When Work Is Working…But You’re Not

There’s a point in a successful career that catches people off guard.

You build or lead something that works. Revenue is coming in. The systems are running.

From the outside, it looks solid. But at some point, the work starts to feel flat.

Nothing is wrong. You’re just not energized by your day-to-day anymore.

I was reminded of this recently reading something from Justin Welch. He described being bored with a business that was objectively working.

That’s easy to ignore for a while, but it matters more than most people think.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

If your work doesn’t give you energy, it will eventually limit your growth and surely your satisfaction. Usually both.

Competence Can Build A Career, But It Won’t Keep You Lit🔥

Most successful people build their careers around competence. That’s how you win early. You figure how to do a particular thing well and you get very good at it.

I did that for years.

It works until you realize you’ve built your role around what you’re good at instead of what actually lights you up.

What Actually Changes Things

When I start working with a leader, especially one who feels stuck, one of the first things we do is name their Working Genius using The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni.

We figure out where they naturally gain momentum and what consistently drains their energy.

One client was a tech engineer inside a large Silicon Valley corporation.

Extremely smart, highly capable.

She told me creativity fueled her early years, but as she proved herself in engineering, it got pushed to the margins of her life.

Participation in a Working Genius workshop reminded her of her true gifts: wonder and invention.

She’s now using both her technical brilliance and her creativity as the founder of a tech start-up changing the way history and stories are preserved.

Same person. Very different energy.

That’s what happens when someone stops building only around competence and starts building around what energizes them.

Why This Happens

If you’re still growing a business and feel stuck, there’s a good chance you’re spending too much time doing work that drains you.

If you’ve already built something successful and it now feels flat, it’s often because the work that used to energize you has been replaced by management and maintenance.

You built the machine, and now you’re servicing it.

Boredom at this level isn’t a flawed strategy or poor work ethic… it’s information.

It’s telling you that the version of success that got you here may not be the version that will sustain you.

What To Do With It

I’ve worked with leaders who were pushing harder and getting diminishing returns.

When they shift their work back toward what actually energizes them, momentum tends to come back fast. Not because the external situation changed, but because the nature of their work did.

Work that lights you up is fuel.

Force can carry you through a season, but fuel determines how far you can go.

The good news is this: the kind of work you do is something you can design.

So here’s the question that matters:

Are you building around what energizes you, or are you surviving on competence?

One expands your impact. The other eventually caps it.

Most people don’t need to work harder.
They need to redesign what they’re working on.

Reply and tell me—what part of your work gives you energy?

Laurie