You're Career Isn't Stuck - Your Rhythm Is Off
How One Tech Leader Reinvented Herself 7 Time
There's a particular kind of stuck that high performers experience.
You're doing all the "right things." You're saying yes. You're showing up. You're delivering results.
But something feels off.
You're irritated more than you used to be. You scroll job boards feeling nothing. You tell people you're "exploring options" when really, you're just lost.
Here's what nobody tells you: You're not in the wrong place. Your rhythm is just off.
I know this because I recently sat down with Barb Campbell—a tech talent strategist who's reinvented herself seven times in 13 years at Salesforce—and she completely reframed how I think about career strategy.
When Irritation Becomes Information
Barb wasn't always clear about her boundaries or her rhythm.
In her 20s, she threw herself 100% into her career. She worked late. She traveled constantly. She said yes to everything.
And then she had her first daughter.
Suddenly, the constant travel wasn't sustainable. She made her first boundary: she needed an internal-facing role.
But even after setting boundaries, she struggled to honor them. She'd go to workouts with her phone out, checking messages between sets.
That's when she realized something crucial: If she wasn't honoring her boundaries, nobody else would either.
And she noticed something else: she was getting irritated. At work. At people. At requests piling up.
But she wasn't mad at them. She was out of integrity with herself.
That irritation? It was her internal GPS telling her something needed to change.
The Power of Self-Awareness
Here's what Barb did—and what you can do without hiring a coach:
She spent one week tracking every time something felt off. Not to fix it. Just to notice it.
At the end of the week, she looked for patterns. Was it the work itself? The people? The timing? The lack of boundaries?
That awareness became the foundation for everything that came next.
She started communicating her boundaries clearly to her boss: "When I'm on, you get 150% of me. What I need to achieve that is these breaks and these boundaries."
And her boss respected it.
Why? Because she demonstrated that her boundaries weren't about doing less—they were about doing better.
The Lightbulb Moment That Changed Everything
Eight years ago, Barb took a career assessment that kept telling her the same thing: "You're a coach and mentor."
She dismissed it at first. "That's the fluffy stuff. That's not who I am."
But she got curious.
She started having coffee chats with people in her company who had "coach" or "facilitator" in their titles. She got certified as an internal coach. Then as a High Impact Teaming Facilitator.
And slowly, her brand started to shift.
Now she's known as "Coach Barb" throughout Salesforce. She even has her own emoji. Her official title still doesn't say "coach."
But that's who she is. And she built that by being intentional about what lights her up and communicating it clearly.
The Question That Makes "No" Powerful
One of the most powerful things Barb learned was this reframe:
"What can you say no to, so more yeses can show up for the things you want to do?"
When she heard that, everything shifted.
She immediately wrote down everything draining her energy. She stepped back from committees and councils. She sent emails that same day.
And people respected it.
Recently, she threw a successful holiday dance for her daughters' school. Afterward, the PTA asked her to join the board.
She said no. "I don't want the politics. I don't want the budgeting. I want to enroll people and show up for field trips. I don't need to do it all."
She didn't feel guilty. Not one bit. Because she knows her rhythm now.
Your Dream Job Might Already Be Here
Here's what you should know:
The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Your dream role might be exactly where you are—it just needs to look different on your terms.
Don't give up until you've explored what's possible. Don't leave until you've communicated what you actually want. Because your boss doesn't know what lights you up if you've never told them.
What You Can Do This Month
Spend one hour on yourself this month. Not on your resume. Not on your LinkedIn profile.
On actually asking:
When I talked with Barb, she said something that stopped me in my tracks:
"YOU are the subject of the work."
Not your company's goals. Not your boss's priorities. Not what you think you should want.
You.
Everything else you do is for someone else. The company has their goals. Your boss has their priorities.
But when you start focusing on you—when you make yourself the topic—you can start putting in what you want to get out.
We always brush it aside. "I'll do that later."
But later never comes.
The Truth About Being Stuck
If you're feeling stuck right now, here's what I've learned from Barb and from my own journey:
Clarity doesn't come from waiting.
It comes from carving out the time—even just one hour a month—to stop executing and start reflecting.
Your career isn't stuck.
Your rhythm is just off.
And the beautiful thing about rhythm? You can always find it again.
Ready to find your rhythm? Listen to the full conversation with Barb Campbell on the Livin the Rhythm podcast. We dive deeper into her pivot from sports marketing to tech, the exact questions to ask in coffee chats, how to manage up with confidence, and the specific tools she used to create clarity.
Until next time, find your rhythm and live it.
You're doing all the "right things." You're saying yes. You're showing up. You're delivering results.
But something feels off.
You're irritated more than you used to be. You scroll job boards feeling nothing. You tell people you're "exploring options" when really, you're just lost.
Here's what nobody tells you: You're not in the wrong place. Your rhythm is just off.
I know this because I recently sat down with Barb Campbell—a tech talent strategist who's reinvented herself seven times in 13 years at Salesforce—and she completely reframed how I think about career strategy.
When Irritation Becomes Information
Barb wasn't always clear about her boundaries or her rhythm.
In her 20s, she threw herself 100% into her career. She worked late. She traveled constantly. She said yes to everything.
And then she had her first daughter.
Suddenly, the constant travel wasn't sustainable. She made her first boundary: she needed an internal-facing role.
But even after setting boundaries, she struggled to honor them. She'd go to workouts with her phone out, checking messages between sets.
That's when she realized something crucial: If she wasn't honoring her boundaries, nobody else would either.
And she noticed something else: she was getting irritated. At work. At people. At requests piling up.
But she wasn't mad at them. She was out of integrity with herself.
That irritation? It was her internal GPS telling her something needed to change.
The Power of Self-Awareness
Here's what Barb did—and what you can do without hiring a coach:
She spent one week tracking every time something felt off. Not to fix it. Just to notice it.
At the end of the week, she looked for patterns. Was it the work itself? The people? The timing? The lack of boundaries?
That awareness became the foundation for everything that came next.
She started communicating her boundaries clearly to her boss: "When I'm on, you get 150% of me. What I need to achieve that is these breaks and these boundaries."
And her boss respected it.
Why? Because she demonstrated that her boundaries weren't about doing less—they were about doing better.
The Lightbulb Moment That Changed Everything
Eight years ago, Barb took a career assessment that kept telling her the same thing: "You're a coach and mentor."
She dismissed it at first. "That's the fluffy stuff. That's not who I am."
But she got curious.
She started having coffee chats with people in her company who had "coach" or "facilitator" in their titles. She got certified as an internal coach. Then as a High Impact Teaming Facilitator.
And slowly, her brand started to shift.
Now she's known as "Coach Barb" throughout Salesforce. She even has her own emoji. Her official title still doesn't say "coach."
But that's who she is. And she built that by being intentional about what lights her up and communicating it clearly.
The Question That Makes "No" Powerful
One of the most powerful things Barb learned was this reframe:
"What can you say no to, so more yeses can show up for the things you want to do?"
When she heard that, everything shifted.
She immediately wrote down everything draining her energy. She stepped back from committees and councils. She sent emails that same day.
And people respected it.
Recently, she threw a successful holiday dance for her daughters' school. Afterward, the PTA asked her to join the board.
She said no. "I don't want the politics. I don't want the budgeting. I want to enroll people and show up for field trips. I don't need to do it all."
She didn't feel guilty. Not one bit. Because she knows her rhythm now.
Your Dream Job Might Already Be Here
Here's what you should know:
The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Your dream role might be exactly where you are—it just needs to look different on your terms.
Don't give up until you've explored what's possible. Don't leave until you've communicated what you actually want. Because your boss doesn't know what lights you up if you've never told them.
What You Can Do This Month
Spend one hour on yourself this month. Not on your resume. Not on your LinkedIn profile.
On actually asking:
- Am I happy doing this?
- What do I really want?
- What do I want for 2026?
When I talked with Barb, she said something that stopped me in my tracks:
"YOU are the subject of the work."
Not your company's goals. Not your boss's priorities. Not what you think you should want.
You.
Everything else you do is for someone else. The company has their goals. Your boss has their priorities.
But when you start focusing on you—when you make yourself the topic—you can start putting in what you want to get out.
We always brush it aside. "I'll do that later."
But later never comes.
The Truth About Being Stuck
If you're feeling stuck right now, here's what I've learned from Barb and from my own journey:
Clarity doesn't come from waiting.
It comes from carving out the time—even just one hour a month—to stop executing and start reflecting.
Your career isn't stuck.
Your rhythm is just off.
And the beautiful thing about rhythm? You can always find it again.
Ready to find your rhythm? Listen to the full conversation with Barb Campbell on the Livin the Rhythm podcast. We dive deeper into her pivot from sports marketing to tech, the exact questions to ask in coffee chats, how to manage up with confidence, and the specific tools she used to create clarity.
Until next time, find your rhythm and live it.
