Prepare for Your Breakthrough
Effort isn’t your problem. You stall when pressure zones hijack behavior.
Breakthroughs need a catalyst.
Three pressure zones:
#1. The Interpersonal Zone
- The habit trap: Under pressure you revert to micromanaging. You want to coach, delegate, or communicate more. Old habits are magnetic.
- The silence gap: You’re unapproachable. You don’t hear about problems until they’re catastrophes.
- The over-protector gap: You’re an “emotional shock absorber” for the team. But you don’t manage your mental energy.
#2. The Operational Zone
- The firefighter fallacy: Everything’s urgent. Reaction replaces priority.
- The delegation bottleneck: It’s faster to do it yourself. You end up overwhelmed.
- Digital divide: Technology corrodes culture. Alignment is lost in digital distances.
#3. The Internal Zone
- Invisible shadows: You don’t see what it’s like to sit across the table from you.
- The Halloween trap: You wear a protective mask. The need to look strong replaces courage to be real. You do most things alone.
You break through when you see yourself through a new lens.
How to Break Through
- Name your zone. Change requires clarity.
- Feel the pain. What is the cost of distrust, overwork, or feeling misunderstood. How is this situation blocking your breakthrough?
- Reclaim the why. Pressure shrinks your brain. Purpose multiplies energy.
- Shift from control to partnership. Build psychological safety so people speak up. Recruit a kind truth-teller who encourages and challenges you.
- Audit Your Time: Firefighting feels productive. But it’s destructive. Track how much of your day is spent on “fires” vs. “future.”
Name the zone. Shift your perspective. Reclaim the future.
Which of these zones frequently hold’s back leaders?
10 Ways to Find Your Breakthrough
7 Ways to Find Your Breakthrough Moment
Read Multipliers by Liz Wiseman
These bad habits often hold leaders back.
-The firefighter
-I believe I must be involved (won’t delegate)
-Lack of focus (treating everything as a priority)
-Trying to do eight things at once (extreme multitasking)
Lack of focus comes naturally to many of us. Just do the next urgent thing. Before long, we’re drenched in trivialities.
Dan! Again, hitting me right in my soft spot!
Started a new role 5 months ago. It’s a new position to me, and to the organization. My life has been fighting fires while wearing a Halloween mask!
The people here are great, but since my position is new, they throw anything that isn’t defined my way. ‘Must be a SB thing.’
Then, because I am still feeling my way through the organization culture, and defining my role, I wear a mask of confidence when I’m really just treading water. I want to make sure I can prove the value of my role.
I demand more from myself than I would anyone who would report to me. And I keep reminding myself that it’s only been 5-months!
Saving this article to refer back to and help me breathe!
Thanks for sharing this reflection, SB. Congratulations for earning a promotion. Your comment reminded me of something I learned from a coach. He said, “Remember, you earned this position. They believe in you. They believe you will succeed.”
You’re not alone. Many leaders grapple with their own success. Your self-awareness encourages me.
For your reflection: What’s one small behavior that will nudge you in the direction of positive energy? Think of something that’s draining you now. What could you do to turn that into a positive?
Cheers
Steady on!