If you didn’t achieve one more thing in your entire life — who would you be?
Why hustle culture frameworks fail women leaders– and what actually scales instead
That question came from Jennifer Magley in Episode 261 of She Thinks Big, and I want to sit with it for a moment before we go anywhere else.
Because most of us — if we’re honest — don’t have an answer. Our identity is so wrapped up in what we produce, what we’ve accomplished, what we’re building, that the idea of removing achievement from the equation feels threatening.
That’s exactly why Jennifer’s story matters. And it’s exactly why it connects so deeply to the work I explore in Chapter 2 of She Thinks Big — Big Courage.
What Happens When the Curtains Might Close
Jennifer Magley is a former WTA tour professional tennis player, NCAA Division I champion, and one of the youngest Division I head coaches in the country at age 23. She went on to become Chief Brand Officer of The Basketball League (TBL), which feeds players into the NBA’s G League.
She’s also an author, MC, speaker, and self-described “middle-aged Midwestern beaded mother” who once dropped a drone with a custom t-shirt into the Pat McAfee Show parking lot as part of a 365-day quest to get on the program.
During that year-long public quest — which included mobile billboards, yard signs, cringe-worthy social skits, and cold outreach campaigns across Indiana — Jennifer received news that she might be losing her vision.
Her response?
“If the curtains were to close for me visually, I’m just gonna go out swinging.”
She didn’t retreat. She didn’t pause the quest. She accelerated.
And that decision — to take action anyway, in the face of that kind of uncertainty — is where her definition of success shifted entirely.
“Success became for me action in the face of uncertainty.”
Not the win. Not the yes. Not landing on the show. The action itself.
This is Big Courage. Not the absence of fear, not perfect conditions, not a guarantee of outcome. Courage is the decision to move anyway — and then keep moving.
Why This Reframe Changes Everything for Women in Business
Here’s what I’ve seen in my coaching work with women entrepreneurs: we tend to tie our sense of forward motion to external validation. The client who says yes. The revenue goal we hit. The launch that lands.
Jennifer’s framework flips this.
When she was facing a potential vision loss diagnosis, she looked at the past nine months of her quest and thought: Who is that woman? She was amazed at who she had become — not because she’d gotten a yes from the show, but because she had become someone who takes action.
That’s the real ROI of Big Courage. Not the result. The identity shift.
This connects directly to what I write about in Chapter 2 of She Thinks Big: the leaders who think biggest aren’t those who wait for permission or certainty. They’re the ones who decide to be in motion — and let the clarity come from the doing.
The Volume-Plus-Quality Formula That Actually Works
Jennifer sends 20 cold outreach messages every single day. Not when she feels like it. Not when conditions are perfect. Every day.
Her philosophy: “I believe the only guarantee of success are continual nos. They can’t all be nos.”
This is what I call Big Actions in Chapter 8 of She Thinks Big — and Jennifer is a living case study in what it looks like applied at scale.
She’s not sending generic blasts. She’s studied Phil M. Jones’s Exactly What to Say, she uses specific language designed to remove pressure (”Don’t know if it’s for you, but...”), and she never leads with “I” or “me” in a cold message. Quality language. High volume. No shame.
The women I work with who experience real breakthroughs aren’t the ones who finally find the perfect strategy. They’re the ones who commit to consistent, imperfect action over time — and trust the compounding effect.
“Volume + quality language + shamelessness = the formula.”
On Being “Absolutely Shameless and Unafraid”
One of the things Jennifer has helped dozens of people do is land paid speaking gigs, Forbes features, and TV spots. When I asked her what separates those who break through from those who stay stuck, her answer was immediate:
No shame.
She used Sharon Stone as an example — whose manager broke into a casting office to get the Basic Instinct script months in advance so Stone could prepare. That’s how badly she wanted it. That’s what shameless ambition looks like in practice.
Jennifer’s equivalent was the drone drop. The mobile billboard. The “cringe” social media skits she made anyway, knowing they were awkward, knowing they might not land, knowing the show probably wasn’t watching. (They were definitely watching — they never sent a cease and desist, which she takes as a sign they loved it.)
Here’s the mindset shift that unlocks this: social media is junk mail.
If every post is junk mail — expected, forgettable, part of the noise — then you can stop overthinking it. You stop asking when to post, what filter to use, whether this is the right angle. You just show up with volume and let the algorithm figure itself out.
“Who cares if your video doesn’t do well? Just keep showing up and you’ll own the SEO space.”
She proved it. Google “Stooge Quest” and “Pat McAfee Show” and you’ll find Jennifer — because 365 days of consistent content means she owns that search real estate.
The Transactional Relationship Permission Slip Women Need
This is the part of the conversation I keep thinking about days later.
Jennifer made the case — clearly, without apology — that women need more transactional relationships.
Men do this naturally. The golf buddy. The fantasy football friend. These are relationships that exist in a specific lane, serve a specific purpose, and don’t need to cross over into every area of life.
Women, she argues, tend to want every professional relationship to become a deep personal one. We want our coffee connection to also be the person who shows up for our hard days and introduces us to their network and fits into every social context we have.
That’s exhausting. And it’s limiting.
Jennifer’s framework is simple: know what box a relationship fits in, be clear about it upfront, and let it be exactly that.
“I don’t need you to be my best friend and introduce me to your billionaire cousin. I just need you to be exactly what we are to each other.”
This isn’t coldness. It’s clarity. And clarity, as I say often, is what scales.
The more women give themselves permission to have purposeful, bounded relationships — professional ones that exist to open doors, make introductions, swap event tickets — the more we can actually build the kind of networks that create real opportunity.
The Question Worth Asking Yourself This Week
Jennifer’s quest is still going. Season two is underway. The goal has evolved. And she’s still sending 20 messages a day.
But the question I want to leave you with isn’t about the quest. It’s the one she asked herself:
“If you didn’t achieve one more thing in your entire life — who would you be?”
If that question makes you uncomfortable, that’s important information.
It might mean your identity is more tied to your output than to who you actually are. It might mean the “box” you’re living in — as I talk about in She Thinks Big — is one you’re giving yourself.
Big Courage isn’t about going viral or landing the dream guest or building the billboard. It’s about deciding who you’re going to be — and then being that person, loudly, even when you don’t know how it ends.
That’s what Jennifer calls success. Action in the face of uncertainty.
And I think she’s right.
It’s Always Been Your Turn
Jennifer didn't wait until she had her vision secured, the yes from the show, or a perfect plan. She just went swinging.
Her story is a powerful reminder, we get to go swinging, too.
Listen to the full conversation with Jennifer on Episode 261 of She Thinks Big — available wherever you listen to podcasts.
If today’s post resonated, explore Chapter 2 (Big Courage) and Chapter 8 (Big Actions) in She Thinks Big for the full framework.
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