PODCAST · education
The Working Ant
by Ramy Ballout
Dedicated to hard working professionals who pull above their weight every day and yet struggle to get ahead in their careers. It is your RIGHT to live out to your fullest potential!Philosophical. Psychological. Practical. I'll give you insights from hundreds of my 1-1 clients that have created successful careers for themselves by finding empowerment, increased likability and influence, and being deliberate in how they pursued passion in their professions to yield the kind of profitability they aspired for. Join me, your Host and Coach, Ramy Ballout recording from San Francisco, CA.
Episodes
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A Counterintuitive Secret (and Approach) to Achieving Your Greater Goals
Outcome Obsession: Learn why focusing solely on the end result is a recipe for disappointment and inconsistency, and how to shift your perspective for guaranteed progress. The Power of the 30-Day Sprint: Discover a highly effective, no nonsense and no emotion strategy of focusing on one…
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Unlock Unfettered Impact: The Power of Conviction and Character
Let's unlock "real" impact through the "real" you. Redefine "Impact": Move beyond quantitative metrics (variables, metrics, insights) and discover a personal, controllable definition of impact rooted in self-belief. The Power of Conviction: Learn why your personal conviction—not external…
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The Impulse Trap: A Silent Saboteur of Good Decision Making
Welcome to another episode of The Working Ant. This episode focuses on impulse. We explore why impulsive decisions can derail both personal and professional growth, drawing on Stoic principles to show the power of slowing down and gaining clarity. Learn to recognize how impulse can sabotage...
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Apply your Suffering to Architect your Career (and Life)
What if suffering wasn't a roadblock, but the very foundation for your greatest achievements? In the latest from the Working Ant, we challenge the conventional wisdom that success comes from avoiding pain. Instead, we reveal how an intentional awareness of suffering—the emotional grit, the tough...
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To innovate you must be parched in thirst and desperate to transform
Only out of a real and desperate necessity comes innovation and transformation that lasts the test of time. This should be applied to yourself and the changes you yearn to realize. Real transformation requires a valor that is firm in conviction and a desperation to be achieved. “It is not…
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Free yourself from the perception of others
Liberate yourself from the perception of others even when you depend on it. Marcus Aurelius said, “It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”
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Live in Accordance with Your Nature
Tips, strategies, and practical analogies on living in accordance with your nature. “Don’t ever forget these things: The nature of the world. My nature. How I relate to the world. What proportion of it I make up. That you are part of nature, and no one can prevent you from speaking and acting in...
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Deliberate Insecurity: A Path to Growth
I'm diving deeper into something I call "deliberate insecurity" - a strategy I practice in my executive leadership practice. It might sound counterintuitive, but I truly believe it's the key to thriving in today's world of constant change and AI buzz. Forget trying to avoid feeling insecure – I'm...
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Mastering the Mask: Craft the "You" others See at Work
Your role requires you to wear many masks. Learn to craft yours wisely. Take Control of Your Image: How much control you really have over how others perceive you in different settings. Beyond Social Norms: Explore going beyond standard branding advice to showcase your unique capabilities....
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Beyond Transactional: Building Meaningful Relationships at Work
As an executive coach, I see the power of genuine connections every day. This episode dives deep into moving beyond transactional work relationships, revealing how to cultivate meaningful, loving bonds that not only boost your professional life but also enrich your personal growth. Key…
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Your Primary Responsibility Is This.
Are you truly being yourself, or are you holding back? I challenge you to examine whether you're suppressing your true voice for the sake of security or comfort. *Gratitude vs. Inhibition*: Understand how gratitude can sometimes prevent you from speaking out or taking risks, and how to find a...
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Control is an illusion.
This episode reveals how focusing on what's within your power can transform your work and life. Focus only on what is within your power to control—your own thoughts and actions—and accept what is not, for that is the path to prosperity and lasting fulfillment. You are the guardian of your mind…
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Choose who you're investing in.
Feeling overwhelmed at work? Struggling to keep up with whack a mole like endless demands? Be aware of the outcome but more so understand the cycle of churn. This short episode dives into the importance of sustainable momentum and the power of investing in meaningful relationships. While you may...
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The Power of Your Absence: Are You Missed at Work?
In today's episode, we're diving into the thought-provoking question: "Are you missed at work?" With the shift back to office environments, it's crucial to understand how your presence (or absence!) impacts your team and your personal brand. We'll discuss ways to gauge your value, whether through...
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What is experience, anyway?
We’re hired for our experience. Every day in some way, we are applying our experience. We’re praised for our experience and compensated for the perceived level of experience we possess. We’re rewarded for the promise of applying our future experience by investing our time to create new...
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Are you one with the people?
In uncertain times and under exceptional circumstances, leadership is strained and stressful. In "peacetime," where work is quite clear and career aspirations appear realistic and achievable, all this becomes thrown out the window when one has to operate in an environment that is equivalent to a...
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Keep your tongue warm.
There’s an old stoic saying that saying what is unnecessary, often leads to saying more than it is necessary. And so one must act as though he/she is the moderator of what they choose to say over what may be a natural byproduct of their personality. Context is everything. And so when you find...
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The joy of character and the bounty that it brings your career.
We often forgo the closest things to us, but we don't lose character, we simply lose sight of it. The quality of one’s character is what gives birth to one’s personality. It’s the bedrock to the base and the beacon in the light of careers and contributions. Character channels charisma and…
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Transform your expectations.
Our expectations stick to us like a shadow to the body - always following us as a reminder of the presence and power they hold over our life satisfaction. Little do we reflect on why they are there nor do we contemplate reassessing their content and quality. Since we're almost at the half year...
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Instead of striving to have a voice, aim to have a say.
It's a common theme to strive to have a voice in the workplace. Everyone wants a voice (well most people). With that voice carries a feeling of being heard and acknowledged as a focus vs. that of having influence of opinion and sway. I ask you to consider aiming for the latter which yields much...
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Like the Lynx, hone in your ability to see clearly through the darkness.
There's something about the allure of the person who can see light in the midst of darkness. These days, optics of optimism are a rarity but a necessity. Without clarity on our motivations, we're spinning and spitting out work with little to speak for and celebrate. As a working professional you...
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Do I want your life?
Do I want your life? This is more than a fair question to ask, but rather a necessary one, not to compare yourself to others, but rather to anchor on the possibilities for yourself based on theirs. For the sake of the conversation, let me double down on the latter half of the statement above and...
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Make your Possible, Profitable. Here's how.
You need not a reminder that if you want to get the lift back into your feet and the lightness in your walk, you must have a goal that is focused and enlivening - something that excites you, brings you closure or comfort in the present and injects confidence in the uncertainty around you. You…
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Win the Competition at Work with this Alternative Approach.
In a time where competition is at its fiercest. A time where Generative AI has so many use cases that it feels like the “boogey-man” is coming to find a way to do what we do better, there more frequent moments where we can’t help but wonder, “How is this all going to play out in the next few…
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Lose the pressure to please and restore your identity.
Imagine who you would define yourself as if you lost the pressure to please. These days we're constantly under a barrage of tests and trials over what's being asked of us to produce - especially those of us in teams that are no longer the same size but are left with the same scope. If the…
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It might be just beginning, it might be near the end.
Remember when you wanted to grow up so fast because adults apparently had it all figured out? Look at yourself now, at whatever stage in life you may be. Are you at the beginning? Or are you near the end? These two questions can fundamentally change your entire experience of life. It's...
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When you have opportunity, but don't have the optics.
With so much on the line and so much pressure to preserve what you've built, it's so easy to be blindsided about opportunities that pass you by. When the competition is all about finding a new job or keeping the one you have, creativity gets killed and fatigue takes over physically. In times like...
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Moments of Choice When There Isn't Choice
Hello there Working Ant fans and subscribers, I've been feeling emotionally charged with so many imminent layoffs, economic uncertainty, and the power of bad becoming more prevalent now in the new year than ever before. It's hard to believe we're only in March, three months into the year, and...
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"Love the Discipline You Know and Let it Support You." Marcus Aurelius
One of my favorite quotes of all time by Marcus Aurelius, "Love the Discipline You Know and Let it Support You," has been around for generations in his best selling memoir "Meditations." I explore this quote and what it means for our careers. How did we come to love the work we do? Was it a…
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Let's go deeper into Likability
Likability remains one of my most talked about subjects here on the Working Ant. Today let's dive deeper into the topic of Likability - specifically how 3 attributes create lasting and authentic likability - Self Efficacy, Authenticity, and Opening the Doors of Childhood. The more likable you…
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Do you know what your job is?
It's hard to believe but we all need a wake up call to what is the obvious, and that is, "What is your job?" In times like these it couldn't be more important and yet it's precisely in times like these that we struggle to define what we do outside of our title. And you don't need me to remind you...
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What you consume, you become.
I've often wondered why we consume so much of what doesn't move the needle or at best is neutral in contributing to our personal and professional development. Often times it's because the consumption of what is good for us simply isn't as "feel good" or compelling in relation to the necessity to...
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The Feedback that Matters Most: Your Own!
It's that time of year when feedback starts to trickle through. While feedback is so important towards our career, it also is a cause for anxiety and fear of rejection. What's most important is that we don't fall to the mercy of other people's feedback for our own well-being. Do not compromise...
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How to Make a Decision (the right kind)
Happy New Year!! It's incredible how the new year has come upon us. Many of us feel compelled to make a decision - perhaps something that has been hovering over our minds for quite some time. And many of us want to make a decision knowing that something needs to change but have no idea how to do...
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Master Your Identity
One of the strongest forces of human nature is to be consistent with the identity we have developed for ourselves. This identity which has been built over the course of our lives holds within it our strongest values and beliefs about life and our experience of it - what we should and shouldn't…
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How to create more meaningful conversations
It's so easy to have passive, transactional conversations. The plethora of short, surface-level interactions we encounter leave much to be desired if our goals are to pursue more meaningful connections with others. Your ability to shift these conversations, irrespective of the level or...
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What would happen if you received it all?
This time of year, we reflect, we ponder, we anticipate, often hyper focusing on "If only..." in some form or another: • If only I had a larger paycheck • If only I was working on what I believe in vs. what I've been asked to do • If only I had more time! (Guilty) • If only my team was... • If…
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Why Imagination Wins Over Intelligence (and how to get your imagination back)
As we grow in our careers, our intelligence takes over imagination and yet it was imagination that got us here in the first place. Here's how to get your imagination back and recognize its key to your future.
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Don't Become a Career Sitting Duck
Don't wait for the wind of fortunes to change your career path. Either you evoke an urgency for action, or become a sitting duck for others to take target at. Choosing the latter is not an option!
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Internalize Other People's Joy: Practicing Mitfreude
We celebrate other people's accomplishments but rarely do we ever tap into how they feel about them. Transition having joy "from" to having having joy "with" another person's success and reap the benefits both in your relationship with that person, but more importantly, with yourself!
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Chasing Care over Cure & the Expectancy Value Trap.
Chasing Care over Cure & the Expectancy Value Trap.
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Pick the right race to run.
Are you on the right team? Are you learning from the right people? How obsessed should you really be with your work? Here's how to begin thinking about whether or not you're running the right race with your career.
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Have you heard of Social Loafing?
Social loafing is real. Learn what it is and how to navigate your career around it.
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What you take for granted, others take for gold.
It's a privilege to be back with you.
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Ep. 45: Pursuing what you love vs. Doing what is good for you.
Inspired by a former manager, an over 15 year mentor, and a prominent technology leader here in the San Francisco Bay Area, this statement is perhaps one that lingers most with me as it has with hundreds of others I have had the privilege to coach. Often one cannot find the words to structure...
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Ep. 44: How to influence without authority. Master the art of influence in the workplace.
Who ever said you needed to be in a position of power to influence a team, an organization, or your manager? Most of us feel we need to show up wearing a white robe or have a specific title so people can listen to us when it couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe you want your voice to be…
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Ep. 43: Giving Voice & Visibility: Go out of your way to promote others.
You see it all the time. Managers and leaders demand excellence. Your KPI's, OKR's, SMART objectives, and so on, keep you on your toes and in the know of what gets you to the next level. What's not measured is heart, passion, and intent. There seldom is enough time to identify rising talent…
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Ep. 42: Sustenance is what leads to Success, not Sustainability!
We all strive for a level of stability. We wish for a sustainable, predictable lifestyle. The hustle requires too much muscle and we tire out quickly expecting results, which when not apparent, make us default back to predictability and sustainability. Getting through the day is the obstacle in…
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Ep. 41: A Timeless Blunder: Output vs. Outcome
Need I say much more? We work so hard to get ahead and some of us can't seem to rise above the surface for air when it's already performance review time. Wiping away the sweat, sitting upright in our chairs, deep breaths and in an instant the year has gone by. It's performance review time and…
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Ep. 40: How to elevate the significance of your work even if you don't directly impact revenue (4 secrets)
*Know this: Whatever job or role you currently have that you don't believe adds any significant value to the company can in fact be transformed into an integral role that many depend on. *Understand: Perception matters. *Realize: Most people will benchmark you off of feelings, not facts. If…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Dedicated to hard working professionals who pull above their weight every day and yet struggle to get ahead in their careers. It is your RIGHT to live out to your fullest potential!Philosophical. Psychological. Practical. I'll give you insights from hundreds of my 1-1 clients that have created successful careers for themselves by finding empowerment, increased likability and influence, and being deliberate in how they pursued passion in their professions to yield the kind of profitability they aspired for. Join me, your Host and Coach, Ramy Ballout recording from San Francisco, CA.
HOSTED BY
Ramy Ballout
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Working Ant have?
The Working Ant currently has 87 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Working Ant about?
Dedicated to hard working professionals who pull above their weight every day and yet struggle to get ahead in their careers. It is your RIGHT to live out to your fullest potential!Philosophical. Psychological. Practical. I'll give you insights from hundreds of my 1-1 clients that have created...
How often does The Working Ant release new episodes?
The Working Ant has 87 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Working Ant?
You can listen to The Working Ant on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Working Ant?
The Working Ant is created and hosted by Ramy Ballout.
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