When the Gearbox Stops

In our last issue, we explored how emotional intelligence is a skill you can build, just like making fire on Survivor. We talked about identifying your gaps and having the discipline to close them. This week, I want to talk about a different kind of spark. The one that shows up when something in your professional life is asking you to pay attention. Not because anything is wrong on the outside, but because something on the inside has shifted.

Glimmer of Inspiration ✨

People ask me all the time why I left a successful operations career to start my own coaching business. They want to know what the trigger was. Was it a single moment? A dramatic exit? A grand plan?

The honest answer is simpler and quieter than that. I was stuck.

I think of professional momentum like an internal gearbox. For most of my career, the gears were turning. Sometimes smoothly, sometimes not. There were seasons where the gearbox was clunky, where I had to push harder to move forward, where things did not quite click into place. That was uncomfortable, but it was still movement.

Then one day I realized the gearbox had stopped moving entirely. Not clunky. Not grinding. Stopped. I was going through the motions, delivering results, checking the boxes, but nothing inside me was moving.

That was the signal I could not ignore.

Lightbulb Moment 💡

Here is what I have learned about being stuck: most people skip the honest question.

We jump straight to solutions. We update our resume. We scroll job postings. We start researching business ideas at midnight. We ask friends what they think we should do. We look for the next logical step, the one that makes sense on paper, the one we can explain to other people without them tilting their heads.

But I did not do that. Or, more accurately, I tried doing that first and it did not work. Because I had skipped the question underneath all of it:

What do I actually want?

Not what makes sense. Not what other people expect. Not what the logical next step looks like on a spreadsheet. What do I want?

That question is harder than it sounds. I was trained to optimize, to solve, to find the most efficient path. I was very good at figuring out what I should want. I was much less practiced at sitting with what I actually wanted.

At the time, I was in the middle of my coaching certification program. One of the most valuable parts of that experience was being coached by a peer. It gave me a safe space to sit with that question honestly. Not someone who had an opinion about what I should do. Someone who helped me hear my own answer.

And when I finally got clear on what I wanted, something shifted. It felt like someone had turned on a light. Energy pouring back into me, the gearbox moving again. Not because the external circumstances had changed, but because I had found my direction.

That feeling is why I named my company LALUZ. It means the light in Spanish. Because that is what clarity felt like to me. A light turning on after a long stretch in the dark.

Shine Brighter: Your Growth Challenge 🚀

This week, I want you to check in with yourself. Find a quiet moment and ask:

Where is my gearbox right now?

• Is it turning smoothly?
• A little clunky?
• Or has it stopped altogether?

Be honest with yourself. There is no wrong answer, but there is an important one.

If it has stopped, or if it has been grinding for longer than you want to admit, that is worth paying attention to. You do not have to figure out the next step alone.

A Final Spark ✨

I did not start LALUZ because I had everything figured out. I started it because I finally asked myself the right question and gave myself the space to answer it honestly.

If your gearbox has been clunky, or if it has stopped altogether, you are not broken. You might just need room to explore what is next without pressure or judgment. That is exactly why we created What’s Next For You, a short coaching engagement for anyone at a professional crossroads. Three sessions. No pressure. Just clarity.

If that sounds like where you are, I would love to hear from you. You can learn more here.

Here’s to finding your spark and letting it shine.

Karen.