Working harder DID work…

High performers often carry a dangerous belief -

If I just work harder, I can figure this out.

That belief served me well for a large chunk of my career, and I often still tend to lean into that mode.

I worked harder because I wanted to get ahead.

I prepared more than most people.
I performed work at all levels, even if it was “lower” than mine.
I raised my hand for the projects others didn’t want, and piled them up.
I stayed curious about the business and asked a lot of questions.

And it worked.

Working harder helped me build credibility.
It gave me visibility.
It led to more opportunities, more responsibility, and promotions.

Hard work wasn’t a myth. It delivered.

Most successful people build their careers this way. When there’s an opportunity, they lean in. When something is unfamiliar, they figure it out. When things get hard, they double down.

That mindset creates momentum.

But eventually many of us run into a kind of problem that effort doesn’t solve.

Sometimes the job changes.
Sometimes leadership changes.
Sometimes the expectations keep shifting.
Sometimes the role becomes bigger than what one person can reasonably sustain.

And when that happens, the instinct for people like us is to do what has always worked before.

Push harder.
Work longer.
Prepare more.
Try a new system.
Do more.

But sometimes the harder you push, the more exhausted you become.

Because the problem you’re facing isn’t actually about effort.

It’s about context.

The environment you’re operating in may have changed more than you realize.
The priorities may no longer align with what originally made you successful.
The structure around the role may make sustained success nearly impossible.

And when that happens, working harder often just accelerates burnout.

What makes this particularly tricky is that the same mindset that helped you get ahead is now the one keeping you stuck.

And this doesn’t just apply to people who are successful but exhausted.

It also applies to people who feel like their career isn’t going well.

People quietly believe that if they just worked harder, they could turn things around.

If they stayed later.
Prepared more.
Figured out the right strategy.

Sometimes that’s true, but sometimes the issue isn’t that someone isn’t capable enough or disciplined enough.

Sometimes they’re operating inside a situation that isn’t setting them up to succeed.

They have a manager who doesn’t advocate for them.
They are part of a team where priorities constantly shift.
They work for an organization where advancement isn’t actually tied to performance.
Leaders around them aren’t actually providing constructive feedback.

When you’re inside a system like that, it’s easy to internalize the problem.

Maybe I’m not good enough.
Maybe I just haven’t figured it out yet.

But often the truth is more complicated than that.

Careers are far messier than they appear from the outside.

Success stories often get told in a clean, linear way — as if the outcome was inevitable.

But the reality is usually much more complicated.

There are detours.
There are environments that fit and environments that don’t.
There are moments where the strategy that once worked suddenly stops working.

And these circumstances can be incredibly disorienting.

If your identity has always been tied to being someone who can figure things out, it’s hard to recognize when the situation itself may need to change.

This is one of the most important inflection points in a career - the moment where pushing harder stops being the answer.

And a different kind of thinking becomes necessary.

Effort should no longer be the answer, clarity needs to be the new goal.

Clarity about the environment you’re in.
Clarity about the expectations around you.
Clarity about whether the game you’re playing still makes sense.

Progress doesn’t always come from working harder.

Sometimes it comes from recognizing that the situation you’re in might not be designed for you to win.

And when that realization happens, it can be the beginning of a much more intentional chapter in your career.

After all, success stories look clean when we tell them later.

But truthfully, we’re all F’ing Up our way forward.

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Are you struggling with knowing if your working hard mentality is getting in your own way? Are you burning or burned out? I CAN HELP! Sign up for a coaching session with me and we’ll get you through this! Invest in you!