The standstill that no one sees and the shift that changes everything

A feeling that’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but one that’s been there for a while. Because how can you feel so ‘empty’ when you’ve managed to get everything together so well? A good career, business success, a good income, a beautiful home, a thriving family and personal life. And yet, now that you have it all, you miss that sense of fulfillment; you feel a lack of novelty and challenge, and you’ve been sensing for some time that there’s more to it than this—both in what you’re capable of and want to achieve, and in life itself.

You’ve worked hard for years and given your all, but now you feel that your work costs you more than it brings you. Not just in terms of hours, but also in terms of energy and recognition. The things that used to drive you no longer resonate with you in the same way. The constant stream of meetings and appointments with your team, clients, and (collaborative) partners feels repetitive and time-consuming. The new challenges and ideas you bring to the table don’t resonate in an environment that can’t keep up with the pace of your thinking. Too often, you find yourself asking… ‘Is this it?’

But since everything on the outside is still intact, you don't put it that way. You keep going, you keep delivering, and you stick with it.

Successful on the outside. Restless on the inside due to a lack of challenge and energy.

That's not a weakness; it's a warning sign you've been ignoring for a long time, but now it's become very strong. If you keep going like this, it will be at the expense of yourself and your health.

I experienced this myself and got stuck in my own rat race. I kept going, suppressing what I’d been feeling deep down for a long time: a lack of challenge, fulfillment, and success—which hadn’t felt like success for quite some time. And yet I kept going. After all, that’s what I always did, and then something would always come my way—new developments and challenges that would keep me on my toes for a while and allow me to shut out what was really going on. Because it was clear that I was no longer the right person in the right place.

Many expectations and promises that were not fulfilled. Many changes, acquisitions, and mergers that I lived through—and sometimes even survived. I learned a lot, achieved a lot, but I’d truly reached my limit. Restricted, limited, undervalued. And this went beyond money—it was mainly about my impact, capital, and freedom.

What is strategic stagnation, and why does it affect the best women in particular?

A strategic pause is not a crisis. Nor is it a slump or a sign that something is wrong with you. It’s exactly the opposite. It’s a transition to a more mature and richer version of yourself—and of life.

Strategic stagnation occurs when your personal growth, your vision, and your intelligence are advancing faster than the context and the system in which you operate. You are the most skilled player on a playing field that has become too small. And that playing field no longer aligns with your qualities as a top player or your requirements.

I see this with women in top positions who, meeting after meeting, address the same issues that were already on the table ages ago. With established entrepreneurs who run a successful business, but whose business model relies entirely on their own presence and available hours. And who find that client conversations always boil down to the same thing and no longer provide the depth and challenge they so desperately need. The same is true for consultants and experienced freelancers with over twenty years of proven impact who are hired for operational work, even though their true strength lies in strategic transformation at the highest level.

It has become a gilded cage, but no one speaks of it openly or dares to break free. 

What unites these women is not the problem. It is the quality that has brought them this far and their ability to keep going. To roll up their sleeves, to shoulder the burden, and to deliver. That quality has taken them far, but it’s now causing them to remain too long within a structure and system they’ve long outgrown.

And this is now taking a toll on your drive and energy; it’s literally and figuratively draining you. It’s a bore-out that’s paving the way for a burnout if you keep going like this. You know it—you’ll end up even further from your goal.

What a bore-out really is and why it remains unnoticed for so long

Burnout is a recognized condition and is often used to describe a body and mind that are overburdened, exhausted, and stressed. In contrast, despite the many similarities, a bore-out is more insidious, quieter, and more insidious. And it’s all the more dangerous for ambitious, highly educated women, because the bore-out hides behind their achievements.

What looks like normal functioning from the outside is, from the inside, a simmering drain on your energy. The motivation those activities once gave you has waned. Sharp thoughts come to mind, but they find no ground to take root, and by now you no longer feel the need to make them clear anyway; you’re literally and figuratively paralyzed and silent. The sense of urgency you once felt has been replaced by a flatness you can’t quite pinpoint. Because your schedule is still full—actually, TOO full—but then again, the results are still there. Although they no longer bring you energy or satisfaction.

I’ve experienced this myself. What looked like stress from the outside turned out, upon closer inspection, to be a bore-out that was rapidly heading toward a burnout. It was an energy drain that I didn’t recognize as such because I just kept going, with too little challenge and my talents going underutilized. And that’s exactly what makes it so insidious. You keep delivering. You keep performing, but you feel less engaged. Which leads to the spark fading further and further.

The moment I recognized this as a signal rather than a weakness, everything changed. Because a bore-out isn’t a lack of resilience. It’s a clue. A clue that the position you’re in no longer aligns with who you’ve become.

Why Doing More, Working Harder, or Being More Visible Doesn't Solve the Problem

When women describe this feeling of stagnation, their first instinct is usually to look for solutions that seem logical within their current framework: working harder, taking yet another new course, or starting yet another side project. These steps can be valuable, but they are rarely the root of the problem.

The real cause is fundamental and structural, because your strategic position no longer aligns with your current level of value. And positioning determines everything—from the opportunities that come your way, the customers you attract, and the influence you can exert, to how you’re perceived, what you’re known for, and even your price and valuation.

A senior consultant I was coaching had been working for large organizations for years. She was consistently asked to do operational work, even though her true strength lay in providing strategic advice at the executive level. When we analyzed her positioning, it turned out that her communication and her value proposition were still based on the role she had held ten years earlier. She automatically attracted assignments that were below her actual level and value.

As soon as she redefined her position, her client portfolio changed dramatically within a few months because she had a different approach.

Strategic deadlock is rarely resolved by putting in more effort. It is resolved by taking a different position.

The courage to do less and thereby achieve more

When you get stuck, your first instinct is to do more. More initiatives, more offerings, more strategies, more visibility. It feels like you’re being proactive, and it feels like you’re working toward a solution. But it almost always leads to more complexity, less focus, and less room for the things that really matter.

True strategic progress happens when you dare to stop doing what you’ve always done, hit the reset button, and start simplifying. Not as a compromise, but as a strategy. Take a critical and honest look at where your greatest value lies—and where it no longer does. Have the courage to let go of activities, roles, or systems that were once successful but no longer contribute to the next phase of growth.

An entrepreneur I worked with had built a veritable Christmas tree. A diverse range of offerings in all shapes and sizes, from training courses, consulting, and interim assignments to smaller, scattered projects. Each component yielded some results, but together they created a chaotic schedule, with many clients, assignments, and contacts. She was the sole employee within her own fragmented business, which remained entirely dependent on her personal presence and the number of hours she worked. By radically focusing and strategically simplifying, space was created for her leadership, new challenges, deeper engagement, and a fundamentally different kind of freedom.

She cut many of her services, stopped working on several projects and with clients she had long outgrown and who were no longer her top clients (and, to be honest, she admitted they weren’t even back when she started working with them… she doesn’t do that anymore either 😉), a clearer value proposition, a stronger market position with a different revenue structure. But more importantly, she regained a sense of control over her own life and her own time. Doing less and ‘having to’ less—but for real. That’s the shift.

Daring to Let Go of Unwanted Circumstances

I recently read a passage by Blair Enns in his book on positioning and the ability to take a fundamentally different stance in the market, and I found it very relatable. He writes something that sounds simple but cuts like a knife:

Ninety to ninety-five percent of people would rather put up with undesirable circumstances than do the work required to change them.

In other words: most people stay where they are, even though they know it doesn’t make sense anymore. Because change demands something of you. It requires you to let go of what you have now without knowing what you’ll get in return. And you’re not going to risk everything you have right now, are you? Your status, your security, your current income… 

Deep down, you know things have to change. You know you can make a bigger contribution than your current role or system allows. You know there’s a version of your career or business that’s a much better fit for who you’ve become. You know you’re no longer the right person for the right position—you outgrew that a long time ago.

The question isn't whether you know it. The question is whether you're willing to start living that version of your life.

The moment when stagnation turns into momentum

The moment you realize that your current situation no longer reflects who you truly are and what you’re truly capable of, something shifts. Not the world around you, but the way you relate to it.

The unease you've been feeling for some time now is a sign that you're ready for a fundamentally different strategic position and that the system within which you currently operate simply won't support you in that.

That might mean defining a new role within your organization—one that aligns with who you are today. It could mean transforming your business from a model that revolves entirely around you to one that continues to work for you. It could mean redefining your position in the market and attracting customers who align with the level at which you truly operate.

Whatever it means, it doesn't start with a grand plan. It starts with one honest question.

If your intelligence, experience and vision were fully realized, would you still hold exactly the same position you do today?

You don't have to work harder to move forward. 

You need clarity. Start there.

One Life. Lead it. Live it.

Warm regards,

Gerdi

PS. Strategic stagnation won’t resolve itself just by waiting. All it does is become more entrenched until it’s too late to realize that you’ve been in the wrong place for a long time. Gain insight and clarity into your own position, leadership, and growth. Start The Compound™ – GrowthScan and take the first step toward clarity today.

PPS. Are you ready for a fundamental shift? Scale to Freedom is a six-month premium strategic partnership for women who are outgrowing their current roles and are ready to build something that will continue to grow. For more information, visit gerdihulsink.nl.