Care less.

Care less.

This is one of the most annoying pieces of career advice I give to high performers.

Someone is frustrated with leadership. Or misaligned with their boss. Or angry about how slow things move. Or carrying way more than their job actually requires.

And I’ll say: “I know how to fix this. Care less.”

Usually I get silence. Sometimes a laugh. Sometimes they think I’m an idiot.

But I’m serious.

High performers care a lot. That’s why they’re high performers. They take ownership. They see problems. They try to fix things. They carry more than they should.

The problem is, if you care about everything, eventually everything starts to feel like your responsibility.

But here’s what happens: misalignment turns into resentment really fast when you care more than the people who actually own the decisions.

And that’s where people get stuck. Not because they don’t have options. But because they care so much they forget they actually have agency.

Telling someone to “care less” isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about recalibrating ownership.

You don’t own every outcome. You own your contribution to it.

And sometimes the most powerful thing a high performer can do is decide to stop carrying what was never theirs to carry.

Some stay. Some leave. But they stay differently.

Care less isn’t apathy. It’s remembering you have agency.