Why does supporting an executive feel so far above me?
You sit in meetings where people speak in half-sentences, and you're expected to fill in the rest. You write something, and it comes back marked wrong, though no one told you the standard. You feel one step behind, always translating, never speaking the language yourself. Here is what is actually happening: you are waiting. Waiting to be taught the executive's level before you act at it. Waiting for someone to hand you permission instead of taking it. That waiting feels safe. It also guarantees you stay behind, because the role will not come looking for you. The job was never foreign to you. It is your job, done at a greater height than you've claimed. You claim a height by standing at it, not by studying it longer from below.
The weight you feel is not proof you don't belong. It's proof you're still waiting for permission to do the job you already hold. Stop studying the role from the outside. Choose one decision that is yours to make today, and make it without asking first.
What changes unlock by starting
- You stop treating each task as unfamiliar and start building your own standard for the role.
- You spend less energy translating what's expected and more energy deciding what's right.
- You get corrected less, because you're acting on judgment instead of guessing in silence.
- The weight shifts from fear of being wrong to ownership of being right.