So, What the Hell Do We Do About It?
There is so much hope among the doom: it’s always sunny above the clouds and this process will help you find your sunshine.
I want you to take a moment now to picture what your dream work day looks like. Think big, think small. Where are you waking up? Who are you talking to (and crucially who are you not talking to)? What kind of work fills your day? How many meetings? Are these in person? What is giving you energy? Let yourself enjoy this picture for a moment before we go on.
And then think about what is between you and the life you want.
In Energy Rising, neuropsychologist Dr Julia Diangi argues that every meaningful decision ultimately comes down to a choice between two types of pain. As she says, if it didn’t, you’d already have made the decision.
The first is familiar pain. This is the pain of staying where you are. Of doing what you’ve always done. Of repeating old patterns and playing a system you’ve outgrown. It’s not comfortable but it is predictable.
You already know how this version of the story goes: the tight chest on Sunday nights, the deep swallow as you walk into your office, vague dread about the next management meeting. But your nervous system recognises it “I know how to do this.”
Then there’s a different pain. Less predictable, with the risk of stepping into a version of yourself that’s been hidden from view. This kind of pain is harder to articulate and more effort. It’s uncomfortable, riskier and at first it almost feels… disloyal? But it’s where you remember who you are and surface what matters to you. Dr Julia would say it’s the pain of growth.
Which means the question is, what kind of pain are you willing to live with?
The pain of staying stuck in a version of success that no longer fits and is higher risk that it looks from the outside?
Or the pain of finding your sunshine beyond the clouds?
If the former, you can stop reading this and go back to whatever it was you planned to do today.
But if it’s the latter, let’s keep going.
Because here’s what I’ve learned from false summits of my own:
Working so hard on your day-to-day job that you forget to invest in your network, profile or options may feel like it’s all you can do in the moment. But it’s a crap investment in the medium term, especially if you ever lose your job and find yourself calling someone you last spoke to in 2015 to ask for a favour.
Unmanaged, unplanned change is expensive (even if you get a payout). It hurts your pride, you don’t have what you need in place to move on and so it often leads to reactive decisions.
Slow, intentional planning and exploring is a good investment. It allows you to both improve things from the inside and build a launchpad, in case you ever need one. It is also more likely to get you to the right summit for you.
And that’s what this is all about.
Helping you figure out:
What better, good and great look like.
What you can change, without shuddering with awkwardness about “networking”
What an external move could look like, in reality, not fantasy
How to grow your status to future-proof your career before someone else decides for you.
