Hey there, you smart, strategic, high-achieving professional,

Mind if we turn off your brain for a sec and drop into your body?

Hi 👋

We’re here because you want important things for your work and life, and your body is going to help you get them. Yes, your brain too. But you already knew that.

To double-check what people really crave in their careers, I dropped anonymized client surveys into ChatGPT and cross-referenced them with Gallup’s Employee Engagement Survey. The results weren’t surprising, but I was struck by the divide in how we achieve them.

Money’s a great brain exercise. You’ve got $XK and want $YK. Hone your value prop and find the greatest, most resourced demand for it. Even growth and development, supportive management, recognition and respect, and flexibility can be tracked and optimized.

But some of the most important desires can’t be measured intellectually:

Fulfillment. Alignment. Passion. Purpose. Meaning. Flow. Energy ✨

So how do you know if you’ve got them? How do you know you’re on the right track?

The answer is intuition. A felt sense, rather than intellectual reasoning.

There are a few things that make intuition difficult, especially in careers:

• We expect fireworks: Intuition is powerful, but it isn’t a “hell yes” cranked to volume 11. Alignment may simply be the absence of tummy tension. Subtle cues matter.
• It’s not a panacea: Every path has downsides. Sometimes intuition points you somewhere that also feels scary or even boring at times. Don’t shut it down. Get curious.
• Fear drowns it out: Political uncertainty, shaky economy, AI disruption… oh my! I’ll share how to work with fear (not against it) in the next newsletter.

Just this past week, one client went from zero gut instinct and sleepless nights about a Director-level job offer to a clear “yes.” Another finally spoke her true dream out loud and got hit with a creative burst that’s reshaping her pivot. Another emerged from weeks of handwringing with a calm decision to pause her business and focus on family.

Yes, they thought long and hard. But the final clarity showed up as ease, calm, energy, sleep, lowered shoulders, a loose jaw, a gentle smile…

My question for you this week:

What does a “yes” feel like in your body?

One last thing: intuition doesn’t care whether important things like passion come from work itself, or whether work simply supports passion in your life. That’s why we separate tuning into intuition from making meaning of it, and then deciding the path forward.

I’d love to hear what this reflection question brings up for you! Hit reply and let me know. I read and respond to every message with love.

Onward!
Grace

P.S. I’m hosting Should I Stay or Should I Go? workshops for Tech Ladies in November and Cornell Alumni Career Programs in December. I’m committed to sparking clarity on this important question so you can confidently stay, shift, or start fresh. The last one sold out. Reply if you’d like first dibs on the invite!