Ifeoma Chuks-Adizue 
There’s a line I’ve come to believe: “Your ceiling is built from your own beliefs.”
Before life limits us, our minds already have.
Many career women assume their limitations are external – the system, the politics and the perception of power, but often, the real ceiling is internal. That quiet voice that says, “This is enough..” especially when you have achieved what once seemed impossible.
However, there is a difference between doing well at what you were trained to do (success) and doing well at what you were created for (significance).
Success measures what you’ve built while significance asks what will last when you are no longer in the room.Significance challenges you to not just rise in your career but to leave something that outlives your title and tenure.
Making the shift from success to significance takes AUDACITY – the audacity to believe and expect more even after all you’ve achieved. Expectation has power, as the world bends toward those who expect more from it. You can deliver every quarter and meet every goal but if your vision of what is possible remains narrow, opportunity will shrink to fit it.
Expecting MORE means aligning ambition with purpose…trusting that your potential stretches far beyond what your current title captures. It’s daring to ask harder questions like:
What am I building beyond results?
What will my leadership make possible for others?
What new chapter is waiting to begin if only I’d say yes?
Expecting MORE means stepping into spaces that stretch you, speaking about what you carry, asking for what you deserve and creating what doesn’t yet exist.
In the workplace, it may look like using your influence to build systems that outlast you, mentoring the next generation or expanding your impact beyond functional expertise.
Beyond the workplace, it means allowing the ideas that keep nudging you, like that book, initiative, platform etc, to finally take shape even while you continue thriving in your 9-to-5.
If you are sensing that whisper of MORE, here are four tips to help you rise into it:
1. NOTICE YOUR CEILINGS
What stories have you told yourself about what’s “enough”? Stories like you’ve already peaked, it’s too late or this is as far as it gets?
Identify those thoughts and challenge them.
Replace “I’ve done enough” with “There’s still ground to cover.”.
Replace “Maybe later” with “Why not now?”
2. CREATE YOUR FUTURE
With this renewed mindset, ask yourself:
If time, money and fear weren’t issues, what would I start today to move from success to significance?
What dream have I kept locked away that I’m finally ready to act on?
If I started now, what would success look like three to five years from today?
Let yourself dream again – vividly and without limits.
3. RECREATE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Voice your next level until it feels normal. What we say consistently reshapes what we see eventually.
Surround yourself with people who stretch your thinking and call out your next evolution. If every conversation in your circle affirms your comfort zone, it’s time to widen the circle. Growth happens in rooms where you’re slightly intimidated but deeply inspired.
4. TAKE ACTION
Vision expands through motion. Don’t wait for perfect clarity, start with the first visible step – a conversation, a proposal, a prototype…something!
Action is proof of faith in yourself and in what you carry.
In closing…
Your 9-to-5 may fund your life but your life’s work is bigger than your job description. Don’t let what once represented breakthrough become the boundary that limits what’s next.
Have and demonstrate the audacity to believe for and expect MORE…
Yes, you can lead teams at work and still build legacy within and beyond the workplace..
So here’s my prayer for you this week – May your courage outgrow your comfort and break every belief ceiling that once kept you safe but small.
Because the world doesn’t reward those who settle. It rewards those who demand for and expect MORE from it and themselves.
So, until next week, keep saying YES to your MORE!
Ifeoma Chuks-Adizue, fondly known as Iphie, is a seasoned professional with a rare mix of experience in brand management, sales, media and over 20 years’ experience building global brands across Africa. Iphie is the Managing Director Africa at Global Citizen – an international advocacy organization focused on ending extreme poverty now. She is the author of two books – The Uncommon Woman and Made for More, and is Founding President of the Uncommon Woman Movement.