"I want my next chapter to have impact. But how?"
I heard some version of this storytelling 3x this week.
The profile of woman was 45-55.
Recently 'right sized' by the spate of tech layoffs.
Wants to realize her next chapter.
No clue how to get there.
Emily Dickinson once wrote to a friend in a letter, “I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.”
→1 said she would get a PHd. Busy would be a proxy for productive
→1 started reading self help books, hoping the answer lies within
→1 got a certification at MIT, scared off by the prospect of sharing her impact. (But how? she asked)
In service of this, I asked three questions
🔴 If you had to introduce your 16 year old self to your current self, what would you say?
🔴 Write an essay about why there is no solution to your problem. Guaranteed, your bullshit meter will go off and fix it.
🔴 Are you comparing your 'inside' to someone else's glossy, curated 'outside?'
I finished with another allegory:
A passerby asked a man searching under a streetlight, "What are you looking for?"
The man replied, "My keys"
"Are you sure you lost them here?"
"No I lost them back in the park"
"Then why are you looking for them here?"
"Because this is where the light is"
Sometimes, we take the easier path because its clear. We know it. Rather than sit in the discomfort of searching in the darker places where the light doesn't reach.
OR, you can hire someone to help you shed some light on those dark places.
I wrote the letter to my 16 year old self. Want to see it?
DM "FUTURE SELF" in comments
Founding Editor, Forbes Advisor
2wI worked with many of the Forbes Advisor team before retiring several years ago. They are the best of the best!