Good Work : Reclaiming Your Inner Ambition

Perhaps you loved the initial path you embarked on, much like I enjoyed consulting in my first couple of years. If that fire has become a small flame, vow to yourself: I will not let this flame die.

out how to escape the nonsense, exploit the system, or extract as much money from the company as possible.

The culture decrees that you should do what you are good at rather than what you most like to do; that what you produce rather than what you get out of what you produce is what counts; that your ability, reflected in achievements, is what matters. Given cultural expectations, it is all too easy to equate personal and professional worth.

I was afraid of ending up back where I started: dissatisfied, lost, and stuck in a job I wanted to escape.

Looking back, what chunks of time feel satisfying and seem to be more important as time progresses? What am I drawn to do, right now? What am I doing already that feels good? At the end of my life, what will I definitely not regret having done?

sense of achievement. But don’t “should” yourself into staying in one of these positions when your heart and soul yearn for more.

Now, I treat that energy like an endurance athlete: carefully pacing myself so that I can continue on this path. If

Now, with writing, I happily embrace the challenge of getting stuck and feeling frustrated about how to move forward and I don’t seem to tire of it. This is because there is no “should” in my relationship to writing. I care about it. If writing required extreme effort and constant mental contortions, it wouldn't be my good work.

“why not consider the savings a gift from your former self?” Hmm. That was interesting. I could be grateful to “achiever Paul” for making this money and giving me the chance to reinvent myself.