Dissonance is a signal
Dissonance is a sign. It’s what often drives the search for Sustainable Ambition, for wanting to experience something different in our life and work. Yet, people often ignore the message.
This month’s podcast conversations touch on this topic and relate to the three pillars of Sustainable Ambition—Right Ambition, Right Time, and Right Effort. Each episode reveals how moments of dissonance—workplace disconnection, time scarcity, and emotional strain—aren’t just challenges to overcome but valuable signals guiding us toward more sustainable paths in our careers and personal lives.
In my latest episode (coming out Wednesday, 4/30), we consider work alignment. And what did my guest, Moe Carrick, tell me it took for both employers and employees to make a shift? Pain—the pain of people leaving in droves or the pain of a bad job. In other words, dissonance. Moe helps us understand why meaningful work forms an essential part of our Right Ambition and the many needs it serves in our lives. I got fired up by this conversation, so I hope you’ll listen in here on 4/30 and get show notes here.
With Laura Vanderkam, we explore how to wrestle with our limited time, and Laura offers practical wisdom on claiming the Right Time for what truly matters—transforming our relationship with constraints into opportunities for intentional choice. I love Laura’s work and have been following her for over a decade, so this was definitely a fan-girl moment! Listen in here and get show notes here.
With Dina Denham Smith, we discuss how emotional labor is impacting leaders in today’s work climate. Dina shares how emotional awareness becomes crucial to our Right Effort, speaking about her book and how our emotional responses can inform more sustainable leadership approaches. This is such an important topic and highly relevant book for this moment. I think you’ll appreciate what Dina has to share in our conversation and in the book. Listen here and get show notes here.
What makes these conversations so powerful is their shared recognition of what's fundamentally human in our struggles for sustainability. They acknowledge the inherent challenges while offering pathways forward that honor both our ambitions and our need for wellbeing.
Rather than seeing constraints, conflicts, and changes as obstacles, these discussions invite us to view them as natural parts of our human experience—opportunities to realign with what matters most to us as we pursue Sustainable Ambition.
Are you experiencing any tension or dissonance now? What signal might it be sending you?
It’s helpful to remember—dissonance is a sign to make adjustments, rather than one of failure. You can continually adapt your approach to create more sustainability in both life and work.
Want to get insights, tips, and tools on how to live with Sustainable Ambition? Join in here. Welcome!
Sustainable Ambition offers a strategic approach for pursuing our professional and personal goals in a way that is motivating, meaningful, and manageable from stage to stage, rather than be all consuming in a way that compromises other important aspects of our lives or sacrifices our well-being.