You can spend decades getting good at your job without ever really understanding yourself at work.

That’s what Bridie discovered after 20 years in corporate roles. Through her work with Lucia, she began to see things about herself that had been hiding in plain sight: she was an introvert who could happily command a room, a natural networker who built relationships one person at a time, and someone whose time was far more valuable than she had been treating it.

Those discoveries didn’t just give Bridie a better understanding of her past. They changed what she wants from her work going forward.

In this episode, Bridie shares the three things she never wants to forget about herself at work—and why knowing how you work best can change the choices you make about your time, your relationships, and the environments where you can truly be yourself.

If you’ve spent years learning how to do your job but aren’t sure your work still fits who you are, explore the ways Lucia can help you design what comes next:

https://www.midlifeunstuck.com/work-with-me

What if enjoying your work has less to do with changing who you are—and more to do with understanding how you work best?

After working with Lucia, former Midlife Unstuck client Jay has three things he never wants to forget about his future work life: know his Superpowers and Kryptonite, stay experimental, and learn how to quiet the inner critic that can make every wrong turn feel like failure.

Together, those insights have changed how he thinks about work. Instead of forcing himself to be good at everything or treating an experiment that doesn't work as a personal failure, he can recognize what fits, adjust course and keep moving.

You’ll hear:

• Why something that feels easy to you may actually be one of your Superpowers
• How knowing your Kryptonite can help you respond instead of react
• Why treating decisions as experiments makes it easier to change course
• What Jay's inner critic was costing him—and what becomes possible when it gets quieter
• What work he could happily do for a very long time looks like now

Jay's answers won't necessarily be yours. But his story raises a bigger question: what would you need to understand about yourself to stop working against yourself?

Jay worked with Lucia one-to-one, alongside completing The Fierce Emporium—the six-week deep-learning phase that helped him understand how to design work around who he is and what he needs.

If Jay's story has you wondering what your own version of Joy at Work could look like, explore the three ways you can work with Lucia to start designing it.

Explore ways to work with Lucia

Money can be one of the biggest reasons we stay in work that no longer fits. But how much of that is financial reality — and how much is financial fear?

In this conversation, Lucia Knight talks with Barney Whiter, The Escape Artist, about the beliefs and anxieties that can make staying put feel safer than making a change.

Barney explains why status, lifestyle expectations, debt and financial uncertainty can contribute to a “freeze” response — and why getting clear on your actual financial position can help you make better decisions about what comes next.

You’ll hear:

• Why financial anxiety can keep you stuck at work
• How status and lifestyle expectations influence career decisions
• Why knowing your numbers matters before making a career change
• The three financial numbers Barney recommends getting clear on: your emergency fund, accessible net worth and spending
• How those numbers can help you understand the runway you actually have

Ready to understand what could make work feel better for you?

Take the Joy at Work Quiz to discover your Joy Readiness Score, your easiest quick win and the biggest blind spot that may be keeping you stuck.

https://lucia-trqb5gnw.scoreapp.com

Learn more about Barney Whiter and The Escape Artist:

https://theescapeartist.me/about/

https://theescapeartist1.substack.com/

Wanting to change careers is one thing. Having enough financial breathing room to make that change is another.

Barney Whiter — aka The Escape Artist — joins Lucia Knight to explore the idea of financial runway: the amount of time and choice your finances give you if you want to step back, change direction, retrain or temporarily earn less.

But your runway isn't determined by your salary alone. How much you've accumulated matters, and so does how much your life costs to maintain. As Barney puts it, “lifestyle inflation is the enemy of career change.”

And sometimes, the more successful you've become, the harder that can be to see.

• Why financial runway can give you more freedom to make a career change
• A simple way to think about how much runway you currently have
• Why earning more doesn't necessarily mean having more career options
• How lifestyle inflation can quietly reduce your freedom
• Why your professional “tribe” may influence what you've come to see as a normal lifestyle

Career change doesn't have to begin with knowing exactly what comes next. Sometimes the first step is understanding what's keeping you stuck now.

Take Lucia's Joy at Work Quiz (https://lucia-trqb5gnw.scoreapp.com) to discover your Joy at Work potential score, where you may have the easiest opportunity to make a change, and the blind spot that could be getting in your way.

Resources:

Read Lucia's original article about Barney's career change - https://www.midlifeunstuck.com/jam-makers-1/2019/3/4/barney-whiter-the-escape-artist-accountant-to-financially-independent

Learn more about Barney Whiter and The Escape Artist:

https://theescapeartist.me/about/

https://theescapeartist1.substack.com/

What if you didn’t wait until work got really bad before you started changing it?

Lucia Knight is back for Season 4 of Joy at Work with the same philosophy that has always been at the heart of the show: small changes made sooner can make work—and life—a whole lot lighter.

With more than 120 conversations to explore, Joy at Work tackles the things that can make work harder when life gets complicated, shares real stories from people who have deliberately redesigned their working lives, and explores alternative ways of working that challenge the idea that we all have to follow the same career path until retirement.

• How do I make work fit better without changing everything overnight?
• What happens when divorce, grief, aging parents, health or other parts of life start affecting work?
• Is it actually possible to design a different way of working in midlife?
• What if I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up?
• How have other people created more joy at work without the Cinderella career-change story?

Season 4 will keep exploring those questions, including the psychology of money and work-life changes, identity after leaving corporate life, the physical impact of desk-based work, divorce and work performance, and more tiny conversations with people who have deliberately designed their work lives to suit them better.

Because you don’t need to have the whole future figured out. Sometimes you just need to know where to start.

Ready to find your starting point? Take the Joy at Work Quiz to discover your Joy at Work potential score, the easiest place to make some tweaks, and the blind spot that may be getting in your way. - https://lucia-trqb5gnw.scoreapp.com/

Have a question for Lucia?

Is there something about work, career change or midlife stuckness you’d love Lucia to explore? Submit your question here: https://midlifeunstuck.activehosted.com/f/38

Searching for a new role is rarely joyful. Add children, mortgages, relocation, and a 25-year career in one industry… and suddenly midlife stuckness feels very real.

When Dom Salomoni found himself job hunting for the first time in decades at 48, he didn’t spiral into panic-mode hustle. Instead, he designed a six-month runway. He invested in mindfulness. He redefined success for this stage of life. And he built what he calls his North Star — a clear, non-negotiable definition of what work needed to give him now.

This conversation explores what midlife professionals rarely say out loud:

The fear. The ego wobble. The identity shift. The quiet recalibration.

Lucia Knight unpacks the emotional and practical strategies that helped Dom stay steady — and why midlife job search isn’t just about getting hired. It’s about designing work that matters.

1. Why midlife job search feels different (and heavier) than early-career moves
2. How a defined runway reduces panic and protects your thinking
3. The power of mindfulness over frantic productivity
4. Creating a North Star that reflects who you are now — not who you were at 38

Structuring your days so rejection doesn’t define your worth

Midlife job search often arrives quietly — through redundancy, relocation, or simply the realization that your work no longer fits.

If this conversation resonates, share it with someone navigating their own stuckness. You never know who might need a steadier way forward.

And if you're ready to design work that truly fits this season of your life, you can learn more about working with me here: https://www.midlifeunstuck.com/work-with-me

Ever find yourself thinking, “I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up”?

You’re not alone — and more importantly, you’re not behind.

In this episode, I respond to a heartfelt question from a 43-year-old marketing director who's feeling stuck and unsure about their future. We unravel the pressure-packed question we've all heard since childhood — “What do you want to be when you grow up?” — and offer two far more useful ones instead.

You’ll hear:

1. Why we’re still haunted by career expectations that began at age five
2. A mindset shift that turns work from obligation to opportunity
3. Two powerful questions that can reframe your midlife work life
4. How to connect your superpowers with real-world problems that matter
5. A peek inside how we tackle this inside the Fierce Emporium programme

If your brain has been circling the same old questions for years, this is the episode to help you stop the spiral — and start designing something better.

🎥 Watch the video – Do I just need a new job or a new strategy?

👉 Watch now

📥 Free download – Five Questions to Ask When You’re Feeling Career Stuck

👉 Download here

💬 Join the conversation – You’re not too old, and it’s not too late.

👉 Midlife Unstuck Community Invitation

If this episode sparks something, please share it with someone who's quietly wondering the same thing.

Have you ever had that gut-feeling that something’s off at work? You’re good at your job, but it just doesn’t feel good enough? In this episode, I share the one powerful concept that’s helped hundreds of my clients feel more alive, energised, and fulfilled in their careers—superpowers.

Not the comic-book kind, but those unique things you do so effortlessly and joyfully that time disappears.

Together, we’ll explore:

1. What superpowers actually are (and how to spot yours)
2. Three ways to uncover your own hidden brilliance
3. Simple, real-life tweaks to build joy into your workday
4. Why using your superpowers more often leads to promotions, pay rises, and feeling less drained at home

And yes, there’s a free tool to help you begin.

📥 Download the Superpower Starter Worksheet

👉 https://midlifeunstuck.activehosted.com/f/17

Let’s design a workday (and a work life) that actually feels like you.