Focus on Expectations

Have you ever paused to question whose expectations you’re living up to at work? If, like so many, you find yourself striving to tick every box, exceed every metric and meet everyone else’s standards, the episode I released this week with Karen Jones will strike a chord. Her story is a compelling invitation to step back and really consider: what would happen if you stopped measuring your success solely by results and started focusing on what truly matters to you?

For years, Karen played the game—senior roles, big budgets, enviable titles—yet she felt increasingly disconnected from herself. She realised the path to the top in a giant corporation was littered with expectations set by others. Slowly, she began to notice the cost: the shrinking sense of individuality and belonging, the pressure to perform rather than to flourish and the diminishing opportunity for women’s voices and leadership to be heard.

It often takes a wake-up call for you to question what success really means. For Karen, her mother’s sudden and tragic death was the moment she finally listened to her own inner voice, stepped away from external expectations and gave herself permission to honour her calling. As she now works with women in STEM, she sees again and again the impact of silent, unspoken rules that keep people stuck: be the team player, hustle harder, achieve more.

My invitation to you is to imagine choosing not to mould yourself to fit pre-set expectations. Imagine creating a career and a life grounded in your own values, joy and fulfilment. When Karen replaced obligation with alignment, she didn’t just reclaim her energy, she unlocked the true meaning of leadership and success.

True fulfilment begins not when you meet everyone’s expectations but when you honour your own.

Focus on Expectations. Focus on Why.

REFLECTION WITH ACTION

Where in your life are you meeting expectations at the expense of being true to yourself? This week, bring awareness to moments when you say “yes” because you feel you should, not because you want to. Challenge yourself to write down one expectation—at work or elsewhere—that no longer serves you. Then, take a small step to communicate or renegotiate it, putting your own needs and sense of purpose first.