Joyce Li

New year, new you – so we’ve been told, so many times before. New year’s is prime time to start reflecting on our habits and cleaning up our goals and intentions for the new year. However, it’s easy to get carried away with grand ideas for the new year that can end up being unattainable as life inevitably gets in the way. Because let’s be real – we’re still in a global pandemic with ever-changing shifts. It’s still pretty impossible to make any long-term plans for the future, and many of us are feeling drained and tired after the toll 2020 and 2021 has taken on us.

If you’re on the lookout for ways to make 2022 a great year for yourself, read on to find out some great information about the best way to set goals. For this blog post, we’ve chatted with Dr. Hengchen Dai about motivation, creating fresh starts, and goal setting so that we can focus on how to make 2022 a good year but in attainable ways.

Dr. Dai is a scientist, teacher, and diplomat. She’s a scholar of judgment and decision-making whose research is used within companies to increase employee and customer engagement. She is also an Assistant Professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and was ranked one of the best 40 under 40 business school professors Poets & Quants in 2020.

I think it is important to carefully set a goal that stretches you a bit but is still realistic. At the start of a new year, people may be so excited about pursuing new goals and become overoptimistic about what they could do in the new year. If they set too high a goal due to their overoptimism, they may fail too soon and are not motivated to try again. So I would recommend that while taking advantage of your enthusiasm and motivation at the beginning of a new year, be realistic at the same time! 

Actually what I said previously about overoptimism and setting unrealistic goals is one common reason people fail to pursue their goals. People may set the goal of exercising 7 days a week, but if they do not get time to exercise on Monday, they may feel “what the hell” and give up that week since they are not able to maintain the perfect attendance anyway. One tactic for addressing this issue is to set up goals with emergency reserves, based on research done by Professors Marissa Sharif and Suzanne Shu. For example, instead of saying that I will exercise 7 days a week, it is better to say “I will exercise 7 days a week but if I really have something unexpected come up, I can skip at most 2 days”. With 7 days as the high goal and 2 days as an “emergency reserve”, people will not only be motivated by a high goal but also won’t easily give up if they have to miss exercising one day. 

StickK.com! It was founded by Yale Behavioral Economist Dean Karlan, Yale Law School professor Ian Ayres, and Yale MBA Jordan Goldberg. StickK allows people to create commitment contracts for their personal and professional goals. That is, people can put money (or their reputation!) on the line and have their friends and family to be the referee and / or supporter. If people fail to reach their goals, they will forfeit the money, and the money can go to their favorite charity, their friends, or an organization they hate!

0-3 min: think of one career enhancement you want to make in 2021 (i.e., meet 1 new person / month, find a new job, etc.)

3-7 min: Now, break it down to something you can commit to each day or week. Fill in the following statement: I commit to [action] at [when / where].

7-11 min: Write down your goal in a place you’ll remember it / see it regularly (we help with goal tracking at Lloyd, feel free to reach out to me or see below). 

11-15 min: Anticipate 1-2 challenges you might have to reaching this goal and how to minimize those challenges.

I’m sure we’ve all been assigned a Secret Santa and a $20 limit, only to sit back and think “what on Earth am I going to get this person for Christmas?” before. Gifts are hard, but we’re here to make that choice a little easier. If you’re behind on gifts for work friends, this list is here to give you some clever (and actually useful) gift ideas.

Creating healthy habits is one of those buzzword terms that everyone seems to be harping on about, especially since we’re mostly cooped up at home given the pandemic. The pandemic offset almost everyone’s schedule, and while some got right back into a new, healthy routine, others struggled. It can feel impossible to change our daily routines to accommodate for healthy habits, but it can be done!

If you’ve been struggling to set healthy habits and stick to them, this article is for you. Recently, Lloyd hosted a panel with some experts in building healthy habits. Meet our panelists below:

Below is a top 10 list of what we learned from them.

1. Habits are ingrained in our everyday life, sometimes without us even knowing it. It’s something ideally you do without thinking about it. Research shows that 43% of our daily activities are done subconsciously.
2. Behavior change often does not go 0-100. Realize success is typically found gradually and over time. Start small. Don’t push it off until tomorrow, start with it today (i.e., edit 5 resume bullets, workout for 7-10 minutes). Keep it small and consistent.
3. To help change a behavior, consider distance as a factor. For example, is the fast food restaurant or gym easier for you to reach? Changing your environment can help build a habit, and think about using distance to your advantage (i.e., make it easier / more convenient to do what you want).
4. Not all behaviors are created equally—acknowledge that it may be easier or harder to change certain habits than others.
5. Humans are social creatures. Social support can pull us in the right and wrong directions. When we team up with someone else, we are up to 95% more likely to achieve our goals. 
6. NBA star Derrick Rose was a high performing athlete, but even he realized how hard it was to build good eating habits. It is alright to recognize that change is difficult and that you often need to start small.
7. “Success” with behavior and habits can be hard to quantify and often is in the eye of the beholder. Many people, products, and environments will think about streaks. Realize if you miss once, not all is lost, there can be a compounding interest. Remember your successes and keep going.
8. If you are building a health related habit, think of the four health pillars: exercise, good nutrition, relaxation and sleep. Working on one of these habits can impact many areas of your life.
9. Prepare for your habits (i.e., prepare to go to sleep, prepare to work on your job search). Also, employ a paradigm shift—behavior change is not black or white, it is gradual. 
10. See what you’re trying to do as an experiment—see what works and make it more fun!

We must be determined, while also gentle and patient. Habit change is hard, but there are ways to make it easier!

Note: this is the first part of a 2-part series covering the Great Resignation and steps to take before and after leaving a job. Part 2 will include practical advice regarding job search and creating a timeline for yourself.

The United States is facing a shortage of labor. There are 10 million job openings in the United States and 8 million unemployed. In April 2021, a record 4 million Americans left their jobs, and this trend is becoming a global phenomenon as well. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index shows that 40% of the global workforce considered leaving their jobs in 2021. So, what’s going on?

The movement of people leaving their jobs in huge numbers has been dubbed the “Great Resignation”. According to a CNN report that focuses on 2021’s Great Resignation, people who have quit their jobs cite their main reason for quitting as burnout. While the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in mass layoffs, in a paradoxical twist, people are now leaving their jobs after having had time in lockdown to reflect on their careers. Now more than ever, workers are looking for flexibility in the workplace, especially after the pandemic has proven that remote work is just as productive as work in an office setting.

The Great Resignation isn’t just a term coined by media outlets – it’s really happening and can be seen on a micro scale. For example, the subreddit r/antiwork has seen tremendous growth in the last few months. In November 2021, a staggering 600,000 members were on the platform. In November 2020, that number was only 50,000. Talks of quitting jobs have been cropping up in lots of everyday conversations and has become a noticeable theme even in humorous memes posted online.

The Covid-19 pandemic changed everything we know about work, and had us all making huge shifts in our work schedules as we adjusted to working from home and on remote schedules. There are a lot of variables that come into play when people are considering leaving their jobs. Some people lost their jobs during Covid and struggled financially. Some made new investments and pursued side hustles that resulted in a windfall of money. Others had the year to contemplate what they really want out of their careers and reflect on whether their current jobs were giving them what they needed.

Joining the Great Resignation is a tempting course of action. Who wouldn’t want to quit an unfulfilling job and move onto something better with more freedom? However, there are a lot of considerations to make. If you’ve found yourself debating whether you want to quit your job and make a career shift, we’re here to help you with your decision. Our decision tree lists out some important questions and things to consider for you if you are considering quitting your job.  

Another way to clarify your thought process and determine whether leaving your job is the right choice for you is to create a flow of logic to really get down to the bottom of your thinking and help generate a plan. Keep reading for some prompts. (Remember doing Mad Libs in middle school? Here’s a throwback to that.)

Hopefully our graphics and suggestions gave you some more clarity about steps to take moving forward, whether that’s quitting your job or taking steps to make your current job more fulfilling. The Great Resignation is signalling a movement towards a better and healthier work environment for individuals. If you need help or guidance along the way as you move forward, feel free to check out our 14-day free trial. Lloyd is here to guide you towards making the best decisions for your career.

Thanks for reading our blog post!

An end of year review can seem daunting – we get it. About 70% of companies have them, and we’re here to offer some advice about how to best prepare as 2021 comes to a close. If you are like 75% of other workers, working with your boss is one of the most stressful parts of your job. It’s almost counterintuitive, but more people trust strangers (58%) than their boss (42%).

This data illuminates the fact that a lengthier conversation with your boss may be somewhat anxiety inducing and not so straightforward. This brief article is intended to help you put together your plan for your year end review. It is broken down into three steps:

[1] Goal
[2] Write-up
[3] Narrative

[1] Goal. We recommend that the first step you take in preparing for an annual review is to clarify your goals for the meeting and determine what outcome you’d like to come out of the conversation. Make a list of possible goals – they could be a promotion, a raise, or additional responsibilities within the company. Ideally you have one specific main goal that you can focus your attention on (and the attention of your reviewer).

[2] Write-up. If your company has a standardized form to fill out, take this opportunity to reflect on your work and use it to help you prepare for the meeting. We recommend that you start working on it at least a week ahead of time so you can go back to review and make changes in the days leading up to the meeting. Your family and friends can also be a great help and a source of feedback for this! If your company doesn’t have a standardized form for yearly reviews, you can check out this example: (the link will download as a PDF).

Filling out a structured form can really help you plan to make your “case”. For example, if you’re gunning for a promotion, you can use what you’ve written in the form to back up your goal with evidence and examples. Bringing this into the meeting will help you have a conversation that is structured and productive. 

[3] Narrative. We recommend that you finish your form a few days in advance of your end of year conversation. This is an important discussion, so it’s best that you don’t rush. Once completed, here are two things you can do while you are preparing for the review:

1. Write out a 30-60 second dialogue of key points you want to mention during the meeting based on what you’ve written in your review. Think of it like an elevator pitch, where you hit important points in an efficient way.
2. Practice this 2-3 times the day before the meeting, ironing out the dialogue and making sure it feels natural to you. 

Finally, go into the meeting with your head held high! Be confident about your work and your abilities, and use your past performance as your strongest argument as you work towards your desired outcome. Remember that your boss may or may not have received formal management training (only about 40% have) so the more you are prepared, the more you can control the narrative of the review. Best of luck, and please reach out with any questions.

Bitcoin’s valuation in 2009 was $0USD. In 2021, Bitcoin’s valuation was at an all-time high at above $60,000USD, a staggering comparison to its value just 12 years ago. In a quick summary, cryptocurrency is any digital currency that can be traded for various goods and services, and is also traded for profit. Crypto’s growth and lucrative investment opportunities has made it a highly sought-after career choice. Web3 may be a better term to refer to a career in cryptocurrency – Web3 encompasses opportunities in NFTs, DeFi, blockchain, and crypto (e.g. Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana).

Like most careers in newer and more volatile industries however, a career in Web3 seems elusive. The elusiveness is in part because technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency is such a new phenomenon that university degrees in the industry are probably twenty to thirty years out. Web3 comes without the guidance that a degree in finance or marketing would afford a young professional. So what does a career in Web3 look like?

Actually, a career in Web3 is quite similar to a career in another field. Most current job roles can be translated into a role in a Web3 / crypto firm. There are several significant divisions within the crypto job market, which include banking, tech, government, finance, insurance, and retail. Some positions in high demand include engineers in intelligence, software, and web developing; as well as analysts in finance, research, security. Not all positions are within quantitative or technical skills – Web3 companies also need journalists to write about trends and news, and technical writers to create engaging content for audiences. Job postings for jobs in Web3 / cryptocurrency have increased by 120% since last year, and according to cryptojoblists.com, there have been 56,000 applications for crypto positions sent out in the last week alone.

What is unique about a career in Web3 / cryptocurrency is growth opportunities – it’s possible to advance into a senior position within 24 months because of how new the industry is, and how labour is in high demand. Blockchain is a technology that allows a secure and anonymous exchange of currency without the need for a third party. Blockchain can be integrated into nearly every business industry. A great first step is to begin thinking of a problem within your current industry that blockchain could solve, and how to integrate blockchain into the transactions within your industry.

Web3 companies differ from traditional companies because they aren’t centralized around a certain location. For example, there are plenty of crypto roles that are fully remote. This is an advantage if you want to begin a career in cryptocurrency – you can start no matter where you are located. If a career in cryptocurrency interests you, here is a list of some of today’s most advanced firms with hiring schemes. For reference, here are some stats about the largest crypto firms and the size of their workforce:

• Coinbase: 3,538 employees
• Crypto.com: 1,914 employees
• BlockFi: 806 employees
• Gemini: 681 employees
• Ripple: 607
• Ethereum: 489 employees
• Blockchain.com: 415 employees
• Consensys: 547 employees

In comparison, here the sizes of some tech and finance firms:

• Honey: 588 employees
• Venmo: 713 employees
• Cash App: 1,213 employees
• Slack: 3,425 employees
• Bird: 952 employees
• Line Corp: 3,805 employees

It’s clear that there are already many size-able Web3 / cryptocurrency companies, especially in comparison to a big industry like technology. So how would someone find their start in crypto? We’ve done some research and followed the career paths of 30 people who are working in cryptocurrency firms and their most recent position prior to their current role. Through our research, we’ve also found that most people working in cryptocurrency now already had a solid footing in whatever industry they were working in prior to making their career shifts. Previous positions in finance or banking were commonplace. Those who work less directly with cryptocurrency finance and technology, such as in brand partnerships in marketing, had held previous positions at other companies in those fields.

The technology and software engineering involved in a Web3 / cryptocurrency career are new and likely would require extra online courses. Refer to end of blog post for some great choices. One that is of particular interest is https://buildspace.so/: this is a Y-Combinator backed startup that is focused on helping individuals learn about crypto and web3. From their website: “If you’re a dev that’s curious about web3 but not sure where to start — this is the spot for you.” There likely will be many other companies focused on building onramps into the crypto / web3 space.

For non-technical roles, if someone were to pivot from a career in marketing or investments, it’s likely that a shift into cryptocurrency would not involve an in-depth study into crypto-specific software. Instead, a good idea would be to do some background research into the cryptocurrency industry as a whole and how existing business sectors are adapted in the industry.

We interviewed several Lloyd members and friends who work in cryptocurrency about what a career in cryptocurrency looks like, and have given insight into what industries compare to crypto’s job market.

“The subject matter is large enough now that you can’t possibly learn everything, so I’d try to find an angle that most excites you and go deep. For example, I was initially really interested in the way the protocols and consensus mechanisms were designed. Then I got interested in the creator economy. Lots of people start with reading Whitepapers and engaging with the community on Twitter to find projects to support.” – Varada

“I had been following Bitcoin since 2010. I was aware of the problems facing the industry and how we could build and grow a business that would be impactful and well received by the community. The most important factor to our early success, and the biggest obstacle to overcome, was to establish trust with our customers and the broader community. Crypto has had a lot of scams and it is challenging to establish trust in a community that has as one of its mottos ‘don’t trust, verify’.” – Ken

Action Plan:

1. Follow prominent leaders in crypto on Twitter to stay up to date on the community.

• Dickie Bush
• Gaby Goldberg
• Packy McCormick
• Messari Crypto
• APompliano
• Woonomic
• Alex Gladstein
• Nick Szabo
• Coopahtroopa

2. Get familiarized with crypto through articles and YouTube videos.

• Curious Beginner’s Guide to Crypto
• Reading List about Web3 (machine based data for websites),
• So you want to learn about Web3
• The Block
• Coindesk
• Blockworks
• Casebitcoin
• Bankless
• Station
• Infinite Machine (book)
• Tim Ferris’s Crypto Podcast

3. Keep an eye on job boards.

• Web3 Jobs
• Cryptocurrency job board 1
• Cryptocurrency job board 2
• Cryptocurrency job board 3
• Cryptocurrency job board 4
• Cryptocurrency job board 5
• Pomp Crypto Jobs

4. Consider enrolling in some intro-level cryptocurrency courses.

• Princeton University’s 23 hour Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies online course
• UCBerkeley’s 18-30 hour Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies course hosted through EdX
• The Linux Foundation’s 28-42 hour Blockchain course hosted through EdX
• Pomp’s Crypto Course (Fundamentals of Bitcoin & Crypto)
• Become a Web 3.0 developer in 3 weeks
• Crypto Startup School

In sum, the Web3 space has lots of buzz, and there are real opportunities for people to work in this space. People have entered crypto often from adjacent spaces, such a finance, FinTech, and Big Tech. That doesn’t mean those are the only onramps into Web3, so if you aren’t working in that space now, creating a strong narrative for yourself will be important. Some of the nomenclature can be foreign to start, but stay persistent and be curious.

If you’d like to work with a career copilot, take our career quiz and get started with a 14 day free-trial: https://www.withlloyd.com/.