Happy Friday 👋 !

The holiday season is in the air as is that final sprint to the end of the year. Finishing up projects, searching for year end revenue, and planning for an even bigger, faster and perhaps more uncertainty in 2026. One theme has echoed everywhere: things at work are changing fast.

I am also hearing and seeing that many are still working through their days and weeks the same as they did in the past.

This is a 🚩 red flag 🚩 for me.

And then a business partner, Dr. Michelle Kaplan of Achievement in Motion, sent me some research from The 2025 Conferences for Women that showed that 90% of women feel depleted at least sometimes and 1 in 3 usually feels depleted. Their average wellbeing score: 6.6/10 — "not terrible, not thriving."

Ugh. "Depleted" and "not terrible, not thriving" is not a place where I want to be or where I want you to be.

What's fueling our depleted state?

• Uncertainty about the future (59%)
• Personal/family responsibilities (52%)
• Financial pressure (43%)
• Workplace culture/dynamics (40%)

Yep, uncertainty is top of the list.

It's no wonder. The news is shouting stories like:

• Verizon Begins Laying Off More Than 13,000 Employees (WSJ)
• Stock market continues to fade as investors hedge against AI hype (CBS News)
• More than 1,000 Amazon workers warn rapid AI rollout threatens jobs and climate (The Guardian)

Meanwhile, we face heavy work loads and a long list of tasks to just get through the week.

But it doesn't have to be that way

In the last two weeks, two powerful concepts kept resurfacing for me: Aliveness and Robustness.

While listening to a podcast by Brendon Burchard of Growth Day, he talked about "Aliveness" - how we can "feel the day again" and have full engagement. Isn't that the opposite of depletion? Isn't that what we actually want?

And Vincent Azé of Kuma Partners told me about their approach to helping teams build Robustness: "the capacity to absorb shocks, adapt under pressure and make clear decisions in uncertainty."

These aren't naive concepts - they're proof of progress. Aliveness and robustness are what it feels like when we're actually navigating change well.

Yes, we're racing between meetings, dealing with client demands and trying to hit quarterly targets. Yes, the time to zoom out feels impossible to find. Right now, we're running two sprints at once—finishing this year strong while planning for a future that's already knocking on the door.

But that's exactly why we need a different approach. We can't navigate rapid change while feeling depleted. We need to work differently, not just harder.

What I'm Doing: Building My Strategy, Not Just Reacting

This week, I started the AI Blueprint Accelerator Programme developed by Jaroslav Dokoupil to build my own intentional strategy for partnering with AI. Not because I have extra time (I don't!), but because I don't want to waste what little time I have chasing every new tool that appears.

This is what intentionally adapting to change actually looks like: carving out space to learn, even when (especially when) it feels impossible.

Three Actions to Move from Depleted to Alive

1. Schedule Your Zoom-Out Time: Block three 30-minute sessions in your calendar next week. One to explore how AI could lighten your load. One to learn about changes coming to your industry. One to reflect on your own adaptation plan. Treat these like client meetings, i.e. non-negotiable.

2. Ask About Your Company's AI Strategy: In your next team meeting, ask what skills will be needed and how the company plans to up-skill people. Make it a conversation about your future, not just the company's bottom line.

3. Practice Hope as Strategy: In the AQ model, Hope means identifying multiple pathways forward and believing you can pursue them. When you feel that uncertainty creeping in (59% of us do), pause and ask: what are three different ways this could unfold? How could I take a step in one of these directions? You're not predicting the future - you're expanding your capacity to navigate it.

The Finish Line (That's Really a Starting Line)

Remember that sprint I mentioned at the beginning? Here's the truth: 2026 isn't going to slow down. The changes aren't going to pause while we catch our breath.

But we have a choice. We can keep working the same way and end up more depleted. Or we can take those small pockets of time - yes, even now, in the holiday sprint - to shift how we're approaching our work and our future.

You don't need to overhaul everything. You just need to stop doing the same thing and expecting different results.

If you want support building your adaptability muscles so you can finish strong AND start ready, I'm here to help. Let's master adaptability to turn depletion on its head and thrive starting now.

Ann
​www.adaptsuccess.com​

🧠 Gear Up for Change is your weekly dose of insight on navigating and leveraging change — grounded in AQai’s science of adaptability. If you find it valuable, forward it to a colleague who’s also leading through liminality and they can subscribe here.

​

Want to Gear Up for Change Faster? Here are 3 Next Steps:

1️⃣ Get Your FREE AI Leadership Edge Scorecard. How prepared are you to lead your team and thrive through change? Find out in less than 5 minutes.

2️⃣ Measure Your AQ Take a 25-minute assessment to discover your Adaptability Quotient (AQ). Learn how to thrive in times of change and create a strategy for your growth. Gear up for the rest of 2025 using our companion AQme Workbook. (Tip: check with your manager -- you can probably expense this!) Learn more here.

Issue #57, 28 November 2025