get ahead, I choose to value compassion. The compassion allows me to check in with myself about arbitrary deadlines I may have set in order to feel successful.* If there’s data to support your belief, then assess whether the belief you hold is helpful or hurtful. This is a tricky step because you may think a belief is helpful when the data shows you that it’s not. With the work harder belief, I had excellent results for years until I reached a point of diminishing returns. I was exhausted by developing multiple projects as a p...
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Are You Measuring Success All Wrong? 📏
Sep 2900:08:28Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit moonshotmentor.substack.comOn paper, Deborah has it all. She’s the CFO of a well-known accounting firm in Boston. Married for 23 years, three healthy kids, a vacation home on the Cape. Her LinkedIn profile is stacked with awards and promotions. If you asked anyone around her, they’d tell you she’s “made it.”So why, in her own words, is she “not doing well.”It’s because Deborah’s been chasing achievements instead of building accomplishments.Achievements vs. AccomplishmentsHere’s how I think about it.Achievements are the things that get noticed. A new title, a big award, a parking space with your name on it. A lot of times they translate into bullet points on your resume.Accomplishments feel different. They don’t always show up on LinkedIn, but you know when you’ve had one. It’s the pride you feel after mentoring a colleague and seeing them get that promotion. Or the satisfaction of preparing hard for a meeting and knocking it out of the ball park. Or the moment at the coffee pot when you slow down long enough to lend a compassionate ear to a work buddy.Achievement is about recognition. Accomplishment is about fulfillment.Both matter. But when achievements become the sole measure of success, they start to feel like cotton candy. Delicious going down, but not enough sustenance to get you through the day. That’s where Deborah finds herself.Why Achievements Hook UsThere’s a reason it’s so easy to get caught up in the achievement chase. Each time someone applauds us—or clicks “like” on something we post—our brain gives us a little chemical pat on the back. A dopamine hit. It feels good, but it doesn’t last. So we keep chasing after the next one.Add in the cultural stories we’ve all been told—success equals climbing ladders, stacking trophies, hitting milestones—and it’s no wonder most of us go after achievements like they’re a Chestnut Cocoa Labubu.And when we don’t get it? Anxiety spikes. Stress hormones like cortisol rise. We find ourselves working harder, cancelling social get-togethers, and pushing through exhaustion—all in pursuit of validation that evaporates as soon as it arrives.This is what I call “success fatigue.” It’s not that Deborah hasn’t achieved incredible things. It’s that those achievements no longer sustain her. Without that deeper anchor of living her values, the ladder she’s been climbing feels like it’s leaning against the wrong wall.The Cost of Chasing Achievements AloneWhen we measure our worth solely through achievements, three things happen:* We burn out. The constant striving for external validation keeps our nervous systems on high alert. We push past our limits, telling ourselves we can rest after the next big milestone.* Our self-esteem gets fragile. If our value depends on others’ approval, it only takes one missed promotion or disappointing performance review to send us spiraling.* We feel empty. Even after the big wins, there’s still that voice asking, Is this it? Is there more?That’s what keeps Deborah up at 3 a.m.The Case for AccomplishmentAccomplishments tell a different story. They’re not about recognition. They’re about resonance.When we do work that aligns with our values, it builds confidence that doesn’t crumble when someone else gets promoted. Think about the difference between receiving an industry award (an achievement) and creating a system that makes your team’s work easier for years to come (an accomplishment). One gets you applause. The other leaves a ripple of impact long after you’ve moved on.Accomplishments are sustainable fuel. They don’t depend on whether your boss notices or your industry hands you a plaque. They depend on whether your work connects to your values.How to ShiftIf you’re reading this and thinking, Yep, that’s me. I’ve been chasing achievements, you’re not alone.Here are a few small places to start:* Ask “why” before saying yes. Is the thing you’re looking to achieve tied to your values, or is it just about keeping up?* Notice the wins no one else sees. Keep a journal of the things that made you proud, even if nobody clapped.* Celebrate the process. Your growth counts, even if the outcome isn’t flashy.* Write your own definition of success. Not your boss’s version. Not your industry’s. Yours.These practices don’t mean abandoning achievements altogether. They mean putting them in their place—they’re external proof, not the whole story.Coming Back to DeborahDeborah’s starting to realize her accomplishments have been there all along. They just weren’t the ones she was measuring.The pro bono work she championed that helped a nonprofit keep its doors open. The financial lessons she taught her teenage son. The colleague she coached through her first big role.Those are the things that light her up.Achievements decorate a resume. Accomplishments nourish a life.And when we start measuring success from the inside out, fulfillment stops feeling like something just out of reach—and starts feeling like something we can actually touch.Bottom LineOn paper, Deborah has it all—title, family, recognition, even the Cape house. But in her own words, she’s “not doing well.”That’s the trap of chasing achievements. They look impressive, but they don’t always bring fulfillment.Accomplishments, on the other hand, connect us back to our core values. They don’t just show what we’ve done—they remind us who we are.If your list of achievements hasn’t left you feeling satisfied, maybe it’s time to measure success differently.Related Content* Are You A Workaholic?* Feeling Taken Advantage Of At Work?* Is Your Career Missing Purpose?Moonshot Mentor paid subscribers get weekly journal prompts to spark personal and professional growth, guided meditations to help them center, reflect, and reset, plus exclusive career development and career grief workshops that build clarity, resilience, and momentum.Perks for Paid SubscribersHere are three journal prompts for paid Moonshot Mentor subscribers. They’ll help you explore how to shift from achievement to accomplishment.
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