#92: LAST WEEK:
How You'll Actually Stick With This: Your Real-World Sustainability Plan
If you’re just joining me (or if you’ve been following the Leadership Journey Series but life got in the way)—you’re exactly where you need to be.
This isn’t about catching up. This is about clarity.
And clarity doesn’t care what week it is.
_____________________________________________
Week 8 of From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: Your Leadership Reset
Reading time: 6 minutes
Here's something I used to believe early in my career:
If I wasn't putting out fires, I wasn't leading.
The fires felt urgent. The fires felt important. And honestly? Putting out fires felt like proof that I was needed.
So I ran. And I chased. And I kept telling myself: "Once I get through this, THEN I'll have time to plan."
But here's the thing about fires: they never stop.
There's always another one. Always another crisis, another deadline, another thing that was due yesterday.
And if you wait for the fires to stop before you start planning your leadership path — you'll wait forever.
The Shift That Changed Everything
Somewhere in the last decade of my career, I stopped believing the fires were the most important thing.
Not that I ignored them. But I stopped letting them run my calendar, my energy, and my focus.
Instead, I got deliberate.
I carved out protected time — not for firefighting, but for long-range thinking. For asking: Where are we actually going? What are the next three things we need to do to get there?
It felt uncomfortable at first. Blocking time when emails were piling up. Saying "that can wait an hour" when everything felt urgent. Part of me kept thinking I was being irresponsible. That if I wasn't in the middle of the chaos, I wasn't doing my job.
But I held the line. Imperfectly. Some weeks I couldn't. But most weeks I carved out something.
And the weeks I did?
My team noticed.
While people around us were running and chasing and stressed, our team had a steadier pace. Not because our work was easier. But because we had a plan we could see.
And that plan? It wasn't fancy.
Sometimes it was chicken scratch on one sheet of paper. Sometimes it was scribbled on a whiteboard. Sometimes I had time to make it look professional. Usually I didn't.
But it was written down. And it was visible. And that made all the difference.
Because when things got crazy — and they always got crazy — I could almost visually recall that document. That plan. Those three next steps. And it grounded me.
"Good Enough" Got Me Further Than "Perfect" Ever Could
Here's what I want you to know:
I never spent days and days mapping out a perfect plan.
I believed in good enough.
Get yourself pointed. Write down what's important. See it. And move.
That's it.
Because here's the trap I see new and emerging leaders fall into: they think sustainability means having everything figured out. A perfect system. A polished plan. Every goal mapped with precision.
And then when they can't create that perfect plan — because they're busy, because the fires are relentless, because life is happening — they don't create ANY plan.
A one-page chicken scratch plan that you can see on your wall will do more for your leadership than a 20-page strategic document sitting in a drawer.
And if that plan falls apart by Wednesday? Make a new one. It took you five minutes the first time. It'll take you five minutes again. The plan isn't precious. The habit of pointing yourself is.
Good enough beats perfect every single time.
You Can't Do This Alone (And You Were Never Meant To)
There's something every leader discovers eventually:
Leadership feels isolating.
There's this heaviness that comes with the role. This belief that "I'm supposed to know this already." This pressure to have it all figured out.
And so you try to go solo.
If anyone tells you they didn't try to go it alone at some point, they're not being straight with you.
But the more isolated I felt, the more I knew I needed to open up.
The first time I said "I'm stuck on this" to a colleague, it felt like a risk. I genuinely wondered if they'd think I couldn't handle my role. But it wasn't a risk. It was a relief — for both of us. Because they were carrying the same stuff and hadn't said anything either.
That one conversation changed how I approached everything.
I started going to different people for different things. A colleague on the management team when I needed to talk through an operational challenge. Sometimes the leader above me for a real conversation about what I was actually feeling. A trusted sounding board — someone with a completely different perspective who could pull me out of whatever rabbit hole I'd gone down. Friends and family for the things that weren't appropriate to share at work
I didn't limit myself to one rank or one circle. I reached across different perspectives depending on the topic.
The magic of talking it out is this: sometimes you don't even need advice. Sometimes you just start talking and realize your own solution. But you needed someone else there to unlock it.O
ther times, someone says one thing — one sentence — and it shifts everything. "Wait a minute. Yeah. OK, I need to go in a different direction."
That's not weakness. That's wisdom.
Your support system doesn't need to be expensive or formal. One trusted colleague is a start. One coffee conversation is a start. One "I'm struggling with this" is a start. A professional network in your sector. A peer learning group. A coaching relationship. It can be any combination of these — the point isn't the structure. It's that you stop trying to carry everything alone.
The Mindset That Holds It All Together
There's one more piece I want to share with you. Because plans and people aren't enough on their own.
There's a mindset underneath all of it.
And I want to be real about something first.
There will be days where you absolutely do not believe you can do this. Days where you sit in your car after work and think "I don't know if I can keep going like this." Days where the weight of everyone else's expectations sits so heavy on you that you can't see past next week.
That's normal. That's not failure. That's leadership on a hard day.
But here's what carried me through those days:
Never believe you can't.
Even when you're shaky. Even when you're not 100% sure. Lead with believing first.
Sometimes it's blind faith. I won't pretend otherwise.
But because I thought that way — because I always started from "I can" rather than "why bother" — it kept me moving forward. It kept me investing in myself. It kept me showing up even when things were uncertain.
That forward-leaning belief, combined with a plan you can see and people you can lean on — that's what sustains a leadership career.
Not perfection. Not having it all figured out. Not doing it alone.
Belief. A good-enough plan. And people in your corner.
Your Turn: The 10-Minute Reset
This is our final exercise. And it's the one that ties everything together. It's simpler than you think.
Step 1: Name Your People (3 minutes)
Who are 2–3 people you can lean on? Think about: Who do you trust for honest feedback? Who gives you a different perspective? Who "gets it" because they're in a similar role? Who can you be vulnerable with?
Write down their names. That's your starting web.
Step 2: Plan for When You Slip (3 minutes)
Because you will. We all do.
Life gets busy. Fires come back. You forget about the plan you made.
So decide NOW: What's one thing that will bring you back? Maybe it's re-reading this 8-week roadmap. A monthly coffee with one of your support people. 10 minutes on Sunday to check in with your goals. Keeping your plan visible — on your wall, your desk, your phone.
Pick one. Write it down.
Step 3: Set ONE Check-In (4 minutes)
Not five. Not a whole calendar system. Just ONE.
Pick one regular touchpoint that will keep you connected to what you've built. Maybe it's a monthly check-in with yourself. Maybe it's a standing coffee with a peer. Maybe it's joining a network or community.
Schedule it. Right now. Put it in your calendar.
Because the difference between leaders who sustain their growth and leaders who drift isn't talent. It isn't time. It's having something — or someone — that pulls them back when the fires try to take over.
What You've Built
Whether you've been here since Week 1 or you're reading this for the first time — here's what this roadmap covers. If you're just discovering this series, it's not too late. Every single week stands on its own.
Week 1: You spotted your leadership wins — the patterns of what's actually working.
Week 2: You named what drains you — what's working against your wiring.
Week 3: You owned your leadership style — your signature, the pattern behind your best work.
Week 4: You mined your hard moments for gold — the capacity you built without even realizing it.
Week 5: You defined who you're becoming — your leadership identity, in your own words.
Week 6: You drew your lines in the sand — the non-negotiables that protect your capacity.
Week 7: You picked your growth moves — the ones that energize you, not deplete you.
Week 8: You built your support system — the people and practices that keep you on track.
That's not a set of exercises. That's a leadership roadmap.
YOUR roadmap. Built on YOUR strengths. YOUR experience. YOUR path.
Nobody else's playbook. Yours.
It's not that complicated.
You don't need a perfect plan. You need a good-enough plan that you can see and come back to. You don't need to have it all figured out. You need a couple of trusted people you can talk to when it gets hard. You don't need to sprint. You need a steady pace and the belief that you can.
And one more thing:
There are more people cheering you on than you realize
Those of us who've been doing this for a while? We genuinely love mentoring the next generation of leaders. We want you to succeed. We're watching you step into these roles and we're rooting for you — even if we haven't said it out loud.
You are not alone in this.
You never were.
I designed these eight weeks because I've done this same work myself. It changed my trajectory. And I'm doing it again this February — because leadership growth isn't a one-time event. It's a practice.
So keep your roadmap. Come back to it. Do it again next year if you want. Share it with a colleague who's stepping into leadership. And if you want to go deeper — stay connected. There's more coming.
Whatever happens in 2026 — the fires, the challenges, the hard moments — you have capacity you didn't have eight weeks ago.
You know how YOU lead. You know what drains you. You know your style, your identity, your lines, your growth path, and who's in your corner.
That's not "just surviving."
That's leading.
Leave a spark wherever you go.
his was Week 8 — the finale — of our 8-week journey from Overwhelmed to Unstoppable. Eight weeks. Eight insights. Eight exercises. One leadership roadmap that's entirely yours.
About the SHiNE Framework
This post is grounded in the SHiNE Leadership Framework-a proven model designed to help emerging leaders unlock their potential and lead with authenticity. Whether you're navigating healthcare, government, or nonprofit work, SHiNE provides the tools to build confidence, stay resilient, and lead with clarity.
Grounded in lifelong growth, empathy, humility, and integrity, SHiNE empowers you to embrace your unique strengths, connect with others, and inspire meaningful change.
SHiNE is about thriving as the leader you are meant to be.
Email: info@spirenzaconsulting.com
Unsubscribe | Update your profile |