Women are rewarded for being responsive, available, and endlessly capable. Reflection rarely makes the list. Yet the absence of reflection is one of the reasons so many women find themselves overextended, misaligned, or stuck in roles that don’t actually advance their careers.
In this episode of Lead to Soar, Mel Butcher and Michelle Redfern make the case for reflective practice as a critical career strategy for women, not a wellness habit or personal indulgence. They explore how constant urgency, gendered expectations, and organisational bias push women into reactive mode, and why pausing to think clearly is often the difference between progression and burnout.
This conversation positions reflection as a way for women to reclaim judgement, make more intentional career choices, and stop letting systems decide their path by default.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why women are socialised out of reflection and into constant doing
How busyness and over-delivery can quietly derail career progression
The role reflective practice plays in recognising misalignment early
How reflection helps women assess risk, opportunity, and trade-offs
Practical ways to build reflection into real working lives without adding more labour
Resources mentioned:
Stop. Breathe. Reflect. activity
Life Audit – a structured tool to clarify priorities, energy, and direction
Why You Should Make Time for Self-Reflection (Even If You Hate Doing It)
This episode is for women who want to make career decisions with clarity and agency, rather than momentum and pressure.
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