I used to scroll LinkedIn with a knot in my stomach.

Someone would post about a new role, a pivot, something built from scratch, and I'd feel it. That sharp thing. Not quite admiration.

Envy.

I'd close the app. Tell myself I was being petty. That I should be grateful. That I had a great job, a real title, people who respected me.

Here's what I've learned since then: I was just reading the signal incorrectly.

Envy doesn't attach itself to things you don't want. It attaches itself to exactly what you want and have been pretending you don't.

You don't feel envious of a surgeon's career if medicine holds no appeal. You don't feel envious of someone's speaking career if you hate being on stage.

Envy points at what your carefully managed, professionally appropriate exterior is working hard to hide.

Here's the tool I use with every person I work with. I call it the Envy Audit. It takes 10 minutes and most people find it more revealing than a year of journaling.

Step 1: Think back over the last few months. A colleague got a new role. Someone made a move. You saw a job description and felt something. That sharp thing. Write down every moment you can remember. Don't filter. Just list them.

Step 2: For each one, write one sentence: what specifically made you envious? Not the person. The specific thing they have that you want.

Step 3: Look at your list.

That's not envy. That's a map.

When I did this honestly, my list looked nothing like my job. It was full of founders, speakers, people building something that was actually theirs.

I wasn't envious of their success. I was envious of their alignment.

The Envy Audit showed me the gap faster than anything else I tried.

Try it this week.

Open a blank page. Give yourself 10 minutes. Don't perform the exercise. Actually do it.

And if what you find surprises you, that's not a problem. That's exactly what's supposed to happen.

If you want to understand not just what you're envious of but why you're stuck where you are, I built an assessment for exactly that. Ten minutes. It tells you specifically what kind of stuck you are and what to do about it.

Most people say it's the most honest conversation about their career they've had in years.

Take the free Career Clarity Assessment here.​

In your corner,

Lamiaa

P.S. Hit reply and tell me what was on your Envy Audit list. I read everything, and the patterns I see across hundreds of responses are how I know what to write about next.

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