Three Clauses That Changed Who You Are
Nobody sat you down and explained what you were actually agreeing to when you took that first senior role, but the terms have been compounding ever since.
Your time went first, and not just the hours. The weekends spent recovering instead of building something of your own, the years that disappeared inside someone else's strategy while yours stayed on pause.
Then your identity shifted. At some point you stopped being you and became your title and your company. Try removing both and asking yourself who you actually are, because most executives at your level haven't honestly answered that question in over a decade.
And your options narrowed with every step up. Each promotion made you more specialised, more expensive, and more locked into a system that rewards you for staying rather than for becoming something bigger on the outside.
What most people miss is that the real cost isn't just the money, it's that you've been slowly reshaped into someone who fits the role instead of someone building their own future. The good news is the contract was never binding, and the same drive that got you to the top is exactly what gets you out.
