I don't know what I want...but I know it's not this.

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Ambiguity is a risk to our best-fit future.

The World Economic Forum's 2025 Future of Jobs Report found that 63% of employers name "role ambiguity" the biggest barrier to career planning (up 21% in just two years). And Harvard's research shows that when we lack future clarity, we enter "career freezing", a hyper-cautious mode that leaves us too paralyzed to move forward.

Simply put, your brain’s not broken. It's in survival mode.

When we're chronically stressed, our prefrontal cortex (the part that does big-picture thinking and future planning) essentially goes offline.

But our amygdalas? The part of the brain that detects threats and knows what to avoid? It’s on high alert and razor sharp.

Which means when we’re overwhelmed, anxious, or burned out, we might not be able to envision our ideal next chapter.

But luckily, we’re generally extremely clear on what we don’t want to tolerate anymore.

And that clarity? That's not a bug.

It’s the most valuable data we have.

Detour

I’m breaking protocol this week and talking about me. Something I don’t do a ton of, but it feels right for this edition.

Because my journey started with a comprehensive lack of clarity.

By identifying “what’s wrong”, I had my anti-vision. What I didn’t want. What I couldn’t keep in my life. And I flipped it. My anti-vision became my highest level vision. Time Autonomy. Wealth. Health. Happiness.

I folded the note up and put it in my wallet. It’s still there. Every day. Years later.

These four words became my filter for everything. Every opportunity. Every client conversation. Every moment when someone else’s definition of success tried to creep in.

That note reminds me: this is what success looks like to me when it doesn’t cost everything.

My terrible, very bad day sparked me furiously scribbling my anti-vision. That note didn’t give me the complete roadmap, but it set boundaries that sparked clarity.

And those boundaries helped me navigate successfully then...

And still do today.

Ambition

If you're thinking "shouldn't I be focusing on what I want, not what I don't want?", I get it. We've been taught that negative thinking holds us back.

Neuroscience tells a different story.

Research published in Biological Psychiatry and Nature confirms what every burned-out leader knows viscerally: anxiety about what's next doesn't shut down all thinking. It shuts down aspirational thinking. But it amplifies threat detection. Your ability to recognize patterns, spot red flags, and identify situations that could harm you.

That's not pessimism. That's biology giving you usable data.

And Harvard Business School's "Goals Gone Wild" research found that organizations that focus only on a positive vision end up with blind spots, unintended consequences, and cultures that suppress honest feedback.

The most effective strategic planning includes "anti-goals". Crystal clarity on what to avoid.

Translation: Knowing what you refuse to repeat isn't settling. It's strategic clarity.

(And it might be the only clarity available to you right now. That's okay. It's enough.)

One quick note: Anti-vision assumes some agency. The ability to say no, to make choices, to shift direction.

That's just not equally available to everyone. If you're constrained by visa status, caregiving responsibilities, or financial realities that limit your options, this isn't about dramatic exits.

The New Ambition is about using what we can control: how we evaluate opportunities, what we advocate for in our current roles, and where we draw boundaries to protect what matters most.

GO | DO

Estimated time: 10 - 15 minutes | Estimated energy: minimal

Your turn: The Anti-Vision Practice

You don't need a hotel room breakdown (though if that's where you are, I see you). You just need three truths to start building clarity.

What’s In It For All Of Us

When a leader says, "I won't work 70-hour weeks," it opens her mind to find ways to protect her team’s boundaries, too. When she says, "I refuse to repeat cultures where burnout is a badge of honor," it shifts what's acceptable.

When she builds success that doesn't destroy her health, her relationships, or her joy, she proves there's another way. Your anti-vision can shift cultures.

But first, just let it help you enjoy a moment of clarity.

The note in my wallet became The New Ambition, a new life, and opened opportunities and freedom I couldn’t have imagined on that day.

Your version can spark the first steps that change your life.

🏆️ And shows others they can, too.

Quick favor: forward this email to someone who deserves their own anti-vision.

Get In There

• 🎬️ Why tiny experiments help us stumble on our “What’s Next” (771K views). Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff talks about personal success. And how tiny actions free us from the false linear model of success. A perfect 18 minute listen for your anti-vision-ing.

• My recent post about pivoting struck a chord on LinkedIn. Give it a read and share your anti-vision list in the comments.

THANKS. For being a part of a future I didn’t know existed. For sharing this newsletter with others. And for sharing your ideas for what you want to see next from The New Ambition.

It’s going to take all of us to make the workplace a better place. And we’ll do it together.