Is People-Pleasing Holding You Back At Work?

You’re not usually flaky, you're just overwhelmed.

But when people-pleasing leads you to overcommit, miss deadlines, or make excuses, it might be costing you more than you realize.

And if it keeps happening, it’s worth paying attention to and understanding that you may be self-sabotaging your career options.

Let me give you an example. A few years ago, a high-achieving leader scheduled a discovery call with me. They were smart, driven, and getting ready to work with me and lead a big organizational change at work. After a few follow-up check-ins, they ghosted. That’s not unusual in my work, especially with clients who struggle with follow-through.

Recently, they asked to reconnect and scheduled a call to catch up… then missed it. After I followed up, they apologized and rescheduled… then missed that one, too.

After a third no-show, I won't be following up.

It’s not just that they missed three meetings with me – it’s that they missed three commitments to themselves. Coaching only works when you’re ready to show up for yourself, and this was a signal they weren’t.

Patterns matter.

If they're not showing up here, they're probably not showing up in other ways that matter.

That tells me they're not ready to commit to the deeper work coaching requires, or anything else they want to work with me on.

People-pleasing at work that results in overcommitting yourself can erode trust, burn bridges, and close doors you didn’t even realize were open until it’s too late.

Here’s the thing: I don’t think they're a bad person. I’ve seen this before. They're likely a people-pleaser who gets excited, overcommits, and then gets overwhelmed.

Despite the best intentions, when things inevitably fall through, it looks unprofessional. But underneath, it’s often shame, avoidance, and self-sabotage.

People-pleasing at work can start to look like this:

❌ Missed deadlines

❌ Avoiding conflict

❌ Saying yes to everything

❌ Dropping the ball

❌ Delaying decisions

I get it because I’ve worked with so many people like this – high performers, big hearts, always wanting to help.

What they don’t realize is:

How you do one thing shapes everything else you do.

The patterns that show up in discovery calls are often the same patterns playing out at work, in leadership, in job searches, and in hard conversations about making real changes.

If you’re missing deadlines, avoiding learning how to say "no", ghosting opportunities, or telling yourself “I’ll follow up later,” it’s worth asking: What’s really going on here?

Because the truth is, you ARE flaking out. That's a result of staying stuck in a pattern that isn’t working for you.

If you’re ready to show up differently and keep that commitment to yourself, let's talk.

👉 Schedule your free Discovery Call