Advocating for Yourself

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Imagine you’re at a coffee shop with your best friend, venting about work. You feel stuck, maybe undervalued, and you’re wondering how to get what you need—whether it’s a raise, a new project, or just clearer expectations. Advocating for yourself isn’t about being pushy or demanding. It’s about knowing your worth and making sure others see it too.


It all starts with clarity. What do you actually want? More feedback? A seat at the table? A better work-life balance? You can’t advocate for yourself if you’re not sure what you’re advocating for. Take the time to get clear on your goals, your strengths, and the areas where you want to grow. The clearer you are, the easier it is to communicate your needs with confidence.


And here’s the key: advocacy isn’t about going in with fists up, ready to fight for what’s yours. It’s about approaching conversations with respect, kindness, and a little bit of strategy. Speak up, but do it in a way that invites collaboration, not confrontation.


One of the best ways to advocate for yourself is by seeking clarity. Ask questions. Request feedback. Get clear expectations. When something feels off, don’t just sit with the confusion—address it. Not only does this show initiative, but it also helps you avoid unnecessary frustration and misunderstandings.


Most importantly, remember that advocating for yourself doesn’t mean bragging or being difficult. It means making sure your voice is heard, your work is valued, and your career is moving in the direction you want. You’ve put in the effort—now make sure it counts.


So, next time you feel hesitant to speak up, imagine you’re talking to that best friend at the coffee shop. What would you tell them to do? Now go do that for yourself.

Scripts

Scripts:

"If I am being fully transparent, I am not familiar with the framework or methodology that we are using to complete this task. Where are some resources for me to learn how to effectively use this model?"

"If I am being fully transparent, I am not familiar with the framework or methodology that we are using to complete this task. Where are some resources for me to learn how to effectively use this model?"

"I haven’t done this before, but I’d really like to learn. Do you happen to have any resources or tips to help get me started?" 

"I haven’t done this before, but I’d really like to learn. Do you happen to have any resources or tips to help me get started?

"I have not read this book before, but the content does sound very interesting, I will have to add it to my list of books. Thank you for sharing with me!"

"I have not read this book before, but the content does sound very interesting, I will have to add it to my list of books. Thank you for sharing with me!"

"Hey [Manager's Name], I saw that the [project name or scope] project is getting started, and I’d love to be part of it. It seems like a great opportunity to learn from the team and challenge myself in new ways. I’m always looking for ways to grow, and I know working alongside everyone on this would be a great experience. Do you think there’s a way for me to get involved?"

"Hey [Manager's Name], I saw that the [project name or scope] project is getting started, and I’d love to be part of it. It seems like a great opportunity to learn from the team and challenge myself in new ways. I’m always looking for ways to grow, and I know working alongside everyone on this would be a great experience. Do you think there’s a way for me to get involved?"

Shine Without Dimming: Advocating for Yourself with Confidence and Kindness

You are in control of your career and your future—no one will advocate for you with as much passion as you can. But here’s the thing: shining doesn’t mean dimming someone else’s light. Success isn’t a competition where only one person gets to win. You can excel, and so can your coworker, Eloise. Her greatness doesn’t take away from yours, just like a candle doesn’t lose its flame by lighting another.


When you see others succeeding, let it inspire you, not intimidate you. Check your ego at the door and celebrate the wins—yours and theirs. A rising tide lifts all boats, and when you support your team, that support has a way of coming back to you.

"Whatever you want in life, other people are going to want it too. Believe in yourself enough to accept the idea that you have an equal right to it."

Diane Sawyer

Enroll today for as little as $37.15/month, and let’s help your grad stand out from day one!

The First 30-90 Days

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Understanding Your Role in the First 30-90 Days of Your New Job

Starting a new job can be both exciting and overwhelming. During the initial 30 to 90 days, it is crucial to focus on understanding your role within the organization and what is expected of you. This period is not only about familiarizing yourself with the company culture and processes but also about establishing yourself as a valuable team member.

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1. Build Relationships

One of the key aspects of understanding your new role is building relationships with your colleagues, supervisors, and other stakeholders. Take the time to connect with your team members and learn about their roles and responsibilities. 

2. Clarify Expectations

Set up a meeting with your supervisor to discuss your role and responsibilities. Seek clarity on your key objectives, performance expectations, and any specific goals that need to be achieved during the first few months. 

3. Seek Feedback

Don't be afraid to ask for feedback from your colleagues and supervisors regularly. Constructive feedback will help you identify areas where you can improve and excel in your role. 

4. Learn Continuously

Take advantage of training programs, workshops, and resources provided by the company to enhance your skills and knowledge. Stay curious and open-minded to new ideas and perspectives.

5. Set Goals

Set personal development goals aligned with your role and the overall objectives of the organization. Break down these goals into smaller actionable steps to track your progress effectively.

6. Adapt and Have Flexibility

Be adaptable and flexible in your approach to work. Embrace change and be willing to take on new challenges that may arise.

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Your first few months in a new job are all about getting your footing—figuring out your role, what’s expected of you, and how things really work. Starting a new job is a learning curve, and no one expects you to have it all figured out on day one. Focus on making steady progress, building connections, and staying open to growth. The more you engage, the more confident you'll become. And most importantly, give yourself grace—every day is a chance to learn and grow. Stay curious, stay adaptable, and you’ll find your rhythm along the way!

Enroll today for as little as $37.15/month, and let’s help your grad stand out from day one!

One of the key aspects of understanding your new role is building relationships with your colleagues, supervisors, and other stakeholders. Take the time to connect with your team members and learn about their roles and responsibilities. 

Let's Reflect

How has your understanding of your strengths and areas for improvement evolved during your first 30 to 90 days in your role?
How has your understanding of your strengths and areas for improvement evolved during your first 30 to 90 days in your role?

When Your Boss Doesn't Give You Work

When you start a new job, your boss might not immediately hand you a full workload. That doesn’t mean it’s time to sit back, binge-watch Netflix, or sleep until noon (for remote roles). You’re in charge of your own growth, and if you want to build a strong career, you have to take initiative—find work, create projects, and get involved in what’s happening around you. Progress doesn’t come from just working harder; it comes from working smarter. Being proactive, setting your own goals, and driving your own development (especially when your manager isn’t) can fast-track your career, leading to promotions, higher pay, and more freedom in the long run.


Now, let’s be real—you’re sitting at your desk, refreshing your inbox, and wondering if your boss even remembers you exist. Not great. But instead of waiting around (or, let’s be honest, scrolling through your phone), take control and make yourself useful—without falling into the trap of meaningless busywork. Here’s how to create your own work when there’s nothing official on your plate:

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Fix What’s Broken (Even If No One’s Asked You To)

Every workplace has processes that are clunky, outdated, or just plain annoying. Maybe it’s a reporting system that takes way too long, or a spreadsheet that everyone dreads using. Instead of ignoring it, take a closer look. Could you automate something? Organize it better? Write up a quick proposal or even just test out a better way of doing things. Small improvements add up, and people will notice when you make their lives easier.

Dig Up Useful Info

If you’re light on tasks, use the time to research something that could actually help your team. What are competitors doing better? What trends are popping up in your industry? What do customers keep complaining about? Pull together a few key insights and share them in a quick email, Slack message, or informal chat. No need for a full-blown report—just enough to spark conversation and show you’re thinking ahead.

Jump Into Someone Else’s Project

Just because your boss isn’t assigning you work doesn’t mean no one else needs help. Check in with coworkers, especially in other departments. “Hey, I’ve got some bandwidth—need a hand with anything?” That one sentence can open up new opportunities, help you build relationships, and get you involved in projects you wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Plus, it makes you look proactive rather than passive.

Learn Something That Actually Helps

Instead of just looking busy, use the downtime to level up. Is there a software your team uses that you’re not great at? A skill that would make you more valuable? Pick something practical—like getting faster at a reporting tool, figuring out a better way to track projects, or creating a quick reference guide for something people always ask about. It doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking—just something that makes you (and your team) more effective.

Everboarding Perspective

Everboarding Perspective

When you take control of your career, you'll see growth and results—especially when you're working for the right company. It’s about being strategic and positioning yourself as an asset and a key player in the organization. Everything you do builds your brand, value, and perception in the eyes of the decision-makers. Focus on high-value projects that make an impact, rather than busy work (we cover this in detail in the Showing Up section). This approach ensures that your efforts are noticed and appreciated, accelerating your professional growth.

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Bottom line? Don’t wait around for someone to tell you what to do. Taking charge of your career means finding ways to add value, even when work isn’t handed to you. The more you take initiative—whether by setting your own goals, tackling meaningful projects, or improving processes—the more valuable you become. This not only builds your skills but also shapes how others see you, making you indispensable and setting you up for long-term success. Plus, the more proactive you are now, the less likely you’ll ever have to deal with the “not enough work” problem again.

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One of the key aspects of understanding your new role is building relationships with your colleagues, supervisors, and other stakeholders. Take the time to connect with your team members and learn about their roles and responsibilities. 
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Breakout Activity

Identify Your First "Impact Project

Think of one area within your team or company that could benefit from improvement or support. Write a short project outline that includes your goal, the value it would add, and 1-2 steps you’d take to get started. Finally, summarize your idea in a quick, 1-2 sentence pitch as if you were sharing it with your manager.
Identify Your First "Impact Project

Think of one area within your team or company that could benefit from improvement or support. Write a short project outline that includes your goal, the value it would add, and 1-2 steps you’d take to get started. Finally, summarize your idea in a quick, 1-2 sentence pitch as if you were sharing it with your manager.

Resources & Support

Throughout Durable Success there are resources that are tied to many lessons for extended learning and real-time tools for situations that frequently occur at work.  Please see below for two free resources from the program:

Ready to take the next step? Start your Durable Success Journey Today!

.Not sure yet? Assess your workforce readiness below:

Introducing the first-of-its-kind comprehensive course:

DurableSuccess: Workforce Readiness Program

Includes 12 modules:
  • 120 Lessons + 56 Downloadable Resources — templates, scripts, checklists, and tools you can use right away
  • Durable Skills Lessons — from negotiation and time management to resilience and beyond
  • Guided reflection on seven (7) core leadership traits, adapted from the DurableME Self-Leadership Deck & Companion Workbook
  • One (1) live 30-minute 1:1 session — personalized 1:1 support with a former corporate HR executive (16+ years + hundreds coached) to help with interviews, workplace challenges, or real-time decisions. Must be used within 12 months of purchase.
  • Mobile App Access — scripts and templates at your fingertips, anytime you need them


All of this is available for $600, or payments of $37.15/month—an investment in their future & long-term success.
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BONUS: Your Student Gets Lifetime Access & Updates! Every upgrade, future training, and template is all included for life. This isn’t theory, it’s the insider playbook written by HR and Learning & Development executives who’ve coached hundreds of early-career professionals and know exactly what managers look for. 
Give them more than a diploma. Give them a 5-year head start, the gift of Durable Career Success.
Enroll Today!

FAQs & Our Guarantee to You

Frequently Asked Questions:

“My child already has a job lined up — won’t they be fine?”
Having a job is a huge accomplishment — but it's only half the battle. Now they need to turn that job into durable career success.  The difference almost always comes down to performance, communication, and visibility. This program gives them a repeatable system they can use again and again to drive their career forward!

“My child is focused on school — don’t grades matter most?”
Grades get them in the door, but workforce readiness grows their career. Initiative, communication, and how your child shows up day to day are what make managers and leaders label them as a "high potential" at work.

“My child is already a high performer — do they really need this?”
Yes. Being talented doesn’t guarantee career success. 75% of employers were dissatisfied with their new grad hires. High performers usually get the most out of this program because it helps them avoid early workplace missteps and translate their strengths into actual workforce readiness.

“Can’t my child find this advice on TikTok?”
They can find quick tips, but not a system. This program gives your child a proven, repeatable framework used by HR and L&D professionals so they know exactly how to show up, communicate, and stand out.

"Will my child actually finish the course?"
The lessons are short, practical, and easy to apply — most students complete Module 1 in about an hour. And with lifetime access, you can revisit each section as many times as you want. 

Our Guarantee to You

At Durable Minds Everboarding, we are committed to empowering young professionals with the confidence and skills needed to succeed in the corporate world. That's why we proudly stand behind the DurableSuccess: Workforce Readiness Program with our confidence guarantee:

If participants feel the course didn’t fully meet their expectations after 30 days of taking action and completing it, here's what we will do: 
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Personalized Support: You’ll receive an additional complimentary 30-minute 1:1 coaching session with one of our industry experts. During this session, we’ll address your questions, challenges, or areas where you need extra support to ensure you get the most out of the program. We will work with you to address any gaps in your learning experience.

Action Assurance: If, after that call, you still feel the program isn’t a fit, we’ll work with you to make it right — including offering credit toward other resources or programs that may better suit your needs.

This program is designed from our team’s 35+ years of corporate experience and carefully structured to cover the essential steps of the employee life cycle. We believe strongly in its value, and we’re here to support participants on their journey to a successful career start. 

We don’t offer blanket refunds once course content has been accessed, but we stand behind our course because we know it works.

Your success is our mission. If our program doesn’t meet your expectations, we’ll make it right.

Results Disclaimer - Durable Minds Everboarding provides educational tools, strategies, and guidance intended to support personal and professional development. While our programs teach proven methods used by successful interns and early-career professionals, we do not guarantee that any user will receive a job offer, internship offer, promotion, interview, or any specific career outcome. Individual results always depend on each person’s effort, decisions, actions, and circumstances. Testimonials represent individual experiences and do not guarantee similar results.

Flexible Payment Options

At Durable Minds Everboarding, we understand the importance of accessibility, which is why we offer flexible payment options to meet your needs. Whether you prefer a one-time investment or affordable installments, you don’t have to choose between budget and your future. You can choose to spread payments over 4, 6, 12, or even 18 months through trusted providers like Klarna and Afterpay. Our goal is to empower you to invest in your personal and professional growth without financial stress standing in the way.

Durable Minds Everboarding

The Unwritten Rules of Work Finally Written Down.

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