A client I’m working with is in a senior marketing role at a global bank.

"I'm tired," she told me.

"My work has taken over my personal life and I'm not sure what to do.

I know in my bones that it's time to change jobs, but I don't know to what?"

"And I don't want to lose out on the leverage I've built."

She’s built her career inside this organization.
Grown her scope.
Developed into a strong leader.

From the outside, everything looks like it’s working.

But she’s reached a point where it’s no longer sustainable.

Her work has slowly taken over her entire life.
She’s still performing but she’s not enjoying it.

She reached out because she knew it was time to do something new and wanted the support to actually do it.

So, what’s actually happening?

This isn’t a motivation issue.

And it’s not about her not being capable of doing the job.

It’s the result of how most careers are built.

Early on, the strategy is simple:

Say yes.
Take on more.
Work harder.
Build experience.

And that works.

It leads to:

• more responsibility
• higher income
• stronger positioning

But what doesn’t happen is things getting easier.

The intensity doesn’t taper.
It stays the same, or increases.

Where it starts to unravel

At some point, something changes.

Sometimes it’s obvious:

• you have kids
• you take on more responsibility outside of work

But more often, it’s gradual.

Week over week, things feel a little more off.

You’re still doing the work.
You’re still showing up.

But you’re not really paying attention to what you actually want or need anymore.

I’ve heard people describe it as feeling numb.

Not in a dramatic way, just going through the motions.

You’re on a path that used to make sense.
You keep following it because that’s what you’ve always done.

But you’re no longer actively choosing it.

This is the moment people miss

This is a critical evaluation point.

Not because something has gone wrong.

But because something has changed.

And at this stage, continuing to work harder doesn’t solve the problem.

It doesn’t lead to more happiness.
It doesn’t necessarily lead to more money.
And it doesn’t fix the underlying issue.

At a certain point, working harder stops creating better outcomes.

What change actually requires

Most people jump to:

“I need a new job.”
“I need to leave.”
“I need to do something completely different.”

That’s not the move - yet.

You’re not throwing away your career.
You’re not downgrading your income.
You’re not starting over.

This is a point where you need to step back and evaluate:

• What do you actually want now?
• What does your life need to feel like on a weekly basis?
• What kind of role fits that - not just on paper, but in reality?
• What trade-offs are you willing to make?

Where most people get stuck

Most people don’t give themselves permission to do this.

They assume the only path is to keep climbing.
They look around and see everyone else doing the same thing.

So they stay on the path by default.

And over time, that’s when dissatisfaction builds.

This is also where you see people hit a breaking point later - mid-40s, 50 - and make a much more reactive set of decisions than they needed to.

... think burn it all down approach.

Expanding the lens

The good news is that there are infinitely more options than most people consider.

• Some people stay in corporate and redesign their role or trajectory.
• Some people move to a different environment.
• Some people change how their work fits into their life entirely.

The point isn’t which option you choose.

It’s that you actually evaluate them.

How to think about this more clearly

This is something I work through with clients regularly.

We look at what they’ve built so far - and how that translates into different paths in the market.

But we also step back and define:

• what they want their life to look like
• what constraints they’re working within
• and what trade-offs actually make sense for them

When you combine those two - market reality and life design - you get a much clearer picture of what your next move should be. One that leverages what you've built, but doesn't keep you trapped in something you know you've outgrown.

In closing...

The goal isn’t to blow up your career.

It’s to recognize when something isn’t working - and make a deliberate decision about what to do next.

If you’re at that point where things aren’t working the way they used to, this is the moment to take a step back and evaluate.

Reply with “pivot” and tell me what’s been shifting for you.

I’ll help you think it through.

Until next week,
Beckie

PS Want to talk through your career direction? I open a limited number of free Career Strategy Calls each month.

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