Feeling stuck in your career? This will help
Readtime: 4 minutes
Before we start… a collaboration:
Want to level up your interview game?
I’m co-hosting an invite-only interview workshop for candidates interviewing at top-tier companies and fast growing startups.
When: Tuesday, August 5th, 5pm (UK) / 9am (Pacific)
Cost: This is $2,750+ of value. For FREE
Co-hosted by the founding team behind Superinterviews and Sidebar, ex-Meta product and growth leaders, and me.
Superinterviews is an AI-powered Interview Readiness System™ that helps you master the real game behind interviews. You'll get the key insights on high-stakes interviewing.
I chose to partner with Superinterviews because it’s a nice fit with my Atomic Ambition program. Atomic Ambition gives you absolute clarity and confidence on what your next career move is, and then Superinterviews ensures that you nail the interview.
Sign up for the workshop here.
Now, on to today’s newsletter…
We’re often been so busy looking ahead that we forget how far we’ve come.
Several years ago, you couldn’t have done half the things you now do on autopilot.
And yet… if you’re feeling frustrated or restless in your current role, you’re probably telling yourself you haven’t done enough.
Let’s fix that.
By the end of this newsletter, you’ll have a clearer view of what you’ve already built – and how that gives you far more options for what comes next than you might realise.
Because when you see how far you’ve already come, your next move stops feeling like a risk, and starts feeling inevitable.
I’ve also got an awesome CustomGPT which will help you. (We use a lot of these in Atomic Ambition).
Let’s dive in.
We’re wired to focus on the gap
Most ambitious people fall into the same trap:
They focus on the distance between where they are and where they want to be.
That’s the “gap”.
But there’s real power in measuring the gain, i.e. the distance between where you are now and where you started.
When you look at it that way, everything shifts.
You realise you’ve already built far more than you give yourself credit for.
And that changes how you approach what’s next.
You’ve already done the hard bit.
If you’ve been working for some time, here’s what’s likely true:
✅ You’ve built deep expertise, even if you don’t label it that way
✅ You’ve built relationships and a reputation people trust
✅ You’ve delivered under pressure, again and again
✅ You’ve earned the right to be in important rooms
✅ You’ve navigated complex politics
These things are your career capital.
But the irony is that the more experience we build, the more we normalise it – and we forget how valuable it actually is.
You’re not starting again
If you’re thinking about a career shift – internally or externally – it’s easy to feel like you’re going “back to square one”.
You’re not.
You’re bringing your years of capability with you. The only difference is where you apply it next.
And that’s a different game entirely.
This isn’t reinvention. It’s redeployment.
Try this: Reputation to Direction
Think about the tricky things people come to you for advice on at work.
Maybe they say something like:
“I really need your take, you always know how to handle things like this.”
Now ask yourself:
What do you think makes them come to you – what qualities, experience, or way of thinking do you bring?
What does that say about the skills you’ve developed – and the reputation you’ve built?
Then ask yourself:
👉 “If I shaped my next career move around those strengths, what kind of role would be a natural fit?”
👉 “What kind of companies, environments, or industries would truly value that?”
(If you’d like to be guided through this process, with additional insights and a short report at the end, I created a free Custom ChatGPT for you. We use a lot of these in Atomic Ambition. You’ll need 10 minutes to go through it properly.)
Remember:
Your next chapter doesn’t need to be a reinvention.
It can be a redeployment – based on what people already trust you for.
You’re further along than you think
If you’re feeling like you should’ve done more by now, pause.
Take a breath.
You’ve probably already:
Achieved more than your younger self imagined
Outgrown roles that many others still aspire to
Got the capability to open far bigger doors
That frustration or restless feeling you have?
It’s not a sign you’ve fallen behind. It’s a sign you’re ready for more.
And when you combine that hunger with everything you’ve already built… that’s where the magic happens.
In Summary
Congratulations, you’re not at the beginning. You’re standing on top of your career’s worth of experience so far.
Here’s how to use it:
✅ Measure backwards: look at how far you’ve come
✅ Audit your hidden assets: skills, relationships, credibility
✅ Shift from “starting again” to “building forward”
✅ Use that foundation to sketch your next move, with confidence
Your next chapter isn’t a leap. It’s the natural evolution of everything you’ve already done.
Don’t let what you haven’t done blind you to everything you have done.
You’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.
On a Personal Note
I sometimes forget this myself.
When I first left my partner role at KPMG, it felt like I was starting from scratch.
New business, new clients, new identity.
But when I took the time to reflect, I saw that I was actually building on two decades of experience, not throwing it away. The relationships, the trust, the insight – the ability to spot patterns and shape strategy – all of that came with me.
And it helped me to move faster than I expected.
The same will be true for you, whatever you do next.
One Quote to Get You Going
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
That’s all for today.
See you in a couple of weeks,
Mostyn
P.S. If you’re 15+ years into your career and have some frustration about your current role, I created Atomic Ambition for you. All previous participants have described it as ‘life-changing’.
Find out more here.
And congrats for making it to the end of today’s newsletter!