A different question about growth

There’s a question I think more women should have the opportunity to ask themselves:

What does the way you’re currently growing require from you?

Because here’s something I see all the time in my work:

The more capable you are, the easier it is to build something that quietly depends on your capacity to hold everything together.

You answer the question.

You fill the gap.

You remember the context.

You protect the experience.

You make the decision.

You step in when something doesn’t quite work.

You keep things moving.

And for a while, this can actually feel like a strength.

Things are getting done. People trust you. The business is growing. The organization is making an impact. More opportunities are coming your way.

So we assume the way we’re growing must be working.

But growth and capacity are not the same thing.

You can increase revenue without increasing capacity.

You can grow a team without decreasing how much depends on you.

You can serve more people while quietly creating more decisions, more responsibilities, and more invisible work for yourself.

You can be successful on paper and still be operating in a way that requires too much of you.

That’s the part I want more leaders to examine.

Because burnout doesn’t always begin with everything falling apart.

Sometimes it begins while everything is working.

It looks like being the person everyone comes to.

It looks like carrying information no one else has.

It looks like saying, “It’ll be faster if I just do it.”

It looks like adding one more client, opportunity, project, board role, event, or responsibility because technically you can.

Each individual decision feels manageable.

It’s the cumulative weight that becomes the problem.

That’s why Dominique Vacheresse and I created The Weight Beneath Your Wins, a free interactive virtual masterclass.

We’re not going to tell you to wake up earlier, manage your calendar better, or become more productive at carrying too much.

Instead, we’re going to help you look underneath what’s working.

Where is your time actually going?

What are you carrying that your current infrastructure should be carrying?

Where has your involvement become the default?

And what is that costing you—not just financially, but in time, energy, focus, and capacity for what comes next?

And we’re not leaving those questions theoretical.

We’re going to help you put numbers to the weight.

There are two opportunities to join us:

October 7 at 10:30 AM ET
October 12 at 2:00 PM ET

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/xJgMLsPsSnCZ4BrslF7cgw

Maybe as you’re reading this, you already know your answer.

Maybe you don’t need someone to tell you that you’ve been carrying too much.

You feel it.

You’ve been moving from one thing to the next for so long that you haven’t had much space to ask what you need in this season.

That’s part of why we created Restore to Rise Texas.

In November, we’re gathering a small group of women who are leading businesses, organizations, teams, communities, families, and big visions for an intentional women’s leadership retreat.

Not to give you three more days of information to take home and add to your to-do list.

But to create room to Restore. Recenter. Rise.

RESTORE what has been depleted while you’ve been busy carrying, building, leading, and serving.

RECENTER around who you are, what matters to you, and what you actually want this next season to look and feel like.

RISE with greater clarity, stronger relationships, renewed capacity, and intentionality about what comes next.

Because I don't think every season is asking us to do more.

Sometimes the next season is asking us to build differently.

To lead differently.

To decide differently.

To stop measuring our capacity by how much we can survive carrying.

As we enter the final quarter of the year, there will be plenty of messaging telling you to finish strong.

Push harder.

Hit the goal.

Make the last 90 days count.

And I absolutely believe there is still room for meaningful growth before this year ends.

But I also believe how we arrive matters.

So before you decide what else needs to fit into Q4, ask yourself:

What did the way I grew this year require from me?

What has been working because the infrastructure is strong and what has only been working because I keep stepping in?

And what am I unwilling to carry into another year?

Those answers might tell you more about what you need next than another goal ever could.

Your wins matter.

But so does the person carrying them.