Jane N. Njogu

What if you stopped looking at your life as a project that needs to be "fixed"?

As we wrap up January, I’ve noticed a common theme in my conversations with women leaders: a heavy sense of pressure.

Pressure to "repair" our stories, to "hide" our career gaps, and to fix the parts of ourselves we think aren't "good enough" for the seat at the table.

But here is the truth I want to leave you with as we head into February: You are not a broken machine.

In my latest article, I explore the "Inside-Out" approach to mindset. We often think our stress comes from our circumstances the gap on the CV, the busy schedule, or the tough job market.

But as the late Michael Neill says, "We live in the feeling of our thoughts, not the feeling of our world."

This week, I’m challenging you to try three things:

✅️ Stop overthinking the "gap" (Your natural confidence returns when the noise stops).

✅️ Trust your "Mental Healing System" (You are designed for resilience).

✅️ Wait for the "mental weather" to clear before making big decisions.

You are always just one thought away from a completely different experience of your life.

I’ve shared the full deep-dive article in the comments below! 👇

I’d love to know: Which part of your life have you been trying to "fix" lately?

Let’s re-author that story together for February

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I am Jane Njogu. I empower women leaders to lead with clarity through 1:1 coaching, and I help organisations drive team performance through strategic organisational coaching.

"So, what have you been doing for the last few years?"

Usually, when a recruiter or a former colleague asks this, we freeze. We lead with an apology. We talk about our "career gap" as if it’s a mistake we need to fix.

But the thing is, you cannot lead others if you are still apologizing for your own life.

The world in 2026, especially here in the UAE, is finally valuing the skills you’ve been sharpening while you were "away." The only thing missing is your confidence in how to tell that story.

My Mindset Tip for today:

Most of us are trapped in the stories we tell ourselves. These stories become invisible walls that keep us from the big opportunities. We shy away from growth because we’ve judged our past too harshly.

The real "gap" isn't on your CV; it’s the distance between the story you’re telling and the fulfilled life you deserve.

I do have a gift for you….

In 2023, I published my book to help readers do exactly this. So far, we've reached readers in 🇰🇪 🇦🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇿🇦... (and 8 more!). It’s amazing to see that 'The Gap' is a story we all share, no matter where we are.

The book follows the story of Daniella. She struggles with a "nightmare" that represents the fears we all have about our worth and our choices. By watching how she understands her nightmare and bridges the gap, you learn how to handle the common situations that keep you playing small.

Daniella’s story resonates with all of us because we all go through these phases. The question is:

📌 Are you ready to stop living a substandard story and start thriving?

Well, it goes without saying that the book is available globally, and you can grab your copy here:
https://linktr.ee/inviteonly.jane
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I am Jane Njogu. I empower women leaders to lead with clarity through 1:1 coaching, and I help organisations drive team performance through strategic organisational coaching.

Did you know that 2026 is officially the "Year of the Family" in the UAE?

It sounds like a nice title, right? But at its core, it’s a national mission.

📌 UAE leadership has made it clear: the family is the heart of everything we are building here.

Right now, the Federal National Council (FNC) is discussing a major shift:

💜 They are looking at making remote work a priority for moms with kids under 10 and for people taking care of their elderly parents. There is also a strong push to extend maternity leave to 98 days.

Why? Because the UAE knows that when the family is strong, the country is strong.

My Mindset Tip for today:

For years, many of us felt like we had to hide our family life to be taken seriously at work. We felt like being a "caregiver" was a weakness we had to apologize for.

But in 2026, the script has flipped.

If the nation is prioritizing the family, you should too. Your role at home isn't a "distraction" from your career; it’s the foundation of it.

When you stop feeling guilty for having a life outside of your laptop, you actually become a better, more focused leader.

I believe you don't have to choose between being a great professional and a great family member

Because if a country such as the UAE is building a system that values both. It’s time you start valuing both in yourself, too.

Read more about the 2026 initiative here: https://uaeyearof.ae/en/2026
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I am Jane Njogu. I empower women leaders to lead with clarity through 1:1 coaching, and I help organisations drive team performance through strategic organisational coaching.

But what if your career gap wasn't about kids?

I was watching a video recently by Chandni Ravi where she talks about how being a mom isn't a "break" from leadership. It’s actually where you learn to be a better leader.

But what if your gap wasn't about kids? Which one of these are you carrying?

✅ The Caregiver Gap: You stepped away to care for a parent or partner. In 2026, the UAE is actually looking at new ways to support people doing exactly this. It’s a national priority because it’s a big, important job.

✅ The Healing Gap: You paused for your own health. Maybe you were recovering from an illness or a really heavy season of burnout.

✅ The Transition Gap: Life changed suddenly. You lost someone, or a big chapter ended, and you needed time to breathe.

✅ The Pivot Gap: You left a job to try something new, maybe a business, and it didn't work out the way you planned.

✅ The Relocation Gap: You moved to a new city or country. You had to navigate a new culture, build a new network from scratch, and find your footing in an unfamiliar market.

My Mindset Tip for today:

We call these "empty spaces" on a CV. But look at what the World Economic Forum is saying for 2026:

📌 The top skills companies need right now are Resilience and Empathy

(like I mentioned in my post yesterday)

Where do you learn those? You learn them in the "Gaps."

💜 Healing teaches you how to keep going for the long run.

💜 Caregiving teaches you how to handle a crisis.

💜 Pivoting teaches you how to take smart risks.

So we can agree that you didn't "stop" growing during these times. You just changed the direction of your growth.

If global leaders are starting to value these seasons, why aren't you?

You can watch Chandni's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1mXsUHqUik

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I am Jane Njogu. I empower women leaders to lead with clarity through 1:1 coaching, and I help organisations drive team performance through strategic organisational coaching

Last week I shared a story about a former client. She was struggling with the "motherhood penalty" after being an executive for 10 years.

The messages I got afterward were amazing, but I kept hearing one specific thing over and over: "Jane, my skills are rusty."

If that’s you, I want you to look at what’s actually happening in the world right now in 2026.

The World Economic Forum just released a study showing that the most important things for a leader today aren't just technical.

📌 They are "Adaptive Intelligence" and "Resilience."

Basically, that’s just a fancy way of saying:
✅ How well do you handle change? And how fast do you bounce back?

Here’s the thing about technical skills (the software or the office rules):

They change so fast that everyone’s skills get old after about two or three years. It happens to people who never leave the office, too.

But Human Skills, the ability to stay calm when everything is going wrong, lead with empathy, and negotiate when the stakes are high…

Those skills don't disappear just because you aren't in a boardroom; they actually grow over time.

Here is my Mindset Tip for you today:

When you feel "rusty," you are usually looking at your past through a broken lens. Try this:

Write down three times you handled a crisis at home this month. Now, ask yourself: "If a CEO did this at work, would it be called a 'gap' or 'crisis management'?"

📌 The rust isn't on your skills; it’s on how you see yourself.

Whether your gap was for motherhood, taking care of someone you love, or focusing on your own health, remind yourself: You didn't lose your edge. You just sharpened it in a different way.

Stop measuring your "rust" against a 2010 CV. Start measuring your ability to adapt against what the world needs today in 2026.
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I am Jane Njogu. I empower women leaders to lead with clarity through 1:1 coaching, and I help organisations drive team performance through strategic organisational coaching

I am celebrating finishing my first book of 2026:
'Supercoach' by Michael Neill 🎉

But before you start feeling like you are "behind" or wondering how I found the time to devour a book in 22 days… let me give you the plot twist.

I actually started this book in December.

I read a few pages here, a chapter there. Some days I didn't pick it up at all because the "mom-season" was demanding and the "coach-season" was delicate.

Why am I telling you this?

Because as a mindset coach, I see so many high-achieving women paralyzed by comparison.

We see someone’s "finish line," and we use it as a stick to beat ourselves for our "Slow Start."

We view a career gap as a "void," while the rest of the world is moving "fast enough."

Here is the mindset shift for your Thursday:

✅ Your Pace is Not Your Worth: Finishing a book in two weeks or two months doesn't change the value of the knowledge gained.

The same applies to your career. A "gap" for motherhood doesn't erase a decade of executive excellence.

✅ Comparison is a "System Glitch": When you compare your "Chapter 1" (returning to work) to someone else’s "Chapter 20" (mid-career sprint), you aren't being productive; you are just practicing self-doubt.

✅ Embrace Your Season: I stayed grounded this month by accepting that my reading pace was "slow." By removing the pressure to be a "fast reader," I actually became a present one.

When you embrace your season as a mother, you stop being a "behind" professional and start being a "present" leader.

Growth and joy start when we stop blaming our pace and start honoring our process.

Whether you are on page 5 or page 500, or if you are just now re-opening the book of your career after a delicate season, you are exactly where you need to be.

What is one area of your career or life where you’ve been comparing your "slow start" to someone else’s "finish line"?

"I spent a decade building a career only to be treated like a liability the moment I chose to have a family. Was I not supposed to have both?"

I sat in a session a month ago that evoked a lot of feelings.

As she described her return to work after a delicate, high-risk pregnancy, the air in the room felt heavy.

As a mom myself, I felt every word. She had spent months fighting for her health and her baby’s life, only to return to a corporate world that viewed her survival as a "career gap" and her motherhood as a "liability.

She was bitter. She was tired.

She felt a raw frustration at the low offers and a burning injustice toward a system that erased ten years of executive excellence the moment she stepped into motherhood.

It was as if her professional history had been 're-authored' without her consent.

She was blaming the market, blaming the "motherhood penalty," and blaming the world for making her feel like her educational achievements and her years in the trenches no longer counted.

But behind the blame, there was something else…

She was waiting for someone else to tell her she was still "enough."

She wanted more, but because of her thoughts, she expressed herself for less

She entered rooms ready to settle, ready to apologize, and prepared to take a smaller seat because she was stuck in the validation trap.

I wanted to join her as she teared up during our sessions, but I needed to maintain the stable container she needed to find her way out.

My empathy was the bridge, but my coaching was the map.

At the end of our time together, she found her answer…

The problem was not the system. The problem was how she saw herself.

As a mindset coach, I believe that true success starts when we work on our inner world

Our thoughts, our beliefs, and the internal stories about our worth are the foundation of everything we build.

Yes, we will have seasons, some delicate, some demanding, but we get to choose how we embrace those seasons and re-author our own path forward.

To the woman returning to work: Stop explaining your "time away" as a hole in your CV.

Yesterday, I called out the system for the "Motherhood Penalty". But today, I want to talk to you.

I have worked with so many women leaders who walk into interviews feeling like they are "faking it" because they took a break...hashtag

They enter the room with a "Survival Mode" mindset, ready to accept lower pay because they feel they’ve fallen behind...hashtag

But the thing is, you didn't fall behind. Your skills grew.

When you apologize for your gap, you create a values gap. You are telling the employer that your years of managing chaos, solving complex logistics, and developing high-level EQ don't count.

The shift happens from the inside out.

As Michael Neill says, "Your world is a mirror of your thoughts. If you think you're small, the world will treat you that way. If you know you're big, the world will have no choice but to agree."

You and I can both agree that your "gap" is your competitive advantage, but the only person who can make others see it as an advantage is you.

Here is how you re-author your story for 2026:

❌ Instead of saying: "I’ve been out of the workforce for three years raising my children."

✅ Say this: "I’ve spent the last three years in a high-pressure leadership internship where I mastered crisis management, strategic prioritization, and high-stakes negotiation."

Why this matters:

When you are clear about your value, the employer doesn't see a "gap"; they see a Growth Phase.

Leading with your strengths stops the energy leak of imposter syndrome.

You aren't just looking for a job; you are looking for an alignment where your evolved skills can drive team performance.

Dear Mom, your value is non-negotiable. It’s time you believed it 🦋

With love,
Coach Jane

Dear HR Professionals, we need to talk about the "Motherhood Penalty."

I’ve noticed a pattern. A woman takes a career break to fulfill "mom duties". She returns to the workforce with a gap on her CV, and the system sees it as a reason to offer "quality work for low wages".

I have worked with a handful of women leaders who are frustrated by this. And I think it is time we spoke about it.

The thing is…

You think you’re winning by saving on the salary. But you’re losing in ways you haven't noticed yet.

While she was "away," she wasn't just changing diapers. She was in a high-pressure leadership internship. She has:

✅ Mastered resilience and now knows how to manage chaos without breaking
✅ Learned to think outside, under, and beyond the box hashtag
✅ Mastered time management skills and can accomplish in 4 hours what others do in 8.
✅ Mastered non-verbal cues and prioritization under fire hashtag :

When you underpay her, you create a values gap. Instead of a contented, pro-active leader, you get a "Survival Mode" employee who is hunting for her next exit.

But it goes deeper. That bitterness travels home. She looks at her kids and associates their growth with her professional "demotion". It leaks into her marriage and her mental health.

Yes, she took a break. But did her skills evaporate, or did they evolve?

You see, empathy and compassion aren't just "nice to have." They are the foundation of a high-performance culture.

Dear HR Professionals, in 2026 please let us shift our mindset on how we view moms who have taken a career break to fulfill mom duties.

With an open mind,
Coach J 😊