Pre-PhD Workbook 2: When the Goalposts Keep Moving

Somewhere along the way, I started doing all the right things. Not performatively, just with intention. I took the job that made sense, the one that brought me closer to the conversations I care about. I wanted a foothold, a way to be in the room, I dunno, maybe even to be part of the shaping of a thing that mattered.

It wasn’t meant to be forever. Just a step closer. A bridge. I had been working in similar roles (tertiary provider-based), but not working in a way where the qualifications I had worked so hard on mattered much.

And the truth is, I’m still on the admin side of the table. Still catching the overflow. Still cleaning up other people’s mess and calling it support. Still doing invisible labour so someone else’s vision can run on time.

And it wears on you. Not all at once, but slowly. Like a dull ache that creeps in and settles. The kind you stop noticing until you realise you’ve been clenching your jaw for months.

I like to think that I’m good at my job. Sometimes, when the ego’s boosted, too good, maybe. I’m efficient and reliable. I absorb chaos, fix broken systems, hold space. I know how to keep the ship moving, even when the structure makes no sense. And that’s part of the problem.

The better I get at holding everything together, the harder it is to step away. There’s always more to do, and fewer people to do it. And the ladder I thought I was climbing? Turns out it was just a holding bay. A cul-de-sac. And to move upwards, I still need to move sideways. I’m at the top of my ladder; there’s nowhere to go.

I’m not failing. But I’m not moving either.

This squidges over into other parts of my life too. Proposals, programs, open calls. I’m tired of being told I came close. That I was in the top few. That they loved my proposal, but someone else was a better fit. It’s always that last bit — the “but” that hangs in the air. Because anyone who has hung around in an English class should know that “but” negates everything that came before.

So I’ve been trying to make sense of it. Not just professionally, but personally. Because it’s not just one missed opportunity. It’s the pattern. The way the goalposts keep shifting. The way clarity and recognition always seem just out of reach. I once applied for the role of “photographer” only to be told that they were looking for someone with more video experience. I had a Master’s by this point, but video isn't my thing. Recently, I saw a job listing that asked for all of this, plus, apparently, UX design. I cannot keep up when the goal posts zoom this far ahead.

People keep offering suggestions. Tidy advice. Maybe I need to sharpen my pitch. Simplify the work. Make it easier to fund, to explain, to market.

But I don’t want to be easier.

I don’t want to compress the work just to make it fit. I don’t want to dilute it until it stops meaning what it meant when I started. I don’t want to reshape myself so someone else can see me more clearly.

I’ve tried. I won’t pretend I haven’t. I’ve edited myself down before I’ve even begun. I’ve made myself smaller, sharper, cleaner.

But it never lasts. Because it hurts. Because it’s not me.

And I’m not willing to spend my life sanding off the parts that don’t fit someone else’s frame.

What I keep circling — again and again — is the idea of a PhD. Not because I need the title, but because I need the space. The time. The structure. The permission to go deep and stay there.

One of my previous Heads of School often said to me, “Hayley, you don't need another qualification, just go out there and do the work.” Which directly speaks to why, six years after finishing my Master’s, I keep circling back.

I want to build something that doesn’t need to be flattened into a funding brief. I want to follow the threads that don’t lead anywhere tidy. I want to sit inside contradictions without being asked to resolve them for a panel. I want to write with depth and clarity and care, without apology.

It’s not about prestige. It’s about survival. About carving out a space where the work can be what it actually is. Where I can ask real questions and take time to listen for the answers. Where I’m not stuck at the edge of other people’s projects, holding it together behind the scenes.

I don’t want to be promoted. I want to be in motion.

I don’t want to climb a ladder that was never built for me. I want to carve a path.

So I’m starting here. Again. Still circling. Still asking what this could be. I’m just a little closer to filling in the donut hole, and naming it.