You’re Not Stuck. You’re Just Uncomfortable.

Jun 03, 2025

Connect

(Read that again.)

The Shift

When leaders say " I feel stuck," what they often mean is, “This version of me no longer fits—but I’m not sure who I’m becoming next.”

It’s not stuckness. It’s discomfort. And discomfort is not failure. It’s feedback.

The mistake? We treat discomfort like a signal to pause, fix, or retreat. But most of the time, it’s an invitation to evolve. To stop trying to solve an old problem with an old mindset. To stop organizing your career around being safe and start getting curious about what you’re actually built for next.

Stuck feels passive.
Uncomfortable? That’s active. It’s alive. It means something’s waking up.

So the next time you catch yourself saying, “I just feel stuck,” ask yourself,
Is it really stuck… or is it just unfamiliar? Misaligned? A little too quiet now that the proving game has lost its thrill?

Uncomfortable might not be where you planned to be.
But it’s often exactly where your next level starts.

🤔Try This

Your Leadership Reflection Prompt:

What’s one “stuck” feeling I’m experiencing that might actually be growth, trying to get my attention?

Write it down. Then ask:

▪️What does this discomfort want me to notice?

▪️What truth am I avoiding because it might disrupt how others see me?

▪️If I trusted myself fully, what decision would I make from here?

One Recommendation

🎧 Podcast: Unlocking Us – Brené Brown & Lisa Lahey on Immunity to Change

A masterclass in why “stuck” often means we’re unconsciously protecting ourselves from change. And how to move through it with self-honesty instead of self-doubt.

Closing Thought

The most frustrating seasons of your career are often not breakdowns.

They're the break-in to more profound clarity, higher leadership, and unapologetic decisions.

Responses

Join the conversation

t("newsletters.loading")

You are not indecisive. You’re evolving. There’s a difference.

The Shift: Let’s be honest—nothing derails momentum quite like a leader who keeps changing their mind. The project stalls. Teams eye-roll. Trust erodes. But here’s the thing we don’t talk about: in a world that demands clarity, certainty, and confident decision-making, the ability to change your mind is often misread as weakness when it’s actually wisdom. Yes, flip-flopping to avoid discomfort ...

We didn’t invent the burnout badge; we inherited it.

You weren’t born thinking praise is weakness, that overwork equals loyalty, or that silence is professionalism. Those are scripts passed down from generations before us, reinforced at home, echoed in the workplace, and rewarded until they become ingrained as “normal.” Consider this: the behaviors we now label as bad at work, such as ghosting, gatekeeping, and burnout-bragging, aren’t the root p...

You Might Not Need a New Job.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳. The Shift A client came to me ready to resign. The job wasn’t toxic. Her boss wasn’t terrible. But something felt off, tight, dull, invisible. She’d been holding it all in. Skipping over her own ideas. Avoiding hard conversations. Keeping the peace, while slowly losing her own voice. She thought the solution was to leave. But what she actually neede...

Leading From the Inside Out

Most leadership books are filled with outdated, one-size-fits-all advice that doesn't consider how leaders make sense of leadership itself. The real transformation comes from leading from the inside out - not from mimicking tactics that worked for someone else. Instead of looking for "the right answer," start asking: "What's true for me as a leader?"