I saw a Reel on Facebook the other day about the impact of childhood neglect on us, and it got me thinking about my childhood and the early lives of my clients, and the well-documented  impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on so many entrepreneurs.

Research shows that while childhood adversities tend to negatively impact most people’s careers, for entrepreneurs, they can often be a substantial contributor to success.

Childhood neglect tends to create hyper-individualism, which leads to our creativity, risk-taking, and resilience. Our scrappiness and enterprising spirit means we need very little to get a lot accomplished. That allows us to break the rules and build things out of thin air and launch things that never existed before.

But there’s a dark side…

Burnout, exhaustion, and self-neglect often come from doing it all ourselves and carrying everything on our shoulders.

The effect of this gets amplified when your soul’s work calls you to have a larger impact, requiring more money, a bigger business, and a broader reach.

I recently had a call with a new client—an incredibly successful attorney who built a thriving law practice from the ground up. But her vision is much bigger than a successful practice… it’s about transforming how we envision and approach the law.

She’s got a beautiful heart and quiet determination, both of which have contributed to her success…

Then on our first call, we started expanding her vision to the size of her true calling, and a familiar worry crept across her face:

The worry that says, “But how will I do it all???”

And there it was—the hidden glass ceiling so many entrepreneurs face: the hyper-individualism that convinces us we’re on our own and that everything rests on our shoulders.

This belief activates self-preservation mechanisms that keep us from growing something so large it could bury us. It’s when we get close to that edge that we subtly (or not so subtly) tend to sabotage our success. 

The result? We get stuck at a certain size in our business that we just can’t seem to move beyond. The specific size varies for each person, but the glass ceiling impact is the same.

If your calling is to change the conversation in your industry or to usher in a new future, this isn’t just a business issue—it’s a mission-sized issue.

Like so many of my clients, I’ve had to do a lot of inner healing to help the little one inside me feel safe, knowing he’s not alone and doesn’t have to carry this work alone.

I’m no master at it, but I am learning how to function differently in my business…

And here are 3 things that can help you expand and accelerate your work in a big way…

1. Partner with your calling: Realize that your calling has its own lifeforce. It’s the hub, and you’re a spoke. The work wants to flow through you, but it doesn’t have to be done by you.
2. Share your vision: When you share the vision of your calling, it carries a frequency that people feel and respond to. As a leader, sharing your vision gives others something vibrant and compelling to follow and share with others.
3. Ask for help: People want to help with your vision, and they’re happy to do so—but they need an invitation. Allowing others to help you creates intimate bonds, powerful communities, and helps you experience that you’re truly not alone.

With so much breaking down, people are hungry for leaders with true vision. If your soul’s calling has what your people are hungry for, the insistence to answer the call will only grow… so this is a perfect opportunity to practice leading in new, expansive ways.

As we approach the end of the year, consider setting the intention to allow the full expression of your calling to flow through you, and then put practices in place to be beautifully supported in the process.