8 CAREER EXERCISES
Find your career fundamentals in <8 hours.
11 book, 15 papers, 3 newsletters (200+ hours of research) in 8 <1hour exercises.
€ 888
(ex. 21% VAT)
based on 26 in-person program reviews
THE 8 CAREER EXERCISES
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Clarify what motivates you in your work and learn how to shape career direction. Ask the right questions during key conversations.
Visit 8 P's of Work™ for more information.
Sources
8 P’s of Work: designed by Otcho, inspired by the work of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-396. ; Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory: Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (1959). The Motivation to Work. Wiley. ; McClelland's Theory of Needs: McClelland, D. C. (1961). The Achieving Society. Free Press. ; Deci & Ryan's Self-Determination Theory: Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior. Plenum Press. ; Reiss's 16 Basic Desires Theory: Reiss, S. (2004). Multifaceted Nature of Intrinsic Motivation: The Theory of 16 Basic Desires. Review of General Psychology, 8(3), 179–193. ; Pink's Work on Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose: Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books. ; Appelo's Moving Motivators (CHAMPFROG): Appelo, J. (2010). Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders. Addison-Wesley Professional.
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Dive deeper into the root reason for your top three P's of Work, giving clarity on what your non-negotiables are.
Use them to uncover limiting beliefs and boost your performance.
Sources
5WHY: from the Toyota Production System (TPS), found thanks to Tim Ferris’ newsletter: ‘5-bullet Friday’ and inspired by the work of Viktor Frankl in ‘Man’s search for Meaning’ (idea).
Limiting beliefs: designed by Otcho based on client experience (2021-2023).
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Define and review your definitions of success. Are they truly yours?
If not, learn how to identify patterns in energy givers/takers. Use them for current and future job crafting.
Sources
Success definitions: designed by Otcho, inspired by the work of Jay Shetty in ‘Think like a Monk’ (structure), Mark Manson in ‘The subtle Art of not giving a F*ck’ (idea), Hector Garcia & Francesc Miralles in ‘Ikigai’ (idea), Morgan Housel in ‘The Psychology of Money’ (idea) and Eric Jorgenson in ‘The Almanack of Naval Ravikant’ (idea)
Energy tracking: designed by Otcho, inspired by the work of James Clear in ‘Atomic Habits’ (scientific basis), Charles Duhigg in ‘The Power of Habit’ (scientific basis), Matthew Walker in ‘Why We Sleep’ (scientific basis), and Jay Shetty in ‘Think like a Monk’ (idea).
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Collect data about your strengths and weaknesses. Decide which strength to go all-in on and which weakness to delegate. Link your insights to your career goals.
Sources
Personality testing: designed by Otcho, inspired by the work of 16personalities.com (access to ‘MBTI: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator’), Eben Harrell in his Harvard Business Review article ‘A Brief History of Personality Tests’ (scientific basis), James Clear in ‘Atomic Habits’ (scientific basis), Daniel Kahneman in ‘Noise’ (scientific basis), and Eric Jorgenson in ‘The Almanack of Naval Ravikant’ (compounding).
Other personality tests that may be of interest: Insights Discovery, DISC, Clifton strengthsfinder, Big Five.
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(Re-)vive (old) interests by strolling around a bookstore. Identify new or recall old interests.
See how you could use that in your work and in your life.
Sources
Bookstore: often recommended exercise in personal development sphere, found thanks to Cal Newport’s ‘Study Hack Blog’ (idea).
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Invoke the opposite question of the ‘dream’ job. What are you willing to suffer for?
Analyze and review your answers to exercises 1-5 to dare and take action in times of indecision.
Sources
Sync & Suffer: designed by Otcho, inspired by the work of Mark Manson in ‘The subtle Art of not giving a F*ck’ (idea), and ‘thematic analysis’ as a form of qualitative data analysis (technique).
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Define personal values and understand which direction to choose in times of unclarity.
This is applicable for both personal and professional contexts.
Sources
Personal values: designed by Otcho, inspired by the work of James Clear in his blog ‘Core Values List’ (examples of values), Mikayla Balk in her blog ‘30 personal values examples & how to live by yours’ (examples of values), Lyn Christian in her blog ‘Defining Your List of Values and Beliefs (With 102 Examples)’ (examples of values), Scott Jeffrey in his blog ‘The Ultimate List of Core Values (Over 230)’ (examples of values), and Mark Manson in ‘The subtle Art of not giving a F*ck’ (value criteria).
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We forget up to 70% of what we learn within the first 24 hours. (Ebbinghaus forgetting curve).
Use the technique of visualization to summarize and guarantee your insights from exercises 1-7.
Sources
Visual reminder board: often recommended exercise in personal development sphere, additional design by Otcho inspired by the work of Krista J. Munroe-Chandler & Michelle D. Guerrero in ‘Psychological Imagery in Sport and Performance’ (scientific basis), Vinoth K. Ranganathan & Vlodek Siemionow & Jing Z. Liu & Vinod Sahgal & Guang H. Yue in ‘From mental power to muscle power—gaining strength by using the mind’ (scientific basis), Ebbinghaus with his ‘Ebbinghaus forgetting curve’ (scientific basis), Super Bowl Bet in the movie ‘Focus’ (technique), Steve Wexler & Jeffrey Shaffer & Andy Cotgreave in ‘The Big Book of Dashboards’ (technique), Lidija Globokar in her Forbes article ‘The Power Of Visualization And How To Use It’ (technique), and Marcus Buckingham in his Harvard Business Review article ‘Designing Work That People Love’ (idea implementation).
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Bonus exercise to find 'Ikigai'.
Sources
Published by Jade Bonacolta, inspired by the work of Hector Garcia & Francesc Miralles in ‘Ikigai’.
Hi, I’m Aurélie,
I researched the literature to answer the questions ‘Where do you see yourself in five to ten years?’ and ‘What is your purpose?’.
After a bore-out in consulting, I made it my mission to find those exercises that are simple, science-backed and immediately actionable.
If you are reading this page, I’d be happy to connect with you. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions. Find me on LinkedIn.
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It was a pleasant surprise how practical and fun these exercises turned out to be.
Margot V.
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This helped me figure out what to prioritize in the endless list of things I could be doing.
Jef V.
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I learned about my needs, while also understanding that what I was feeling was okay.
Shannon B.
FAQ
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You’ll have a better idea of what excites you in your work and what drains you. You’ll also understand how to prioritize and where to focus your efforts.
Each exercise is designed to be
practical (gives you at least one next action or conversation),
science-backed (sources are at the end of each exercise),
short (maximum 1 hour) and
simple (no difficult templates or anxiety-inducing questions).
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Each exercise covers
Introduction with a short why, how, what.
Part 1 with instructions
Part 2 with insights
Part 3 with how to make it actionable
Closing quote for inspiration
Sources of the exercise.
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If the exercises don’t work for you, I can refund you 100%, no questions asked.
If the problem lies not with the exercises, but with the need for more in-depth discussion or accountability, then let’s discuss a more personal approach for you on LinkedIn or reach me via e-mail: connect@otcho.co.
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Of course you don’t, which is exactly why these exercises exist. They are designed to open up the conversation and enhance what you’re naturally good at.
I personally used them to get out of boredom at work, then stayed another three years in the same company.
Not 1 of the people who used the in-person program so far have left their employers (last update: Jan 2025).
Your newfound clarity will give you the ammunition to ask the 20% requests that deliver 80% of your needs.
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Sure. If you have a training budget, OTCHO can create a separate invoice and send it to your employer.
You can choose the name on the invoice (i.e. ‘8 Career Exercises for Peak Performance’ or ‘Coaching’ or … ).
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Yes. We can move through these exercises together, providing you with support and accountability.
Click ‘BUY’ for me to reach out to you.
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Yes. You and a team or business partner can move through these exercises together and share your insights.
For group settings (from 3 to 8 people), we start anonymously, then build our way up to mutual trust. NDA’s are signed for this. Each session takes two hours. One for the exercise, one for sharing insights.
For <3 people sessions, the sessions take one and a half hour.