International Women’s Day often leaves us inspired - but unchanged.

In this episode, I share why I fell out of love with IWD, despite spending over 25 years working at the heart of recruitment, careers, and leadership.

I talk honestly about what I’ve seen behind the scenes:
the quiet ways women’s careers stall,
the stories we absorb about capacity, confidence, and gratitude,
and how well-intentioned initiatives often fail to shift real outcomes.

This isn’t a conversation about fixing women.
It’s about understanding the systems we’re operating in - and reclaiming agency within them.

Drawing on my background as a recruiter, coach, and inclusion practitioner, I explore:

• Why performative IWD activity rarely moves the dial
• What 26 years in recruitment taught me about gender and career progression
• The difference between “confidence issues” and systemic constraints
• Why mid-career dissatisfaction is often a turning point, not a failure
• What it really means to take back control of your career — on your terms

This episode is for you if:

• You’ve ever left an IWD event feeling energised… then quietly gone back to the same reality
• You feel successful on paper but disconnected or dissatisfied in reality
• You’re questioning what success means to you now — not what it meant 10 years ago

I also share why my approach to International Women’s Day looks different,
and how my work is focused on creating space for clarity, agency, and deliberate decision-making — not performative gestures.

If something in this conversation resonates, I’d love you to stay connected.

Portsmouth- 10th March - https://talent-included.mykajabi.com/international-women-s-day-2026

London dates coming soon.

https://www.instagram.com/_sallyspicerincluded/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyspicer/

In this episode of Taking Control of Your Career, I take you inside a real coaching session from earlier this week to explore something I see time and time again with high-achieving women: why rest feels uncomfortable, and why we return to lives that quietly drain us.

The session came off the back of an enforced pause over Christmas - illness, cancelled plans, and a decision not to work. What emerged was a growing sense of restlessness and a realisation that even the simplest parts of life had started to feel like tasks.

Reading to her children.
Walking the dog.
Cooking dinner.

All of it had become something to get through.

She described being physically present but mentally elsewhere - often called out by her partner for “not being in the room”. That awareness was important, but it wasn’t the breakthrough.

The real insight came next.

She had set a genuine intention to be more present in 2026. To reconnect with things she actually enjoys - reading, walking, cooking. Nothing extreme. Nothing aspirational. Just accessible, friction-free choices.

And yet, two weeks later, she hadn’t stuck with it.

Instead, she’d slipped back into what felt familiar and validating: being busy, productive, and needed. Working hard in a job she says she loves — despite coming into my world because she’s deeply dissatisfied with her career.

We explored how this showed up:

• Going to the gym but checking emails between sets
• Going for a walk but listening to productivity podcasts
• Feeling successful only if she was exhausted

Rest, it turned out, had to be earned.

We talked about the invisible conditions she placed on herself before allowing downtime - the tick lists, the clearing of emails, the belief that rest comes last. These micro habits slowly become behaviours we mistake for personality traits.

She also shared something I hear more often than people admit: a quiet wish that something catastrophic - but not fatal - might happen, just to give her permission to change. External permission to stop and do things differently.

As the session unfolded, another truth emerged.

She is ambitious, driven, and capable — and somewhere along the way she had fused ambition with hustle, worth with productivity, and value with being needed.

That belief system runs deep. It’s not dismantled in one session. Over the coming months, we’ll break it down and rebuild something more sustainable, aligned, and intentional.

💭 Questions to Reflect On

• What are you in pursuit of right now?
• What conditions are you placing on yourself to achieve it?
• What stories are linking rest, worth, and achievement?

One question I’ll leave you with:

How are you complicit in the conditions you complain about?

🚀 Ready to Take Back Control?

I work with high-achieving career women who know they want more — more clarity, momentum, and alignment.

If you’re ready to break up with the stories keeping you stuck and finally move forward with intention, Reset to Rise is open.

👉 Fill in the activation form
Let’s book a 1:1 and explore your next move

🎧 Taking Control of Your Career

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_sallyspicerincluded/

In this episode of Taking Control of Your Career, I share my own journey from high-achieving recruiter to career transition and identity coach and how owning my story has been key to creating clarity, confidence, and aligned career decisions.

I talk openly about the conditioning, gender inequity, and internal narratives that kept me playing smaller than I needed to and why so many capable, successful women still doubt themselves, even when they’re more than ready for what’s next.

This episode is for mid-career women who know they want more! More alignment, more impact, more fulfilment and who are ready to stop waiting and start taking back control.

In this episode, I cover:

• Why high-achieving women undervalue themselves
• How your career story shapes confidence and opportunity
• The hidden cost of staying safe and “good enough”
• What it really means to approach career transition from abundance
• How to break free from stories you’ve outgrown

Ready to take action?
Reset to Rise is now open.

Fill in the activation form linked here and we’ll book a 1:1 to explore working together. https://talent-included.mykajabi.com/career-activation

Insta - https://www.instagram.com/_sallyspicerincluded/

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyspicer/

Lets connect