The Tuesday Test: Why Your Body Knows More About Your Career Than Your Brain
Most of us have a quiet list about the things we don’t like about our jobs. Maybe it's written down in a journal somewhere. But more often than not, it just lives in your head: running during your commute, bubbling up in the shower, or looping at 2 a.m. The meetings you loathe. The pace that never lets up. The Sunday-night dread you've learned to manage instead of question.
We get very good at naming what isn't working.
But here's what I want you to know: What we're rarely asked—at least not seriously—is something completely different.
Not what's wrong. But what you actually want your days to feel like.
Why the Wrong Question Keeps You Stuck
Most professionals I work with approach career questions like a repair job. Find the problem. Fix the problem. End the discomfort.
I get the appeal of this approach: it feels productive, logical, even responsible. But here's what I've discovered: while problem-solving works great for broken processes, it's not designed for what you're actually dealing with. It has a limit. It keeps you circling the same terrain, especially when the issue isn't a broken role, but a mismatched rhythm.
Think about it: How many times have you fixed one thing at work, only to feel just as restless three months later?
This is why so many smart, capable professionals stay stuck even after changing jobs, negotiating better hours, or setting boundaries. They're solving for the wrong variable.
The Tuesday Test: What Your Body Already Knows
When someone tells me they feel burned out or restless, I ask a simple question that cuts through a lot of analysis paralysis:
If this were working, what would your Tuesdays feel like?
Not your job title. Not your LinkedIn headline. Not even your salary or your work-from-home policy.
Your Tuesdays.
Here's why Tuesday matters more than you might think: It's just ordinary. It's not vacation energy or the adrenaline of crisis management. It's not Friday afternoon relief or Monday morning dread. It's just regular life—the rhythm you'll live inside a couple of hundred times a year.
And here's the thing—career clarity isn't just cognitive. It's physiological. Your body knows before your brain catches up. When work fits, your nervous system settles down. When it doesn't, you're spending every weekend recovering from five days that shouldn't have required recovery in the first place.
Your body is giving you information, not evidence of weakness.
Questions That Reveal What Really Matters
So let me ask you something. Not to answer perfectly right now, but just to notice what stirs:
How do you want your mornings to start—slow and focused, or energized and collaborative?
What kind of stress do you want less of—and which kind are you willing to keep?
Where do you want more spaciousness in your day—and where do you actually thrive with structure?
What would change in your body if your work fit better?
What would you stop recovering from every weekend?
These answers show more about your next career move than any job description ever could.
Desire isn't indulgent here—it's diagnostic. It tells you where alignment is missing and where it might be restored.
Start Here: What Better Actually Mean
You don't need to know the whole plan right now. You don't need to have your next role figured out or your escape route mapped.
You just need a clearer felt sense of what "better" actually means for you. Not for your industry, not for your parents' expectations, not for the version of yourself you thought you'd be by now.
For you. On a Tuesday. In February. When life is just life.
That answer tends to be more honest than any strategic plan.
You don't need perfect clarity to start moving forward. Just this one honest answer about how you want to feel.
What would you stop recovering from every weekend? Tell me in the comments—I'd genuinely love to know what this brings up for you.
