Why You’re Terrified to Lose the Job You Hate It’s not a financial crisis. It’s an identity crisis. What's left when they take away the badge? I got an interesting letter last week. So did about 3,300 of my colleagues. The subject matter was polite, bureaucratic, and chilling: “Your services may no longer be required.” We are caught in the push to reduce the size of the public service in the Government of Canada. For many, this letter is a nightmare scenario. It triggers a primal panic. But I...
4 days ago • 4 min read
The Art of Strategic Ignorance Why your competence is a trap (and how to escape it). Ignore the noise. Protect the mission. You are exhausted. But not because you are failing. You are exhausted because you are succeeding at the wrong things. There is a dirty secret in the corporate world that nobody says out loud: The reward for being efficient is more work. If you are the person who always fixes the slide deck, you will always be the person fixing the slide deck. If you are the one who knows...
11 days ago • 5 min read
I followed a signal I couldn't explain. You don't get to skip the dark and discomfort if you wish to move forward. Back in the fall, I rebranded myself to Soulwork Strategist. I didn’t fully understand what that meant when I chose it. And that, I’m realizing, was exactly the point. "Career Coach" was the safe label. Clean. Marketable. “Here’s your next move.” That’s a Job title, which is what many people are chasing. "Work Architect" was closer. It recognized that you can’t just chase the...
18 days ago • 3 min read
The Practice of Uncertainty Faith doesn't make it comfortable. It just makes it survivable. I’m doing something different this week, partly because I’ve decided that I’m going to consistently do different things this year. I’m revisiting something I wrote about last week, with the intention of building on it. Not just because it’s distinct from my usual rhythm, but because I think it’s important. (At least, it seems important to me; which means that it might be to you too.) One recent...
25 days ago • 4 min read
Why I’m Done Setting Goals (For Now) Goal-setting revealed what I wasn’t willing to risk. Now I can’t un-see it. A mask, a list, and the truth between them. I’ve set goals every single year for as long as I can remember. This year, I’m done. Not because goals are inherently bad, but because mine were keeping me stuck in places I didn’t want to stay stuck. If you’re into “productivity porn” like me, your inbox is currently overflowing. “Set SMART goals!” “This is YOUR year!” “Here’s my...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
The Sunday Night Cheat Sheet: Contract vs. Calling Contracts get signed. Callings get answered. Stop negotiating what wants to live. Sunday night. And you’ve got that familiar knot in your stomach. You’re staring down another week, wondering why success feels so crappy. Here’s why: You’re confusing your Job with your Work. You’re dreading tomorrow because you’ve outsourced your sense of purpose to an employer who literally cannot provide it. Let’s fix that before you log in. The Sunday Night...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
The Permission Slip Is Never Coming How to uninstall the Compliance OS and authorize your own life. The gate was never locked. Your Permission Slip Is Never Coming You think your problem is time. You tell yourself (and anyone who will listen) that you’d love to pivot. You’d love to start the podcast, write the book, or finally take your health seriously. But you simply can’t right now. You’re swamped with work. You’ve got a mortgage. Kids. A boss whose favourite word is “URGENT”. And what...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
The Shadow Career: Why You’re Succeeding at the Wrong Thing Stop optimizing a life that was never meant to be yours. The fortress you built to protect you is now the shadow that owns you. You’re damn good at your job. And that might be the problem. That professional life you’ve built? The one that pays well, looks impressive on LinkedIn, and uses about 60% of your actual horsepower? That’s your Shadow Career. It’s not a mistake. It’s a defence mechanism. You didn’t stumble into it. You...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
When You Stop Trusting the Path When the work still matters - but the way you’re chasing it doesn’t. When the destination is clear, but the path is uncertain. I spent at least four hours this week optimizing my home network. It wasn’t broken. It wasn’t even slow. But there I was, buying new mesh nodes, running speed tests, rearranging cables, and screwing with network settings like it was mission-critical work. I also browsed Black Friday sales for things I don’t need and don’t even really...
2 months ago • 5 min read
The Lie Beneath Your Hustle When your motion becomes your mask. How your hustle became your hiding place. You’re addicted to tactics because strategy requires something far scarier: honesty about what you actually want. I know because I was a tactics junkie too. Had my morning routine locked by 5:47am. Read every negotiation book, and got so good at managing up my boss thought I was magic. I got the promotion. Senior executive. The title I’d chased for years. Six months later I was in the...
2 months ago • 4 min read