5 ways to Avoid A Career Comedown

Back in 2018, I launched “F*ck Being Humble” a rallying cry for women who were done playing small and ready to take up space.

I’ve helped people switch industries, land dream jobs, negotiate pay rises, secure clients, and finally back themselves without the guilt or the cringe.

But lately, my work has shifted. I’m no longer just helping women push forward - I’m helping them avoid the crash that often comes after years of pushing.

A career comedown happens when you’ve poured a decade (or more) of your time, energy, ambition, and identity into your job… only to realise the thing you built your life around no longer lights you up.

In my new book, Career Comedown: What to Do When Work Isn’t Working for You, I’ve conducted hours of interviews, trawled through the research, and navigated my own career comedown up close - and now I want to share everything I’ve learned so you can stop it from happening in your own career.

So whether you’re considering a pivot, feeling stuck with your progression or are desperately trying to find ways to create a better work-life balance, here are my top tips to prevent a career comedown:

Turn red flags into interview questions

If you’ve ever been mis-sold a dream role, you need to jot down all the problems from your previous jobs and turn them into questions to spot red flags.

Experience bad managers?

Ask them to explain how their direct reports would describe their management style.

Feeling overworked? A

sk them to describe their best performing candidate and listen out for any behaviours that don’t align.

Struggled with poor communication issues?

Ask them to explain how decisions are made and whether employees contribute to change.

Smart questions protect you from ending up in the same mess twice.

Change your beliefs and it will change your experience

At this stage, you’ve probably realised you can’t control office politics, chaotic leadership, or someone else’s bad day.

What you can control is the narrative in your own head. Career coach Liz Ward to me your beliefs shape your experience and she’s right. If you tell yourself your boss hates you, you’ll behave like it.

Reframe it as them being overwhelmed, under-supported, or quietly fighting their own fires?

Suddenly the tension softens. Seeing things from other people’s perspectives protects your energy, helps you detach emotionally, and makes the entire working week feel lighter.

Find your own joy at work

Joy at work won’t be hand-delivered by your company, your boss, or your clients - and if you keep waiting for that, you’ll be disappointed.

Add the joy yourself. Rework a dull task into something more playful. Turn problem-solving into a challenge.

Bring energy into meetings that feel like a funeral. Share an idea that excites you even if it isn’t on the agenda.

Because the real question you’ll ask in 20 years isn’t “Did I climb fast enough?” but “Did I enjoy the climb?”

You can’t add more days to your life, but you can add more life to your workdays.

See your career as a body of work

When it comes to career success, it’s easy to feel like we’re in competition with ourselves (and with strangers online) and that we’re somehow falling behind.

Instead of chasing quick progression or a perfectly mapped-out path, it’s more helpful to see your career as a body of work.

This recognises that careers are shaped by context, opportunity, curiosity and change not just speed or titles.

People evolve, values shift, and interests change, and a body of work lets you follow that evolution without labelling it as inconsistency or failure.

Not every chapter has to look like a promotion to matter.

Stop giving 110%

I say this to my fellow over-achieving, hype-productive workers who have prided themselves over the years for giving a 110%.

Whilst it might have landed you the job or secured the contract, the reality of overgiving in your career is part of the reason you might be feeling burned out.

Trinh Mai, director of mindfulness programming at the University of Utah Health, advises that if people want to move away from the 110 per cent mindset, we should start by looking at where we could give 20 per cent less in selected areas that don’t run the risk of harm or significant loss.

Doing this allows us to reckon with the reality of our humanness, rather than the illusion that we are superheroes.

So go through your schedule and start asking yourself where could you reduce your effort without huge disruption?

If you need more support on how to build a career that continues to light you up, our new book Career Comedown: What to Do When Work Isn’t Working for You is available in audio and print to purchase now.