By Matt Doan · Nov 29, 2025 · 3-min read

Letting Go of False Requirements

It was always clear how to win in corporate.

Show up early. Stay late. Be on call.

Pack your calendar. Say yes.

Smile through 10 back-to-back meetings.

Mention “balance,” but keep your family waiting.

Defer your dreams to “someday.”

I never questioned it.

Because I thought it was required.

But over time, and with the right mentors, I realized:

None of it was real.
None of it was required.

They were False Requirements.

Assumptions dressed up as obligations.

Patterns passed down by people who never broke the script.

Rules that calcified into beliefs—then cages.

That’s how high-performers get stuck.

We absorb the system.
We normalize dysfunction.
We mistake repetition for truth.

And we start telling ourselves:

“This is what success takes.”
“This job is just demanding.”
“This is the price you pay.”

But here’s the truth:

It’s only real if you keep saying it is.

That was the power I didn’t know I had.

I assumed the entire Golden Handcuff relationship.

I assumed the grind was noble. I assumed “visibility” mattered more than value. I assumed building a business was a decade away. I assumed I had 20 more years of this grind.

None of it was true.

Having fully graduated this way of living and helping 160+ others do the same, I want to spotlight the real traps.

5 types of False Requirements in corporate life:

1. Time Requirements
​You think the job demands 60+ hours. But no one actually asked for that. You handed over your best hours by default, not design. Most execs are rewarded for optics, not outcomes—but essential results in a 30-hour week (or less) are possible. You just have to question the premise and rebuild your setup with intention. (Remember: there's no transformation without first creating space.)

2. Identity Requirements
​You lead with “VP,” “Director,” or “Strategist.” That's code for: I know how to play the system. But that title isn’t who you are. It’s who you became to survive. Your Founder identity is hidden underneath—waiting to breathe for the first time.

3. Presence Requirements
​You assume every meeting matters and that constant visibility equals value. But being ever-present isn’t leverage—it’s friction. Meetings eat your edge. Slack steals your focus. You’re not paid for being available. You’re paid for essential outcomes. Time to make your daily choices reflect that truth.

4. Exit Requirements
​You think you can’t leave until the bonus hits, or the raise lands, or the next promo drops. But those are just corporate mirages—always a few steps ahead, always “not yet.” They’re designed to keep you waiting. You don’t need another quarter. You need a clean decision.

5. Launch Requirements
​You believe launching a business takes capital, cofounders, or a 12-month roadmap. It doesn’t. It takes one decisive moment—then clear steps, bold reps, and the right environment. Most people stall because they believe the myths. The timeline collapses the moment you let them go.

Once you see the false rules, everything shifts.

That’s when Corporate Graduation™ becomes real.

You stop performing. You start building.
You reclaim time. You reject defaults.
You turn your job into a tool.

And people just like you are moving fast:

• A Senior Director cut a 60-hour week to 30 by redesigning priorities and clearing space to build.
• A VP built her founder roadmap in Q3, lined up her first clients while still on payroll, and will step into full-time founder mode in January.
• An Executive realized “wait for the bonus” was just a story—and designed his business in two weeks.

None of them waited.

They challenged dumb requirements.

Then they moved.

This is how your Founder Era begins:

→ Question every assumption
→ Reclaim your days
→ Build before you’re “ready”
→ Design a life that fits you

Your future is shaped by what you accept—and what you’re willing to reject.

Here's the truth:

The handcuffs were never locked.
You just never tested the latch.

Time to move,
Matt

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PS - We’re surging to help motivated Directors, VPs, and execs break False Requirements and shift into their Founder Era by Christmas.

The Dec 8th workshop will be highly tactical—built for calculated breakthroughs in days, not decades.

Our last session shook people to their core. This one? Even more focused, even more potent.

→ Grab your ticket here​

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