01/27/2026
Job descriptions.
They list the skills and experience needed for a job.
We scan the bullets, mentally checking off the ones that describe us—and quietly wondering if we can learn, grow into, or fake the ones that don’t.
What they don’t tell you is the heart behind the “asks.”
For five years, my job was disciplining other people’s children for a living.
(You may know the title as High School Assistant Principal.)
On paper?
I could check every box.
In real life?
Parts of that job absolutely ate my lunch.
The role required administering justice based on a set of rules and laws.
Black and white, right?
Yes.
And no.
Not when you learn the stories behind the behaviors that land kids in your office.
Not when you see the people behind the policies.
That’s where my hard-wired motivations clashed.
Is it people first, or principles?
Accountability or grace?
Admonishment or encouragement?
I knew my colleagues were wired differently than me, so I leaned into their gifts.
I’d walk through the circumstances with them—partly to stay a consistent team, but also to borrow their perspectives.
Here’s what I learned:
If parts of your job keep you awake at night while other parts give you life and purpose—you’re not broken.
And it rarely means you need a new job.
It usually means you need to understand your heart drivers…and learn how to leverage the people around you who carry different motivational gifts.
And, sometimes you can flip the script on the story to align with your natural self.
If aspects of your job feel like they clash with your heart, let’s talk.
I know.
That’s hard to admit out loud.
And you may not want to say it publicly.
DM me. I’m a safe place.
I’ve been there.
