Stop Guarding the Mausoleum: A Reality Check for the High Performer
The Problem: The “Disconnected Emperor” Syndrome
Seneca tells the story of a wealthy Roman so disconnected from physical reality that he had to ask his slaves, “Am I sitting down yet?”
It sounds absurd, but in the C-Suite, this disconnect is rampant.
As a Founder or CxO, you are likely hyper-focused on preservation. You spend your days protecting the valuation, the brand reputation, the quarterly metrics, and your own status. You are terrified of “losing” these things.
But here is the brutal question Seneca poses: To protect what, exactly?
Are you protecting a vibrant, thrilling mission? Or are you simply guarding a schedule full of zombie meetings, performative busywork, and golden handcuffs?
Many high performers are suffering from “Success Necrosis.” You have built an empire, but the “living” part of it—the risk, the joy, the raw connection to the work—has died. You are so afraid of dying that you are protecting a life that is already dead.
The “Necrosis Audit”
Conventional advice tells you to “prioritize” or “find balance.” This framework is different. It assumes that parts of your professional life have already died and are now toxic. Your job is not to manage them, but to amputate them.
Step 1: The Relief Test (Detection)
Review your top 3 biggest anxieties or “assets” you are afraid to lose (e.g., a major client, a specific title, a board seat, a product line). Now, run a simulation: Imagine you receive a call today saying it is gone. Irrevocably lost.
- The Metric: deeply analyze your very first micro-second emotional response.
- The Verdict: If you feel even 1% Relief before you feel Panic, that asset is necrotic tissue. You aren’t keeping it because it adds life; you’re keeping it because you’re afraid of the surgery.
Step 2: The “Sensory Deprivation” Check (Validation)
Like the Roman who couldn’t feel the chair, identify where you have lost “feeling.”
- Look at your calendar for the last week. Mark every activity where you were on “autopilot”—mentally checked out, emotionally numb, or relying on scripts.
- The Rule: If >50% of your week is “numb,” you are functionally dead in your role. You are being carried by the litter.
Step 3: The “Defibrillation” Protocol (Action)
You cannot negotiate with necrosis.
- For every “Relief Test” failure: Kill it proactively. Fire the draining client. Delegate the “zombie” title. Cancel the project.
- The Goal: It is better to have a smaller, living organism than a massive, rotting corpse.
Executing a Necrosis Audit is terrifying. It requires you to dismantle the very things the world tells you are “successful.”
This is where IntuiWell’s Personal Growth Program comes in.
We don’t just teach you how to “cope” with stress; we train your intuition to distinguish between vitality and habit. Our program gives you the psychological architecture to survive the surgery of shedding your “dead” success so you can finally start leading—and living—with a pulse again.
Are you ready to stop being carried and start walking?