At the end of last year, I launched The Confidence Breakthrough – a book, an online course and a set of cards designed to help professionals build confidence at work from the inside out.
It’s been exciting, meaningful work. It’s also forced me to look closely at something I talk about often with clients, but have been slower to apply to myself: sustainability.
Building confidence at work and the hidden cost of visibility
My expertise is in designing and delivering development programmes – working deeply with people, psychology and behaviour change. What I’m far less experienced in is the constant visibility now expected alongside that work: content creation, marketing, social media, design and distribution.
To make things more complex, my work spans different audiences:
- leaders and L&D professionals commissioning training
- early-career professionals navigating confidence at work
- individuals engaging directly through books and courses
Trying to speak to all of them, across multiple platforms, every week, has been demanding – not just intellectually, but emotionally and practically.
When talking about confidence replaces living it
As I reflect on 2025 and focus my plans for 2026, I’ve realised something important: I’ve spent too much of my working week talking about confidence, instead of living it.
I’ve been pushing through tiredness, working seven days a week, daydreaming about the following week’s content, and – as a result – not sleeping, doing nothing but work and, most importantly, missing out on family time.
What I’ve learned is that, in my attempt to maintain consistent quantity and visibility on social media, I’ve lost quality. Not the quality of posts (I’ve been known to spend over an hour just to find the right music for a 60-second Instagram post!), but quality of life.
And for someone who cares deeply about quality of life, that tells me something is seriously out of alignment.
Why most people don’t pause until it’s too late
What’s struck me most, as I’ve reflected on this, is how rarely we pause at all.
Most people don’t stop when something starts to feel out of alignment. They keep going. They normalise tiredness. They push through – telling themselves it’s just a busy period, or that things will settle down soon.
Often, it’s only when exhaustion hits – sometimes in the form of burnout or stress leave – that the pause is forced upon them. Pausing and reflecting on what is truly important is one of the most confident – and kind – things we can do for ourselves.
Sustainable confidence isn’t about doing more
Confidence, as I teach it, isn’t about forcing visibility or proving commitment through overwork. It’s about making clear, values-led choices – even when those choices mean doing less, not more.
Sustainable confidence at work comes from self-trust, not self-sacrifice.
What I’m changing
So as I move into the next phase of this work, I’m simplifying.
Less output.
More intention.
Fewer platforms.
Deeper focus.
The Confidence Breakthrough isn’t going anywhere. I’ve worked too hard, believe in it too much, and invested too much of me in it to abandon it. But it no longer needs to be propped up by constant activity.
It can exist as what it was always meant to be: a resource, a foundation, a quiet asset that supports meaningful change at work.
Sometimes confidence looks like pushing forward. And sometimes it looks like knowing when to pause, refine, and choose again. For me, right now is definitely one of those moments.