Have you ever noticed that the better you are at something, the more things to do seem to find their way to you?
I call it the “curse of competence.”
I recently sat down with John Neral on The Mid-Career GPS Podcast to talk about exactly this. During our conversation, we dove into what happens when high-achieving professionals become the ultimate problem solvers in their organizations:
“And I call that the curse of competence. It’s like for those of us who are high achievers that are very competent at what we do, everyone else sees that too. So what ends up happening is we become the paths of least resistance for all of the organizational chaos and all of the fire drills that everyone else has… So they just continue to absorb and absorb and absorb, and that capacity continues to be eroded.”
If you’ve been feeling like you are constantly absorbing everyone else’s fire drills—and watching your own capacity erode—this episode is for you. We talk about how to recognize this trap and, more importantly, how to start setting boundaries before you hit a breaking point.
The episode dropped yesterday, and you can listen to it right now on your favorite platform:
👉 Listen with Show Notes & Transcript
(If you enjoy the episode, please take a quick second to follow the show and leave John a 5-star rating! It makes a huge difference in helping other mid-career professionals find these resources.)
I’d love to hear your thoughts after you listen: Does the “curse of competence” hit a little too close to home for you right now? Send me an email here and let me know.