One Degree to Victory is a podcast about change—why we want it, why we struggle with it, and what helps us move forward.
Hosted by Dr. Nelieta Hollis, each episode begins with a question and follows it through lived experience, thoughtful reflection, and the patterns that shape how we respond to life.
From worry, anxiety, stress, procrastination, and stagnation to the moments when we find ourselves waiting, avoiding, beginning again, or becoming something new, these conversations explore what happens between wanting change and knowing how to move toward it.
This is not motivation for motivation’s sake. It is a space to notice what is shaping you, understand the responses you have learned, and discover new possibilities for what comes next.
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Staying too long can look responsible on the outside and feel like slow erosion on the inside. We tell a personal story about knowing a job needed to end, trying to “control the exit,” and realizing that the longer we delayed, the more of our energy we spent just surviving the day. If you’ve ever felt like work turned into a battle zone, or you’ve caught yourself shrinking to fit a place you’ve outgrown, this conversation puts language to that tension.
We dig into the idea that procrastination isn’t only about unfinished tasks. Sometimes it’s a delayed decision, and the price is your capacity: your emotional bandwidth, mental clarity, relationships, and ability to pursue a bigger vision. We talk about why comfort zones feel safe, how complacency can quietly lower your standards, and what changes when you finally stop investing your best energy into a season that’s already over.
You’ll also hear a perspective shift that’s both practical and freeing: when the assignment is over, it’s over, and making space can be an act of integrity for you and for the people coming after you. If you’re wrestling with career change, burnout, fear of uncertainty, or the pressure to stay “reasonable,” you’ll leave with a clearer way to evaluate the true cost of waiting. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.
One Degree to Victory is the podcast of the NM Hollis Institute, where we explore the science and practice of building human capacity. Through practical frameworks, meaningful reflection, and real-life stories, each episode helps you think more clearly, respond more intentionally, and move forward one degree at a time.
Until next time, Constant Listener, I love ya'll. 💙
One of the advantages to having a vision for your life is that when you know where you're trying to go, you start recognizing that some places and some seasons are part of the journey without necessarily being the destination. For example, our jobs on the way to our destinations have purpose in our lives. We learn, we grow, we make connections. There are people there we come to care about. And it's precisely because of these reasons that we tend to stay longer than is necessary. We tend to stay longer than is required to move toward the vision we have for our lives. Now there was a job I knew I needed to leave, and I could feel it. Tasks and procedures that had once been manageable started requiring more and more of me. Like I just could not get started. I felt like I was constantly on the defense, and because of that, most days I had to make myself go to work. And I mean, it is beyond the Monday morning blues. I mean, I had to push myself to go and punch that clock. Because honestly, I felt like I was walking into a battle zone. Have you ever been there? And the battle zone is not necessarily from enemies, it's the friendly fire that you're protecting yourself from. And that's the worst kind, because you never know where the bullet is coming from. But I kept going because bills need to be paid, and because my standard of how I wanted to experience life required it.
So I told a friend, a trusted mentor, and an adopted auntie what was happening. And she said, Listen to me. And then she began to tell me her story. And after her story, she said to me, Leavely, it's not worth it. Just like that. That one sentence changed the trajectory of my path toward my vision for my life. I had already started feeling like the assignment was coming to an end, but I wanted to leave on my own terms. I had an idea about when I should leave, how I should leave, what should happen first, and what that transition should look like. I wanted to control the exit, and life was not cooperating with my little plan. And honestly, I should have expected it because I think that nothing had gone the way I've planned for the better part of a decade. But in this work situationship and relationships relationship, things just kept getting more difficult. And instead of leaving, I began adjusting myself. I began shrinking so that I can stay. Uh-oh. I started pulling away from people. I began to isolate myself from my colleagues, not fellowship during lunch, always have something to do. I kept my head down and I just tried to get through the day. I know we always have, I know that we've all been there. I would go in, do what I needed to do, and leave. And for a while, for a very short while, I thought I was managing and maintaining. But what I didn't recognize then, that I know now, was how much of staying, right? How much of me it was taking to remain somewhere I already suspected I had finished. And that's when another trusted voice said to me, When the assignment is over, it's over. Now that has stayed with me. Constant listener, you cannot prolong the assignment. You cannot prolong a temporary stay just because you're not ready for the transition. Well, you can, but it'll cost
you. Let's see. Eventually, I got to the point where I said enough, I quit. Now, I am not telling anybody listening to this podcast to quit their job. Do not have Dr. Hollis and the One Degree to Victory podcast getting blamed when you don't show up Monday morning or when your life turns into a shambles. That is not what I'm saying. I am telling you what happened to me and the consequences and the cost of procrastination. What I couldn't see, right, while I was working. And that is that I was using capacity in a place that was no longer serving me instead of using it for where I was trying to go next. Listen, the energy that it took to make myself get up in the morning, knowing that I would have to go to this job, the energy that it took to constantly defend myself, the energy it took to just purposely and intentionally withdraw to manage my emotions, to try to keep making the situation work. Listen, once I stopped spending so much of myself trying to remain where I was no longer served, and quite honestly, I couldn't serve intentionally at the level of service that I wanted to give. There was a freedom. There was emotional, relational, mental, and even financial, if you can believe that, absolutely all of those, because I was free to pursue again and to consider and plan my next step and move in whichever direction was required of me. I promise you, constant listener, leaving that job opened the door for me to begin moving toward the vision I already had for my life. I regained my capacity to pursue what was next. I came to realize that what I was experiencing was the tension, the struggle of trying to stay somewhere while my life was requiring me to move. In its simplest form, procrastination is just a delayed decision. Rather than procrastinating in a task I needed to start, I was procrastinating on a decision, on a job I knew I needed to end. You know, we often hear about the mama bird
that kicks the baby bird out of the nest to teach the fledgling link to fly, and we liken it to tough love. But we are adults, constant listener, and life is our teacher, and she has the toughest love of all. We are not immune to complacency. We love comfort and coziness because it elicits feelings of safety. Just recently, my daughter plugged in our fireplace insert and snuggled down in her favorite throw as a storm raged on outside in the early morning hours. That's kind of how I felt in the job. It had been predictable, close to home, and the money was alright at the time. But let me pause right here and say, even with all of those in place, those comforters, I was limiting myself. I knew how much at the time I wanted to make to return to or surpass the standard of living I'd become accustomed to before hell, the term I use to describe the season of homelessness we went through. But I was willing to settle because I'd become comfortable. That's the overall cost of wasps, worry, anxiety, stress, procrastination, and stagnation. It is the settling, the scaling back of your vision and your future self to accommodate where you are now. Oh, please don't do that, sister girl. Don't compromise, don't settle, and don't scale back. The longer I delayed that movement, the more capacity I spent trying to remain. I wonder if we've ever done that. Maybe not with a job, but maybe you've delayed growing into a future version of yourself because it means outgrowing what's around you. Maybe you decided not to take that class, pursue that job. Can I tell you something? You are spending capacity occupying a space that is no longer meant for you. You need to move so that the next person can learn, grow,
and cultivate relationships. Move from whatever space you're in. That space you're occupying actually might be someone's dream job, someone's dream home. Right? You were just the interim holding it for you. So when the assignment is over, constant listener, it's over. You know I had everything I needed to let that job go. What I didn't have was control over the timing. I wanted a smooth transition from one life station to the next with the absence of uncertainty. But that's not how life happens. And no matter how many times we experience change, we always hope for and expect stability. I was settled in consequence when I was trying to make the nest accommodate a version of me that had already outgrown it. So eventually, life made staying more uncomfortable than me. That's that motherfucker. The push is not meant to destroy you. It is, quite frankly, the only thing strong enough to interrupt the making. Because if the decision remains in our hand, we may continue to be only what I would do to the holiday.
