Is your goal giving you energy?

Have you ever worked really hard to reach a goal, and then felt deflated when you got there?

You finally got that leadership role — but now you are running out of energy. You are not sure if you have enough left for the next step, and you are not even sure the next step is the right one for you.

We tend to imagine that once we achieve something, life will be easier. With the new leadership role, you might have thought, “Yes, I can finally make decisions, fix the broken processes, and do all the things I saw but never had the authority to change.”

The reality is different. You spend more time managing the people around you and above you, just to keep your own work moving forward. The work does not get lighter — it just changes shape.

For some people, this is no bother. They handle the workload and the pressure, and they keep climbing higher and higher. For others, it feels exhausting, and they wonder if they have it in them to continue.

So why is that? Are some people simply built to endure tough challenges and can keep going, and others are not?

I was curious — so I looked at some high-achieving leaders and artists to find out what allows them to push through challenges…

Three high-achieving women and what drives them

Beyoncé. People who work with her describe her as “a workhorse.” She practises for hours and perfects every detail of her shows. Even now, at the top of her field, she works hard to maintain her brand and her performances.

What kept her going through all of that? She loves the art itself — that gives her energy.

Melanie Perkins, the founder of Canva. Today the company is valued at over $40 billion, and Melanie is still the CEO and still deeply involved in product design. Before Canva existed, her idea was rejected by venture capital investors more than 100 times. But she didn’t give up — she tweaked the product, sharpened her story, and tried again.

What kept her going through all of that? She had seen the problem with her own eyes. While teaching students how to use design software, she watched how hard it was for ordinary people. She wanted design to be as easy as writing an email. The problem itself was what drove her.

Leena Nair, CEO of Chanel. She started her career at Unilever, on a factory floor in India. She was often the only woman in the room, and the first woman to work the night shift. The conditions were almost designed to make her quit — but she didn’t.

What kept her going through all of that? She wanted to prove that kindness can be a business asset and human-centred leadership works. She wanted to change the way leaders lead.

Three women, three different energy sources:

• Beyoncé loves the craft itself.

• Melanie wanted to fix a problem for users.

• Leena wanted to change a system.

Most of us land somewhere on this spectrum. Some of us are pulled by the work itself, some by who they are solving for, some by what they want to change.

So coming back to the question at the start: are some people built to endure tough challenges, and others are not?

No. The real difference is what’s driving them.

Of course, some of us do face tougher challenges. As women, we face real barriers that our male colleagues don’t, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But that didn’t stop the three women above, and it doesn’t need to stop you, as long as you know what you are working toward.
 

What this means for you

Before you go for that next promotion, ask yourself: where do I really want to go in the longer term? What is the purpose I want to contribute to?

Your purpose does not have to be as big as Beyoncé’s “create unique art” or Melanie’s “fix design for everyone.” But you do need something that gives you a reason to put in the hard work. It might be, “I want to leave a legacy for my children and show that women can be hugely successful.” Or, “I really care about this industry, and I want to drive the strategy that solves its biggest problems.”

A simple way to find out what drives you: The retirement party exercise

Imagine your retirement party. Friends, family, and old colleagues are all there. One of them stands up to give a speech about you. What do you want them to highlight? What is the legacy you want to have left behind?

When I did this exercise a few years ago, I realised something. What drives me is wanting everyone in the workplace to have the chance to use their full potential.

That means the quiet engineer is voicing her good idea in a product meeting, and the product becomes better because of it. Or the genuinely great leaders actually get to lead, instead of being talked over by less capable colleagues. The result of this? Better products, better companies.

That clarity led me to set up Keys to Impact, where I help women in STEM gain influence and progress in their careers. It is also why I wrote my book, 5 Keys to Your Potential: An Actionable Guide for Women in STEM, which publishes on 26 May 2026.

People often ask me where I get my energy from. My answer? Yes, things are hard. But when the work is aligned with your purpose, you find a way to pull through.
 

What you can do right now
 

Once you have your retirement-party answer, take it and hold the next role or project up against it.

Will this role or project move me closer to that legacy? Will the hard work feel like a battle worth fighting?

Don’t read this as: quit your job tomorrow if it doesn’t perfectly match your purpose. The point is to be more conscious about the choices you make from here — the next project you take on or the next role. See if you can connect them to the bigger purpose you want to serve. The closer they are, the more energy you will have for the hard parts.

Life always comes with struggle. The key is choosing the struggle that resonates with you, the one that feels worth solving.