I didn’t set out to write a book about achievement.
In fact, if you’d asked me a few years ago what I was interested in, I would have said confidence. Self-image. Identity and the kind of work that helps people feel more comfortable in who they are.
That’s where it started.
For over a decade, I worked one-to-one with people as a hair and makeup artist.
On the surface, it looked like a creative role… style, colour, transformation.
But if you’ve ever sat in a chair like that – with someone focused entirely on you – you’ll know it rarely stays surface level for long.
People talk.
They open up about what’s going on in their lives.
About pressure. Relationships. Work. Expectations… and about the ways they feel like they’re not quite getting it right.
Those conversations became my first book, #NoFilterNeeded.
A book about identity, self-image, and what happens when the world keeps telling you to be more.
I thought that was the work.
But over the last few years, something else has been emerging.
The achievement pattern I couldn’t ignore
Through coaching, speaking, and working with high performers, founders and leaders… I started noticing a different kind of conversation.
These weren’t people lacking motivation.
If anything, they had too much of it.
Their lives looked successful from the outside.
They’d built impressive careers, created thriving businesses, and achieved many goals.
But underneath that…
They couldn’t switch off.
Not properly.
Even when things were going well… in fact, especially when things were going well.
There was always something to do.
Something to improve.
Something to think about next.
And I recognised it instantly… because I’ve been there too.
When doing stops being a choice
What I’ve come to understand is this:
For a lot of capable, driven people… doing doesn’t just feel productive.
It feels safe.
Being organised, being useful, being the one who gets things done.
It creates a sense of control, stability and certainty.
And at some point, that became the way we regulate ourselves.
So even when the external pressure eases…
The internal system doesn’t.
It keeps going.
Which means slowing down doesn’t feel like rest.
It feels uncomfortable, and it makes you restless because it actually can feel threatening.
So we reach for something.
Our phones.
A new idea.
Another goal.
Not because we need to…
…but because being still isn’t a place we know how to sit, as it doesn’t feel safe.
The hidden cost of achievement
We’re living in a time where achievement is more visible than ever.
You can scroll for five minutes and see promotions, launches, milestones, and results.
Everyone sharing what they’ve done, what they’re building, what’s next.
And while that can be inspiring…
It also continually raises the bar.
And when your identity is built around being capable…
there’s an unspoken pressure to keep proving it.
To yourself.
To others.
To the version of you that got you here.
Which is why so many people are doing well on paper…
…but feeling stretched, wired, and unable to fully switch off internally.
Burnout is rising.
Productivity culture is louder than ever.
And most of the advice out there is still focused on doing more… just more efficiently.
But what if that’s not where the answer is?
The book I’m writing now
This is the work I’ve been exploring in my next book, Will It Ever Be Enough?
It’s not a book about doing less.
And it’s not about removing ambition.
It’s about understanding why slowing down feels so uncomfortable in the first place…
and what happens when achievement becomes the way you feel safe.
Because once you see that clearly, then something shifts.
You stop trying to manage yourself through more doing.
And you start rebuilding a different relationship with ambition altogether.
One success becomes something you no longer have to constantly maintain…
…but something you can actually experience.
If this resonates…
I’m still in the process of writing this book, which means the ideas are very much alive, evolving, and being shaped by the conversations I’m having every day.
If you’ve ever found yourself:
- unable to properly switch off
- jumping straight to the next thing, even after a win
- feeling restless when things go quiet
- or wondering why it never quite feels like “enough”
…then this book is for you.
I’ll be sharing more as it develops, but if you’d like to know more about the hidden cost of achievement and be the first to hear when it’s released (and get a few behind-the-scenes thoughts along the way), you can join the waiting list below.
