Exploring & managing the stress of success
Have you ever noticed that when you succeed things don’t always get easier? In fact, according to author and speaker
Laura Gassner Otting, they can become harder.
Based on a career of two decades in executive search, interviewing thousands of successful people, the 2025 HealthTrust University Conference professional development speaker Gassner Otting shared that achieving goals can lead to struggles with the burden of potential filling you with uncertainty, anxiety, doubt and maybe even imposter syndrome. She offered a term for this: “Wonderhell.”
While researching her book, “Wonderhell, The Limitless Leader: Why Success Doesn’t Feel Like It Should & What To Do About It,” Gassner Otting spoke with 100 people who have shattered glass ceilings to explore how they pushed through internal challenges.
Gassner Otting categorized the doubts into three “amusement park” sections: Impostertown, Doubtsville and Burnout City.
Impostertown
When someone achieves a goal they didn’t think possible, they may ask: ‘Do I belong?’ ‘Is it OK to have ambition?’ She shared that 70% of people have experienced imposter syndrome at some point. “Embrace this ambition,” she said. “Play bigger. Choose to see it as a badge of honor.” How? With a simple mindset hack: Change which word is emphasized. Instead of “Oh wow, I haven’t done this before,” say “Oh wow, I haven’t done this before.” It can help you see the unknown not as scary, but as an adventure.
People struggling to make major decisions can end up in Impostertown. Gassner Otting used the coin flip example from Freakonomics, where people faced with a big decision are often stuck in analysis paralysis. In the example, a large group of people used a coin flip for a major life decision. Those who made a change based on the coin saying “Heads! Go for it!” reported being no worse off two months later and substantially better off six months later, even when, in hindsight, they felt it was the wrong decision. Gassner Otting suggested this is because action beats inaction—and that moving forward is what’s most important. “No one will ever get a complete data set,” she said. “Everyone I interviewed was dealing with things they couldn’t control. Sometimes you just have to move forward.”
Doubtsville
The people who thrived in wonderhell mastered pausing and listening to the emotions brought on by big goals, Gassner Otting explained. “They didn’t see the emotions as necessary evils. They saw them as helpful, telling them about where they were and how to grow—some even finding new versions of themselves.”
“Leaders need to manifest their values daily to better connect with & inspire their people.”
Laura Gassner Otting
Since 2019, Gassner Otting’s company has conducted online workforce engagement surveys, yielding 10,000 responses from people in 113 countries. Results revealed that 96% of employees (including those in the healthcare industry) want inspiration to be part of what brings them to work daily. However, less than 35% of people reported that they work for leaders who inspire them. “Leaders need to manifest their values daily to better connect with and inspire their people,” she said.
Burnout City
Another helpful example was shared around Glamnetic, an eyelash company with $50 million in annual sales. Even though the team grew from zero to 70 staff members, its founder continued doing many of the same tasks she’d always done and became overwhelmed. “She had to learn the lesson that the best use of her time was to do the things that only she could do and to trust other staff with the rest,” Gassner Otting explained.
In closing, she encouraged the audience to rethink the tasks on their calendars, to-do lists and inboxes to determine the highest and best use of their time and talents. While vestiges of one’s “old” job may remain, she recommended delegating the rest of the tasks. This gives others the opportunity to learn and find themselves in Impostertown. Otherwise, Gassner Otting added, “We’re stealing their opportunity to grow in their own wonderhell.”
MEET YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE WITH SUCCESS by exploring more tips from Laura Gassner Otting in the resource section at lauragassnerotting.com
Share Email Communications, Employee Engagement, Management Best Practices, Mental Health, Q4 2025
