# [Update] Be Careful What You Wish For

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-empowered-leader-podcast-7445842/update-be-careful-what-you-wish-for
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-empowered-leader-podcast-7445842/update-be-careful-what-you-wish-for.md
Podcast: [The Empowered Leader Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-empowered-leader-podcast-7445842)
Published: 2026-07-08T12:45:39+00:00
Episode link: https://substack.iprofessionalcoaching.com/p/update-be-careful-what-you-wish-for
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/206040048/f21547edd5f258128101f7c5f221175a.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-empowered-leader-podcast-7445842/episodes/update-be-careful-what-you-wish-for
Duration seconds: 540

## Resource

We are told to dream big. To picture it. To name it. To claim it. But no one tells you what arrives with the dream. The title comes with the calendar. The seat comes with the silence. The yes comes with the cage. Be careful what you wish for. Why This Matters A wish made from envy will deliver a life that fits someone else. A wish made from proving will deliver a job you can never put down. A wish made from fear will deliver an escape that becomes a different kind of trap. You won’t notice it at first. You’ll be busy celebrating. You’ll post the photo. You’ll send the announcement. And six months in, you’ll wake up at 3 a.m. holding what you asked for and wondering why your chest is tight. Some doors close behind you the moment you walk through them. For marginalized leaders, especially, the wish has been shaped by what was withheld. You learned to want: • the title that was given to others without question • the seat at the table you weren’t invited to • the raise you watched someone less qualified receive Those wishes are valid. But sometimes what was withheld was withheld because the room itself was a burden, designed for someone whose body and history matched its walls. So you arrive. And the room becomes the work. Liberation: Wish from your life, not someone else’s Liberation is the moment you stop reaching for what was supposed to mean you’d made it. It’s the breath you take when you ask the harder question: Whose dream is this? It sounds like: • I wanted that title because I thought I needed it. I don’t. • I want a different shape of life — one I haven’t seen modeled yet. • I am allowed to want quieter, bigger, slower, more mine. When you stop wishing the borrowed wish, something settles in the body: the chest opens. the grip loosens. Your eyes find the horizon…

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## Transcript

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