Most of us have that one thing we know we should work on - but keep putting off. In today's Mentor's Corner, I'll share some ways to identify what that might be for you, and more importantly, how to actually address it. Also, if you’re on a job search, read the resume advice in the bottom half of the email.
Quick ask: I spend a big chunk of my week writing these coaching emails, but keep them free. In return, I’d just like you to spread the word. Two ways:
Know someone who’s on a job search? Tell them to check out Resume Worded. They can get a free resume review here. It’ll make their job search shorter.
Forward this email to a friend or family member if you think they’d get value from it.
Estimated read time: 4 minutes 15 seconds
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📈 Mentor's Corner
Insights put together by me. One practical lesson a week that will make a measurable impact on your career, delivered right to you — for $0.
What's holding you back?
When Emily was small, she had a stuttering problem.
A huge stuttering problem.
It was so bad, she got bullied because she couldn’t hold basic conversations.
Another child, Ed, struggled with the same thing.
A self-described ‘weird’ kid, his stuttering problem was just one of many reasons he didn’t fit in.
And yet, despite their struggles (or maybe, because of their struggles) both Emily and Ed are doing just fine in their careers today.
In Emily’s case, a teacher suggested that being in the school play might help.
And it did.
As Emily recited the lines over and over, her stuttering gradually went away, so she fell in love with acting.
And in 2006, Emily - Emily Blunt - got her breakthrough as Meryl Streep’s secretary in The Devil Wears Prada. (Fun fact: The sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2, is out next year - that’s a whole 20 years after the first. Time flies).
What about Ed?
He got a hold of a rap album, memorized the lyrics of all the songs, and practiced rapping them until he could sing them without a single stutter.
And nowadays…well, you might’ve heard of him:
That was Ed Sheeran.
Emily Blunt and Ed Sheeran are just two examples of people who built world-class careers by facing the things that held them back. They turned their ‘dis-advantage’ into an ‘unfair advantage’.
So, how can you do the same in your career? Is there something that you think is holding you back?
Let’s dive in…
🧭 Use fear as a compass
Traditional advice for Emily and Ed might've been, "If speaking isn't your strength, avoid it." But that's often misguided.
Your biggest growth opportunities often lie exactly where your fears are.
So ask yourself: what’s the one thing you’ve been avoiding?
Public speaking? Leadership roles? Speaking up at meetings? Dabbling with new tech and AI?
Sometimes, the thing that scares us is the thing we should be doing.
(P.S. Reply back with the thing that you are avoiding, or want to get better at — I’ll cover it in a future email)
🗣 Get harsh feedback from others
Sometimes, we don’t know what’s holding us back, so we need others to tell us.
But kinda like how people stay quiet when there’s something stuck in your teeth, most people won’t tell you what you need to hear.
Instead of family & friends (who don’t want to hurt your feelings), ask people who won’t mince their words, or even people who don’t like you.
“Hey, I’m sure there’s loads of things I’m doing wrong. What’s one thing you think I need to work on?”
If they’re hesitant, guide them a bit. “Could I communicate better in meetings?”
…got a smart friend who loves getting better?
Tell them about Coached so they can get free career coaching too. I put a ton of time into my essays and love seeing them reach people who want more out of their careers.
If you want to share this essay with a friend, or colleague, here’s a link to it:
https://coached.com/essays/what-if-your-biggest-weakness-isnt/
📝 Spell out the plan
Once you’ve identified one key area as a weakness, or something to improve, let’s create a plan to overcome them.
Remember: weaknesses don’t go away on their own. We tend to avoid them, which makes them worse.
So you need a simple plan for overcoming them. A good way to do that is with daily or weekly habits. Be specific with them.
Don’t just say, “I want to build my personal brand and increase my visibility.” Say:
"Twice a week, I'll post my take on a major development or trend in my industry on LinkedIn"
Btw:
If you're setting visibility goals like these, make sure your LinkedIn profile's actually optimized. When people see your posts and look you up, your profile needs to represent you well - that's what makes the impression stick.
Use this tool to start with. (It’s Resume Worded’s tool — and is by far the best thing out there for optimizing LinkedIn profiles). Takes 30 seconds.
Check it out here.
🔬 Set micro-goals
While it's good to have an end vision (e.g., “I want to be a confident public speaker”), chunk it down into smaller, achievable tasks. Like, “This week, I’ll voice my opinion at least once in every team meeting.”
Or, next week, ask your manager if you can lead a couple of meetings. Even if it's a short, daily 15-minute standup meeting.
Or say you want to become more technical - start with: "This week, I'll spend 20 minutes each morning asking ChatGPT for an SQL challenge and solving it with it." Or "Each week, I'll analyze one chart from our company dashboard".
😐 Don't settle for "good enough"
Once you've tackled something that was holding you back, you'll notice yourself improving quickly. Confidence builds, anxiety fades, and things start feeling comfortable.
But it's easy to slip into old patterns once things become comfortable. Our brains naturally prefer comfort zones.
The real rewards in your career come after you've cleared that initial hurdle. This is where the genuine fun begins: your skills become second nature, your confidence lets you take bigger risks, and you start exploring new possibilities.
There's a whole new level of growth and satisfaction waiting for you once you move beyond merely being "good enough."
=> Look at your current role: What are you just "decent" at? That might be exactly where you need to double down.
If you enjoyed this essay, all I’d like in return is one small favor.
(I don’t ask you for a lot….rather, these emails are expensive to send out, yet I keep them free and don’t paywall the best parts). Just do any of these - it really helps!
1. Know someone on a job search? Tell them about Resume Worded.
It’ll make their job search a lot shorter. They can get a free resume review at resumeworded.com/free-resume-review
2. Got a smart friend who LOVES getting better? Tell them about Coached.
I love seeing them reach people who want more out of their careers. If you want to share this essay with a friend, or colleague, here’s a link to it: coached.com/essays/what-if-your-biggest-weakness-isnt/ - I promise to keep the quality of my emails high so they love you for it.
3. Leave a quick review for Coached.
You get ideas that change your career for the better. In return, a short 30-second review would make me feel good about spending the time to write this. I think it’s a fair trade. Do it here.
🤭 In all unseriousness
🤣 BTW: you shouldn’t be writing your cover letter from scratch anymore. Instead, for a real, actually good cover letter, use this AI cover letter tool. It’ll write cover letters that actually have personality and don’t sound like AI — unlike ChatGPT.
Try it just once for a job you actually want — see how good it is for yourself.
🔎 Speed Up Your Job Search
One actionable piece of advice to help you hack your job search.
Your resume bullets are missing the "so what"
Your resume has all the right pieces - action verbs, specific tasks, even some numbers. But you're still not getting interviews.
Here's what might be missing: the "so what."
Look at these bullets:
❌ Created monthly sales reports for leadership team
❌ Built Excel dashboard tracking project status
A hiring manager reads these and thinks two things:
"Is this person going to have enough substance to talk about in an interview?"
"Did they work on things that actually mattered to the company, or just random busywork?"
Now look at the same work with the "so what" added:
✅ Created monthly sales reports analyzing regional performance, helping leadership identify underperforming markets and reallocate $200K in budget
✅ Built Excel dashboard tracking project status across 12 initiatives, giving executives real-time visibility that eliminated need for status update meetings
Hiring managers LOVE stuff like this. It shows them you have have depth to discuss in the interview.
If you’re working on your resume, I’d recommend uploading your resume here. The AI will catch lines that are weak, and will tell you how to reword them so they’re much more impactful.
P.S. Feel free to steal the good examples and tweak them for your own resume. BUT, an even better idea would be to use our Resume Rewriter features in the tool. Takes about 30 seconds. Might actually get you interviews.
Stop applying to jobs with a bad resume!
Optimize it once for free.
🫵 Before we wrap up
What'd you think of today's edition?
🤢 You didn't bring enough value.
Here are some reviews of my last email. Leave one here. You’ll be in good company :-)
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And if you’re new here, join at Coached.com to get the next one
Until next time,
Rohan
Founder at Coached & Resume Worded
