The difference between change and evolution

In my last email, I shared what I finally see: I help people navigate thresholds.

Today I want to share something that changes how you can approach them.

There's a difference between change and evolution.

Change is external. You switch jobs. Move cities. Launch a product. Start a business. 

These things happen to you or because of you, and you manage them with strategy, planning, execution.

Evolution is internal. Your values shift. Your identity reorganizes. What used to matter stops mattering. What you thought you wanted reveals itself as someone else's goal. 

You don't manage evolution. You must protect it.

Most career advice treats everything like change. More strategy, better systems, clearer plans. And when that advice makes things even worse (which it often does at thresholds), it's natural to assume something's wrong with you.

Here's what's actually happening:

You're trying to manage something that needs protection.

Story time.

In 2019, I left my role with Peter Diamandis and Abundance 360 after 8.5 years. On LinkedIn, it was a job change. Underneath, my entire professional identity was dissolving. The version of myself who thrived in that environment no longer existed.

I tried to "manage" it. Made plans. Set goals. Optimized my calendar. Applied all the productivity frameworks I knew.

But the genie was out of the bottle. My body revolted anytime someone asked me to fix their operations. Sunday scaries returned. Shoulders hiked to my ears during client meetings. Exhaustion that rest didn't fix. Extreme emotional imbalances. And oh, the procrastination.

Looking back, these weren't pure productivity problems. My nervous system was telling me in all the ways it could: the person you're becoming requires a different habitat and boundary conditions.

Here's how to tell which you're in:

Change asks: What's the next right action?
Evolution asks: What conditions does this crossing need?

Change depletes when you're not strategic enough.
Evolution depletes when you're not still enough.

Change requires you to push forward.
Evolution requires you to protect space.

If you've been applying change strategies to an evolution threshold, everything feels harder than it should. Because it is.

What this means practically:

Over the next couple emails, I'm going to walk you through what's changing here and why. How my own threshold navigation over the past few years has clarified what I'm building and who I'm building it for.

But for this weekend, here's what might be worth noticing:

Pick one area where you've been trying to "manage" your way through something. A role that doesn't fit. A relationship dynamic that's shifted. A version of success that stopped mattering.

Ask yourself: Am I trying to optimize a structure I've already outgrown?

Sometimes the answer is yes. And that's not failure. That's threshold recognition.

More Friday on what's changing and what it means for you.

Marissa

P.S. What are you trying to manage that might actually need protection? Hit reply. I read everything.