Unstuck & Unstoppable

Are you the person everyone turns to when something needs fixing? The one who solves problems, keeps things moving and makes sure everything gets done?

Being reliable and capable may have helped you build your career. But if you're still doing too much yourself, it could be holding you back from becoming the leader you want to be.

In this episode, Sarah explores why successful women leaders can become trapped in doing mode, the hidden career costs and how to make the shift from doing to leading.

Building on the previous episode, The Career Tax: What Your Success Is Costing You, Sarah shares three practical shifts to help you develop your team, create more space for strategic work and increase your impact as a leader.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why the habits that made you successful can hold you back at senior leadership level.
• How being the fixer, having high standards and needing control can keep you stuck in doing mode.
• The hidden career costs, from exhaustion and bottlenecks to missed opportunities for visibility and progression.
• Three shifts to help you move from solving to coaching, being indispensable to building independence, and reacting to creating space.
• How to recognise what's really stopping you from letting go, whether it's confidence, trust or your identity as the person who gets everything done.
• A simple experiment to help you create more time for the work that really matters.

Timestamp

00:00 Welcome to Unstuck & Unstoppable

01:35 The leadership trap: when doing it all stops you leading

02:45 Are you the person everyone turns to?

04:15 How your success habits can keep you stuck

05:30 The fixer, perfectionism and the need for control

08:20 The hidden career costs of staying in doing mode

10:45 Three shifts from doing to leading

11:00 Shift 1: Move from solving to coaching

13:20 Shift 2: Build independence instead of being indispensable

14:30 Shift 3: Move from reacting to creating space

15:45 What's really stopping you from letting go?

18:00 Your leadership experiment: what could you stop doing?

19:30 Connecting the leadership trap to the career tax

20:15 Final thoughts and how to work with Sarah

Your leadership experiment

Choose one task, problem or decision you would normally take on yourself. Pause and ask:

• Does my role really require me to own this?
• Could I delegate it, coach someone else through it, or decide it doesn't need doing?
• What could I achieve with the time and headspace I create?

Your next level of leadership may depend as much on what you're willing to stop doing as what you're prepared to take on.

Connect with Sarah

If you're ready to develop your leadership, increase your impact and create a more sustainable way of working, get in touch with Sarah to explore how coaching could help.

Useful Links

Episode 101 The Career Tax: What is your Success Costing You?

Sign up for Weekly Career Inspiration

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Book a Free 121 Clarity Call

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Unstuck & Unstoppable, leave a review and share it with a woman who needs to hear it.

You're capable of more than you know. Shine brightly. Lead boldly.

You’ve worked hard to build your career. You may have the seniority, salary, recognition and reputation you wanted. But what is that success costing you?

In this episode Sarah explores the career tax: the hidden personal costs we can pay for professional success. From running on empty and sacrificing time with loved ones to losing sight of what we really want, these costs can creep up on us until we start asking, “Is this really worth it?”

I share five common career costs, examples from my coaching work and my own experience as an HR Director, plus questions to help you decide whether it’s time to make a change.

You’ll discover how to:

• Recognise the five hidden costs of career success.
• Understand why it can be difficult to change, even when your career is taking a toll.
• Review the psychological contract you have with your work.
• Rethink what success means to you at this stage of your life and career.
• Identify what you could change, renegotiate or do differently without automatically having to leave your job.

00:00 Welcome to Unstuck & Unstoppable

01:30 What is the career tax?

02:30 The hidden cost of career success

03:00 Cost 1: Your energy

05:30 Cost 2: Your freedom and creativity

08:30 Cost 3: Your relationships

09:45 Cost 4: Your sense of self

10:30 Cost 5: Your future potential

11:30 Why do we keep paying the career tax?

13:30 Three questions to help you reassess your career

14:30 What can you change without leaving your job?

15:00 Rethinking what success means to you

16:00 My experience as an HR Director

17:30 How to rebalance the cost of your career

18:30 Final thoughts and next steps

Take a moment to consider:

• What does my career give me that I genuinely value?
• What is it costing me that I can no longer ignore?
• If nothing changed in my career over the next 12 months, how would I feel?

You don't necessarily need to leave your job to make things better. But you do need to be honest with yourself about the price you're paying and whether you're still willing to pay it.

Useful Links

Episode 99: Tough Job Market? How to make your current leadership role work for you

Sign up for Weekly Career Inspiration

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Book a Free 121 Clarity Call

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

Welcome to the 100th episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable! 🎉

To celebrate this milestone, career coach and former HR Director Sarah Archer shares 10 powerful career lessons drawn from 16+ years of coaching experience and her time in HR leadership.

Whether you're an ambitious woman looking to progress into leadership, feeling stuck in your current role, or wondering what your next career move should be, these insights will help you take a more intentional approach to your career.

Each lesson comes with a reflective question to help you apply the insights to your own career and identify where to focus next.

In this episode, you'll learn how to:

• Take ownership of your career rather than waiting for others to manage it for you.
• Increase your visibility and communicate the value you bring.
• Build leadership confidence by taking action, even when you feel nervous.
• Make strategic career decisions based on what matters to you.
• Use your strengths to increase your impact and job satisfaction.
• Explore new career possibilities without needing all the answers.
• Build relationships that open up opportunities.
• Stop your inner critic from holding you back.
• Find new meaning in your current role or make a bigger career change.
• Use small, deliberate actions to build momentum.

00:00 Celebrating 100 episodes of Unstuck & Unstoppable

01:00 Why creating a career that works for you matters

02:00 Lesson 1: Stop waiting for someone else to manage your career

03:00 Lesson 2: Being good at your job isn't enough

04:00 Lesson 3: Confidence follows action

05:00 Lesson 4: Your next career move needs strategy, not just ambition

05:45 Lesson 5: Understand and amplify your strengths

06:30 Lesson 6: You don't need to have your whole future figured out

07:15 Lesson 7: Your network is part of your career strategy

08:00 Lesson 8: Don't let your inner critic make career decisions for you

08:45 Lesson 9: You can change your career without throwing everything away

09:30 Lesson 10: Small, deliberate actions create momentum

10:00 Your seven-day career challenge

10:30 Choose the insight that matters most to you and take your next step

10:45 Thank you for 100 episodes and how to stay connected

Which of these 10 lessons resonates with you most right now?

Choose one area you've been neglecting or avoiding, and identify one small action you can take in the next seven days to move your career forward.

You don't need to change everything at once. You just need to start.

Ready to spend some time thinking about your career and planning what comes next?

Join Sarah's free 7-Day Career Reset for a structured approach to reviewing where you are, identifying what you want and creating a plan for the next 90 days.

Share this episode with a woman who needs a little career inspiration, and please leave a rating or review to help more women discover the podcast.

Thank you for being part of the Unstuck & Unstoppable journey!

Useful Links

Join the Free 7 Day Career Reset

Sign up for Weekly Career Inspiration

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Book a Free 121 Clarity Call

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

The job market feels tough right now. So what if leaving your job doesn't feel like the right option, but staying as you are doesn't feel sustainable either?

If you're unhappy, bored, under-challenged or simply no longer enjoying your leadership role, it can be tempting to mentally check out while you wait for the "right" time to move. But staying doesn't have to mean standing still.

In this episode, Sarah explores how you can make your current leadership job more fulfilling, meaningful and enjoyable while also using it to build the skills, experience, visibility and confidence you'll need for your next move.

• Why staying in your current job can be a strategic career decision
• How mentally checking out can damage your confidence and future prospects
• How to redesign your role around what gives you energy
• The Keep, Change, Create approach to making your job work better for you
• How job crafting can help you create more meaning, challenge and purpose
• How to use your current role to build career capital for your next move
• Why visibility, reputation and relationships matter when you're preparing for your next career step
• How to tell whether you're choosing to stay or allowing fear to make the decision for you
• Why testing the job market can give you information without committing to leaving
• A simple 90-day Enjoy, Develop, Explore strategy to keep your career moving

Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome to Unstuck & Unstoppable

01:30 – Why the job market feels tough right now

03:00 – When staying feels safer than leaving

04:00 – Shift 1: Stop treating your current job as a waiting room

06:30 – Shift 2: Redesign your job around what makes you come alive

07:00 – Keep, Change, Create

09:00 – Job crafting: shaping your role around your strengths

10:30 – A client example: making an overwhelming leadership role work better

13:30 – Shift 3: Use your current job to build the career you want

14:00 – Building your career capital

15:00 – Visibility, reputation and relationships

16:30 – Is fear making the decision for you?

18:00 – Confidence, uncertainty and the evidence your brain needs

19:00 – Your 90-day strategy: Enjoy, Develop, Explore

20:00 – Using the Seven Day Career Reset to plan your next move

A question for you

If you knew you were going to stay in your current job for another 12 months, what would need to change for it to feel fulfilling?

You don't have to leave your job to start changing your career. You can improve your experience now while deliberately building your options for later.

Useful Links

Join the & Day Career Reset

Episode 30 How To Identify Your Strengths For A New Leadership Role

Episode 55 How To Increase Your Visibility As A Leader Using LinkedIn

Episode 61 How To Create A Personal Board For Your Leadership Career

Episode 6 How To Boost Your Leadership Confidence

Sign up for Weekly Career Inspiration

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Book a Free 121 Clarity Call

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

You know you should have the conversation with your boss. Put yourself forward for the promotion. Start exploring other roles. Become more visible. Stop saying yes to everything.

You think about it. You might even make a plan.

And then… nothing happens.

In this episode Sarah explores why knowing what you want to do doesn’t always translate into taking action. Sometimes what looks like procrastination is actually a way of protecting ourselves from uncertainty, rejection, discomfort or the possibility of becoming someone different.

We look at what your inaction might be protecting you from, the hidden cost of staying where you are, why waiting to feel ready can keep you stuck, and how your existing identity might make your next career move feel uncomfortable.

Most importantly, we get practical.

You don't need to have your whole career figured out. You don't need a five-year plan. And you don't need to make a huge, life-changing decision tomorrow.

Instead, you can take one small step that gives you more information.

Because action gives you information that thinking can't.

• Why career procrastination isn't always a motivation problem
• What your inaction might be protecting you from
• The hidden cost of staying in a role or situation that no longer works for you
• The trade-offs that come with career change and progression
• Why waiting until you feel ready can keep you stuck
• How preparation can sometimes become a form of avoidance
• The identity you may be protecting as you consider your next step
• How to make a big career action much smaller
• Why small actions generate useful information and build confidence
• The two questions to ask when you know what you want but aren't taking action

00:00 – Welcome to Unstuck & Unstoppable

Introducing the podcast and who it's for.

01:27 – You know what to do, so why aren't you doing it?

Why knowing what you want doesn't automatically lead to action.

03:00 – What is your inaction protecting you from?

Looking beyond procrastination to the uncertainty, rejection and discomfort underneath it.

04:00 – Maybe you don't have an action problem

Why not taking action can sometimes feel like the safest and most rational choice.

06:00 – The hidden cost of staying stuck

What another year in the same situation could cost you in energy, confidence, time and opportunities.

07:00 – What will you have to give up?

Understanding the trade-offs that come with career progression and change.

09:00 – Are you waiting to feel ready?

Why there may never be a perfect moment when you suddenly feel ready to take the next step.

10:00 – Thoughtful or stuck?

When preparation and reflection become a way of avoiding action.

11:00 – What identity are you protecting?

How becoming more senior, visible or ambitious can require you to step beyond an identity that has served you well.

12:00 – Make the action smaller

Why you don't need to rewrite your whole CV, build the perfect business case or completely reinvent yourself.

14:00 – Let action give you information

How small experiments can help you discover what you really want and build confidence.

15:00 – Two questions to help you move forward

“If I knew I couldn't fail, what would I do?” followed by the more useful question: what's the smallest version of that action?

16:00 – Maybe you don't need certainty. Maybe you need permission.

Permission to explore, change your mind, want something different and take a step without knowing exactly where it will lead.

17:00 – Don't let your career reset disappear

Choose one small action and put it in your diary.

18:00 – Closing thoughts

A final reminder that your career is built through the small decisions and actions you take along the way.

Useful Links

Join The 7 Day Career Reset

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Book a Free 121 Clarity Call

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

You’ve made it to Day 7! Today is about turning everything you’ve thought about over the last week into action. Rather than trying to map out your whole career, you’ll create a practical 90-day plan with up to three priorities, clear actions and the support you need to follow through.

In this episode, you’ll explore:

• Why 90 days is a useful timeframe for career progress
• What you want to have achieved three months from now
• How to choose your three most important career priorities
• The actions, people and time needed to make progress
• What will help you actually follow through
• How to turn your reflections from the past seven days into a practical plan

Chapters:

• 00:00 Welcome to Day 7
• 00:40 Why create a 90-day plan?
• 01:00 What would make you proud of your progress?
• 01:30 Choose your three priorities
• 02:00 What will make your plan happen?
• 03:00 Complete your 90-day action plan
• 03:30 Look back at your seven-day journey
• 04:00 You don’t need to have your whole career figured out
• 04:30 The Ambition Plan
• 04:45 Your final action and Power Hour reminder

Coaching question:

What could be different in my career 90 days from now if I actually follow this through?

Key thought:

You don’t need to have your whole career figured out. You just need to be willing to take responsibility for the direction you’re heading in and make time to move things forward.

Useful Links

Join The 7 Day Career Reset

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

Making a career decision can feel difficult when you want certainty before you act. But you don’t have to decide your whole career today. You just need to decide what you’re going to explore next.

In Day 6, you’ll consider three possible directions: stay, grow or go, and identify the option that gives you the strongest sense of energy, curiosity or possibility.

00:00 Welcome to Day 6

00:30 Why making career decisions feels difficult

01:00 Stay: What could you change where you are?

01:30 Grow: What would progression look like?

02:00 Go: What could moving somewhere new mean?

02:30 Explore rather than commit

03:00 Your Day 6 action

04:00 Tomorrow: Your 90-day career plan

What would I like to explore next, without needing to commit to it yet?

You don’t have to make the perfect career decision. You can choose to explore.

Intentions are great, but action is where careers start to change.

Useful Links

Sign Up For The 7 Day Career Reset

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

Being brilliant at your job isn’t always enough. If the right people don’t know what you’re capable of, opportunities can pass you by.

Day 5 is about rethinking visibility. It isn’t about showing off or constantly promoting yourself. It’s about making sure the people who need to know about your contribution, strengths and ambitions actually know about them.

00:00 Welcome to Day 5

00:35 Why visibility matters

01:00 Visibility isn’t showing off

01:30 Who knows what you’re capable of?

02:00 Your relationship network

02:30 Who do you need to reconnect with?

03:00 Who do you need to get to know?

03:30 Your Day 5 action

04:00 Your Power Hour opportunity

04:30 Tomorrow: What’s your next move?

Who needs to know more about what I’m capable of?

Careers aren’t built entirely through qualifications and hard work. They’re built through relationships, reputation, contribution and visibility.

Useful Links

Sign Up For The 7 Day Career Reset

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

You’ve thought about where you are, what you’ve achieved and what you might want next. Today, it’s time to look at what could be holding you back.

Some barriers are genuinely external, but sometimes the biggest blocker is an internal one: a belief, fear, habit or story that’s stopping you from taking action. This episode helps you identify your biggest career blocker and find one small step to start creating movement.

00:00 Welcome to Day 4

00:35 What’s really getting in your way?

01:00 Look beneath the obvious answer

01:30 The career blockers we don’t always recognise

02:00 What would you do if the obstacle disappeared?

02:30 What’s stopping you taking that first step?

03:00 Confidence doesn’t always come before action

03:30 Your Day 4 action

04:00 Tomorrow: Getting visible

What would I do if the thing I’m worried about wasn’t holding me back?

You don’t have to feel completely ready to take the next step. Sometimes confidence comes because you take action.

Useful Links

Join The 7 Day Career Reset

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

Day 3 of the 7-Day Career Reset is about one of the biggest questions in your career: What do you actually want?

Not what you think you should want, what other people expect, or what seems like the obvious next step.

This episode helps you step back from job titles and expectations and explore how you want your next career chapter to feel.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to Day 3

00:35 What do you actually want?

01:00 Start with how you want your career to feel

01:30 More of / less of

02:00 Imagine your career three years from now

02:45 Your career and the life it enables

03:00 You don't need to have all the answers

03:30 Your Day 3 action

04:00 Your coaching question

04:15 Tomorrow: What's getting in your way?

Coaching question:

If I stopped worrying about what other people expected of me, what would I choose?

Key thought

You don't need to know exactly what your next job is. You just need to start getting clearer about the direction you want to move in.

Useful Links

Join the & Day Career Reset

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]