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In the introduction to part 1, I shared the first part of my story. How I built the company I had dreamed of creating and then, when it all crashed, I pressed the FIND ME button and hovered over my world, pausing and noticing. I experimented; I explored acting, medical school, rabbinical school, and investment management.
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And as I experimented, I began to descend back to earth, but in a slightly different location. Not a different country, but a different city. Or maybe just a different street in the same city.
Here’s what I noticed: While ultimately, I didn’t want to be an actor, rabbi, doctor, or investment manager, there were things about each of those roles that were attractive to me. I wanted to be playful, express myself, and experiment. I wanted to be useful and help others in a hands-on way. I wanted to have, and express, meaning and depth in my work. I wanted to be inspired and to inspire others. And I wanted to make good money.
I also noticed that I really liked—and wanted to continue—consulting. I loved the client partnerships and relationships I developed. I thoroughly enjoyed—and was good at—looking at problems and devising creative solutions to address them. I had a passion for ideas of all sorts, and it made me happy to use them to help people make changes in their companies and in their lives. I loved thinking and writing and speaking in ways that inspired others.
What I didn’t like was running a consulting company, which to me often felt like the opposite of consulting. Instead of inventing innovative customized solutions to a particular problem, I had to create standardized methods that I could replicate across all my consultants around the world. Instead of spending my time with clients, I was spending my time managing other consultants. Instead of thinking up new ideas or writing or speaking, I was spending my time running, and growing, the business.
What I realized—my big aha—was that I could have it all. If I consulted in a certain way, I could combine what attracted me about being an actor, doctor, rabbi, and investment manager into one. I could be a playful, expressive, experimental, useful, hands-on, meaningful, deep, inspiring consultant (who made good money). And it would be the perfect job for me since I would be leveraging my strengths, embracing my weaknesses, asserting my differences, and pursuing my passions.
That, I discovered, was my way back down to earth. Not just to financial or career success, but to happiness and fulfillment, because it would allow me—force me, actually—to bring my whole self into my work and my life. To spend my time on the things that are important to me. The things that make me different, that make me matter.
Still, as I began to practice consulting in my own, new way, it wasn’t always easy. I made mistakes. I failed repeatedly. Sometimes, when one part of my plan wasn’t working, I questioned the whole plan. Other times, I became so focused on doing things a certain way that I missed great opportunities around me. And periodically, when I didn’t know what to do, I froze and didn’t do anything.
Those are pitfalls that you may or may not avoid, but knowing about them ahead of time will help you move through them as you find your focus.
So often we scramble to get a lot accomplished in a day, and succeed—only to realize, in retrospect, that those things we accomplished won’t get us where we want to go. It’s not a lack of effort. It’s a lack of direction and focus.
In order to reclaim your life, first you need to focus on what your life is all about. Otherwise, no matter how hard you work, you’ll just be frittering your time away. As you design a plan for where you want to spend your time over the next year, the chapters in this next section will help you find that focus. They’ll help you take a broader, more open, thoughtful perspective in your work and in your life. They’ll help you create a plan that reflects your full potential. And they’ll nudge you, gently coaxing that potential out of you and into the world.
We’ll look at the four elements—your strengths, weaknesses, differences, and passions—that form the foundation of your success and happiness. It’s at the intersection of those four elements that your time will be best spent. Along the way, we’ll explore some of the pitfalls to avoid—possible left or right turns that might send you off in the wrong direction. Finally, in the last chapter, you’ll define the annual focus that will serve as the basis for all your daily plans. So that you spend your time where it matters most.
