When you’re just starting out in your career, the feedback loop is crystal clear. There’s a cause and effect to your actions that lead to instantaneous rewards or consequences.
But the more success you achieve, the more muddled this signal becomes.
And the more distorted your signal, the more stressed and burnt out you become… while your confidence and self-esteem slowly evaporate.
Here’s the worst part:
A muddled signal is a sign from your internal environment that it needs a software update. But it’s sneaky – fear disguises itself as prudence and internal consequences are delayed from your external world. And so, you push harder, exert more effort, and fall deeper into this vicious cycle.
But there’s a better way…

All of us were fed a certain modern promise of success: Work hard, become competent, and success follows.
And you know what?
Despite its flaws, it mostly works.
Effort compounds. Competence pays off. Success arrives.
But then something strange happened.
The questions that matter most don’t go away. They get louder.
Not questions about strategy or leverage.
Questions about connection.
Meaning.
Why all of this still feels… flat.
Here’s the part no one warns achievers about:
The modern promise of success was never meant to answer those questions.

If you base your entire identity around achievement, as many high achievers do, the consequences can turn fatal – internally. While building an identity around achievement can work in the short-term, you must eventually face the reality: A big part of your drive to achieve is deeply rooted in fear.
This fear creates an internal friction that steals joy and presence from your life and gives you anxiety and disconnection and shame instead.
But what if you could experience life without the constant grip of fear?
The good news is you can get rid of it. The solution sounds quite simple, but it’s not easy.
The solution?
Letting go.