What The Last Six Weeks Were Building Toward.

This is the seventh and final week of the Isolation at Altitude series. Over the last six weeks we have named six specific ways isolation shows up when a woman leads at altitude. Six lenses for the specific costs. This week we turn to the seventh, which is not just another cost. It is what the other six have quietly been building toward.

There is something you have been carrying. You may not have full language for it yet. It shows up as an itch under the skin. A driving beat. The word in the back of your mind you cannot quite recall. Purpose hovering just out of reach, close enough to feel but too far to grasp.

Underneath all of it, there is a question. 👇

This is what I call the IMPACT CONUNDRUM.

Here is what I have noticed about how it shows up. The Impact Conundrum does not stay at a steady volume. It surfaces at crossroads. Decision points, big or small. Should I take the meeting. Should I subscribe to the tool. Should I leave the role. Should I say yes to the opportunity someone just offered me. Between crossroads, the itch quiets. It does not go away. It just recedes into the background until you have the space to consider it, or until the next decision surfaces it again.

When the itch surfaces at a crossroads, it is not always asking the same question. Sometimes it is asking, what am I actually meant to be building? Sometimes it asks, I know what I want to build, but why have I not yet made room for it? And sometimes it asks, I am not moving it forward, so what is holding me back?

I used to think these were stages you passed through in order. My own experience taught me otherwise. I spent two years chasing an impact I thought I had named, only to realize I had been directionally correct but not quite precise. Sometimes you have to chase a false path to know it is false. Experience is a wise teacher. And the itch has more patience than any of us.

A woman named Lauren once told me she had noticed I wilted when I talked about going back into corporate and lit up when I talked about pursuing my own passion projects. She was not naming my impact. She was surfacing that I was carrying one. The naming work came later, and the living work has never stopped. That is the pattern. Someone else can help you see the itch. You are the one who names what it is. And you are the one who spends the rest of your life bringing it to life.

I believe you have been carrying something that matters. It's an impact only you can make. Can you name it?

That is the series. Seven weeks of naming what has been quietly costing you. Seven Indicators to hold as you keep going. Next week, we shift from naming what has been happening to the work of gaining clarity about what matters most.

🤏TINY TWEEK Challenge

The next time you find yourself at a crossroads, big or small, notice whether the itch surfaces alongside the decision. When it does, sit with it for a moment. Write down one messy first sentence describing what the itch is. You don't have to know the whole thing. Just start naming it. That is the tweak.