Winning Deep

November 25, 2025
Women in STEM

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Winning Deep

Back in June, I mapped out the outline for my second book From Doer to Leader (working title). Then… nothing.

Despite my best intentions, the writing just didn’t come. I tried to get the introduction and first chapter flowing, but everything felt like a hard slog. Yes, the summer is always a juggle, but by the time September and October had rolled in, I realised this wasn’t just about time.

This was something deeper.

When I wrote Intentional Careers for STEM Women, the ideas were relentless. I had phrases coming to me in the shower, connections pinging on my walks, and sticky notes, scraps of paper, phone memos and random emails to myself just to catch the spark before it passed. My mind was alive with it. And I loved it!

But this time, nothing.

So, what changed?

In short: AI.

I’d started the book writing with AI as a co-pilot; writing a few sentences, refining with ChatGPT, tweaking again, then refining again. But instead of enhancing my process, it created an echo chamber of edits. My words would morph and dilute until they no longer sounded like me. I was no longer creating; I was circling. And worse, I felt blocked.

The creativity wasn’t just slow. It had stopped.

That’s when I imagined holding the final book in my hands, and I felt something shift. I didn’t want something that was “efficiently” written. I wanted something I could be proud of. I wanted to enjoy the process and to feel fully immersed and like last time, consumed by it.

That’s when I remembered a concept that has stuck with me ever since I first heard it:

“Winning deep … is where you actually can feel the richness of your journey, you are attached to the joy and the struggle, you are attached to the mess … it’s done more from a soul level. It’s done because we can and because there’s a wild desire in it.”– Dr Pippa Grange

That’s the book I want to write. And that’s the kind of career I want to help you build.

Not one that simply ticks the boxes and delivers outcomes… But one where you are in it, and I mean truly in it, not just for the “win,” but for the meaning, the impact, and the fulfilment.

So, over the past few weeks, I dropped AI from the process completely. And do you know what happened?

The words returned. The creativity returned. The joy returned.

In fact, I’ve heard the very same thing from my clients. Spending so much time using AI to create the ‘perfect’ wording for a simple internal communication, that it ends up being a time and energy drain. And the more you use it, the more it feels like every communication needs to be refined, and the more scared we are to get it wrong.

I’m definitely not anti-AI. It is going to drastically shift and change our lives exponentially over the next decade and beyond. But please let it not be at the expense of our own sense of joy, meaning, and purpose.

☕ Reflective Journal Prompts

  • Where in my work or life am I chasing shallow wins over deep ones?
  • What process would feel more meaningful, even if it took longer?
  • Where can I drop perfect for real and honest.

Whether you’re refining and optimising your current opportunity, navigating a Career Pivot®, or just craving more richness in the day-to-day; this is your reminder that it’s not always about doing it faster or ‘right’. Sometimes the real success is in how deeply you show up for the process.

Talking about showing up for yourself. Did you know I am running a competition this week to win a place on the January 2026 cohort of the Career Design Mastermind?

The Career Design Mastermind my flagship six-month group coaching programme, specifically designed for:

  • Women with a STEM background, women in STEM, or women in STEM industries who want to create an intentional career with balance, confidence, and crucially fulfilment.
  • You’ll refine, optimise, and leverage your current role and define what you’re moving towards, with all the implementation support you need to make it tangibly happen. BI want you to be the person job descriptions are written and designed for.

Keep opening up,

Hannah

P.S. Want to refine what you have and clarify what’s next? Here’s how I can support you:

P.P.S. Now booking 2026 keynotes, workshops and events (online and in-person). Let’s move beyond compliance and dismantle systemic barriers, starting with the conversations we’re not having. Find out more

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