115 min
Start the file, today. Open a note titled "How I lead." Add three entries: a decision that turned out right, a problem you took off someone's plate, a time you changed an outcome. Script 1.
Week 12 of 13Phase 3: Build the case
Build the evidence the case runs on
The read (3 minutes)
Confidence at work is not a personality trait you were handed less of. It follows evidence. The reason the doubt creeps in right before the moment that matters is that the proof of how well you lead is scattered and unrecorded, so when you reach for it you find a feeling instead of a fact. Feelings lose that fight every time, and you have a real conversation coming next week.
So this week you build the file. A running record of how you lead: decisions that turned out right, problems you took off someone's plate, moments you changed an outcome. Plain entries, no polish. And one category women record far too rarely, the times something went wrong and you handled it well. The save under pressure, the mistake you caught, the hard conversation you didn't dodge. That's where leaders are actually made, and it almost never makes it into anyone's notes.
Then you use one. Once this week, when it's relevant, you reference something from the file out loud, the same way you've been informing rather than performing all along. "I've handled something like this before, here's how I'd lean" is not bragging. It shows you've been here before, and that's exactly what your case is built on. Everything in this file feeds the one page you write next week.
This week's moves
215 min
Add the hard one. Write one entry where something went wrong and you handled it well: a call under pressure, a mistake you caught, a tense conversation you didn't avoid. Script 2.
310 min
Use one, out loud. Once this week, in a meeting or a 1:1, reference one thing from the file when it fits. Script 3.
Script bank
Word for word, ready to use. Edit any script to make it yours, then copy it.
1.The file entry
"[Situation in one line]. I decided or I did [the move]. Result: [what happened]." Keep it to three lines. The point is to have it, not to write well.
2.The pressure entry
"When [thing went wrong], I [the call you made]. It [outcome]." Record the judgment, not only the win. Judgment under pressure is exactly what the next level wants to see.
3.Speaking from the file
"I've handled something like this. When [situation], I [decision], and [result]. I'd lean the same way here." Calm, factual, no preamble.
4.The doubt reset (for you, not to send)
Before a meeting that has you tight, open the file and read three entries. You walk in with evidence in your hand instead of a feeling in your stomach. That's the whole trick, and it only works if you actually open the file. So open it.
Friday debrief prompts
Your Friday email carries the reply template. These are the prompts inside it.
- How many entries are in your file now, and which one surprised you to remember?
- Where did you use one this week, and how did it land?
- When the doubt showed up, what did the evidence say back?
Re-entry note
Behind? This is the week to do. Start the file (move 1) even if you do nothing else; it's what next week's case is built from.