Stretching yourself in your career often means taking action before you have confidence and clarity.
At 7:15pm on Saturday, I was in an unfamiliar kitchen, staring at pies that wouldn’t come out of their tins, wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into.
This wasn’t supposed to be how my Saturday night went. But then, stretching yourself rarely looks the way you imagine.
So far, 2026 has been a year of doing new things, one of which was launching Scrumptious: a pop-up pie and mash night, timed around a rugby match.
On the surface, this looks like a food story. In reality, it turned out to be a live case study in what happens when you step outside your comfort zone, and why that matters just as much in your career as it does in a kitchen.
From idea to reality: feeding 60 people from an unfamiliar kitchen
On Saturday night, we fed 60 people pie and mash from a kitchen I’d never cooked in before. By 8pm, my co-collaborator, our helpers and I were all sitting down to enjoy a post rugby match meal of pie and mash. Guests began arriving from 6.30pm and out front, it was exactly what we’d hoped for – people chatting, laughing, glasses clinking, all in anticipation of plates of pie and mash being served.
Out back, it was less serene….
The ovens behaved nothing like they had during the trials. Timings went out of the window. It was difficult to find the equipment we needed, and the pies were, frankly, a bugger to get out of their foil tins.
There were some properly tense moments. Moments where I wondered whether this had all been a terrible idea.
The part most people don’t see: the unglamorous work
What people didn’t see were the weeks leading up to the event. Working out how to make individual pies cook properly at scale. Testing pastry, tweaking fillings, adjusting seasoning. Doing the maths on quantities, timings, payments, flow and seating.
This is the unglamorous work: the spreadsheets, the trial runs, the problem-solving that happens long before anyone arrives.
And here’s what all that prep taught me about confidence.
Stretching yourself in your career doesn’t feel confident, it feels messy
One of the biggest myths about confidence is that you need it before you take action.
In reality, confidence usually comes after you’ve done the thing, not before. On the night, there was an interesting mix of anticipation, excitement and absolute dread that we might not be able to pull it off. The same pattern can happen in careers – trying something new, hoping it will work, not knowing whether you can achieve what you’ve set out to do.
People think they need to wait until they feel “ready” before making a move. They assume clarity comes first and action second.
But clarity is often a by-product of action.
And you don’t think your way into confidence. You build it by testing, learning, adjusting and trying again. The more you build, the more you gain that confidence and clarity you’re seeking.
This is the work I do with clients
I support experienced professionals who feel stuck, misaligned or at a crossroads in their careers. What’s holding them back isn’t a lack of skill. It’s the fear of stepping into something untested.
The pie night? That’s exactly what I help clients do. Take an idea, test it, survive the messy middle, and come out the other side having learned something. Moving from idea to experiment. Accepting that not everything will work perfectly. Learning by doing, not by overthinking.
For the pie night, the ovens didn’t behave. But the evening worked.
The outcome: effort that’s invisible, but worth it
The feedback made the chaos worthwhile: ‘Pies were to die for and the people were fabulous too.’ ‘The pies were homemade, wholesome, and just so delicious.’ ‘Beautiful pie, atmosphere, great evening.’
The first Scrumptious event was a collaboration, and we had incredible support from family and friends. Serving, clearing, washing up and calmly doing whatever needed doing.
Something important happened. An idea moved from my head into the real world.
Why this matters, even if you’re not running a pie night!
You don’t need to launch a supper club to be stretching yourself in your career. But you do need spaces in your life where you’re learning again, testing things, and discovering what works through action.
Whether that’s a new role, a side hustle, a portfolio project, or a long-postponed idea, the principle is the same. You won’t feel fully ready, but experimentation leads to change. If you’re looking for new challenges or new things you’re curious to try, here’s a great article to read.
What’s next
Scrumptious had its first proper outing, and there’s another event planned for March.
And in my coaching work, I’ll keep doing what I do best. Helping people move from stuck thinking into thoughtful action. Because growth rarely comes from staying comfortable. It comes from stepping beyond what feels safe, and learning as you go.
So, what’s your pie night? What’s the thing you’ve been thinking about that might be worth testing?
