Walt Hampton, J.D.

Creating the Work & Life You LOVE

When You’re Not Afraid

by Walt | Nov 13, 2025 | Success | 1 Comment

When I was a lawyer, I was successful. I was making good money. On the outside, it looked like I had it made.

But on the inside, I was miserable. The work didn’t light me up. It drained me. I remember sitting in my office one night long after everyone else had gone home, looking out over the city, and thinking, Is this it? Is this what I’m going to do for the rest of my life?

I had a vision for something different. I wanted to create a coaching practice. To help people live more intentional, fulfilling lives. But the chasm between where I was and where I wanted to be felt terrifying. Too vast to cross.

So, I stayed stuck. For years.

Looking back, I see it clearly now. It wasn’t the lack of opportunity that held me back. It wasn’t the market, the timing, or my obligations. It was fear. Pure and simple.

Fear of failure.

Fear of what others would think.

Fear of losing what I had, even if what I had was slowly killing me inside.

The truth is, fear is one of the most powerful forces in the world. It can keep us trapped in jobs we hate, in relationships that don’t serve us, and in stories that no longer fit who we’re becoming.

And right now, there’s a lot of fear in the air. Cultural fear. Political fear. Financial fear. The world feels uncertain. And when fear is in the air, paralysis follows. People stop creating. They stop imagining what might be possible. They hunker down and play small.

That’s what fear does. It convinces us to trade our dreams for safety.

Susan Jeffers wrote a wonderful book years ago called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. The premise is simple. Fear never really goes away. Waiting for fear to disappear before we take action is like waiting for the wind to stop before setting sail. It’s not going to happen.

The only way to move forward is to do it scared.

Those three words, “do it scared,” have become a mantra for me and for so many of my clients.

When a client tells me they’re stuck, one of my favorite questions to ask is, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” It’s amazing how that one question can open the door to possibility. You can see the light flicker on in their eyes. The energy shifts. They start to imagine a different story.

Because when we set fear aside, even for a moment, we remember that we have power. We remember that the only way forward is through.

Here’s what I’ve learned: courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s action in the presence of fear. Every meaningful thing you’ve ever done, you’ve done while afraid. The first day of school. The first big presentation. The first time you said, I love you.

You didn’t wait until you weren’t afraid. You just did it anyway.

If you find yourself feeling stuck right now – unsure of what comes next, overwhelmed by the noise of the world – try this:

Take a few quiet minutes today. Close your eyes. Breathe. Ask yourself, What would I do if I weren’t afraid?

Then listen.

The answer might surprise you. It might be small—an email to send, a phone call to make, a boundary to set. Or it might be big—a business to start, a move to make, a new chapter to begin. Whatever it is, take one small step toward it.

Don’t wait for the fear to go away. It won’t. But it will shrink with each step you take. Because action dissolves fear.

That’s how we grow. That’s how we create lives that matter.

If I had waited until I wasn’t afraid to leave law and begin coaching, I’d still be in that office, looking out over the city lights, wondering what could have been.

Don’t let that be your story.

Do it scared. Feel the fear and move forward anyway.

When you’re not afraid, the world opens up. And you realize it was never as big a leap as you thought.

Need help? Let’s talk. Email me: [email protected]

Hello Darkness

by Walt | Nov 6, 2025 | Success | 2 Comments

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
— Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We just turned the clocks back.

The shadows here in New England have begun to fall by mid-afternoon.

I rail against it.

Some find the dark cozy and embracing. They relish the long evenings in front of the fire. They embrace the dark.

I hate it.

I love the Alaska Range in the summer: the long endless days and the midnight sun. I’d jump from a bridge if I lived there in the winter.

Of course, many folks have taken care of this by moving to places like Southern California, or Belize. And there are many more who embrace the changing seasons with greater equanimity than I.

But the seasons of change can be another matter altogether.

Most all of us get used to our routines. Constancy is safe. Secure.

We like predictability.

Anything that disrupts the status quo is, well, disruptive.

We fight change. I do. Yet change is really the only constant. It is the rhythm of things. High tide and low; ’til death do us part, or sooner; daytime and night; in sickness and in health; drought and flood; in good times and in bad; carry days and rest days; generativity and the dark night of the soul.

The legendary Jim Rohn taught so eloquently on the seasons of life: The seasons always come, Rohn said. “You cannot change the seasons but you can change yourself.”

Winters always come. And there are all kinds of them, Rohn said. “There are economic winters, when the financial wolves are at the door; there are physical winters, when our health is shot; there are personal winters when our heart is smashed to pieces.”

Use winter to get stronger, wiser, better. Get ready for the Spring, Rohn said. It always follows winter.

“Opportunity follows difficulty.” Take advantage of the Spring. Till the earth. Plant.

In the Summer, nourish and protect. “Every garden must be defended in the summer,” Rohn taught. The garden of values – social, political, marital, commercial- the garden of ideas, the garden of all that is good. Be on watch over your garden in the summer.

Reap what you have sown in the fall. Take responsibility for what you did not sow, for what you did not protect. But celebrate the harvest. “Learn to welcome the fall without apology or complaint,” Rohn said.

Embrace the seasons of our lives. Know them. Use them.

Why do we fight so what is so?

To be with change, to be in its flow; to experience the shifting sands with open hands and open hearts. To have the courage to accept and say: “and this too.” Cherish this challenge. It is all we really have.

The seeds of new life blow on the cold winds of November. Winter will come. But so will Spring. It is the rhythm of things.

To live fully, deeply into each season of our lives: this is what we are called to do.

Every year we have been witness to it: how the world descends
into a rich mash, in order that it may resume. And therefore who would cry out
to the petals on the ground to stay, knowing as we must, how the vivacity of what was is married
to the vitality of what will be? I don’t say it’s easy, but what else will do
if the love one claims to have for the world be true? So let us go on
though the sun be swinging east, and the ponds be cold and black and the sweets of the year be doomed.
— Mary Oliver

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Want some support through a season of change? Let’s talk. Email me: [email protected]

And stop by for a visit at: https://summit-success.com/

What Will Your Costume Be?

by Walt | Oct 30, 2025 | Success | 0 Comments

What are you gonna be for Halloween? Who are you going to dress up as?

Masks and costumes. Parties and planning. Fervor, festivities, and fever pitch.

Bigger than Christmas it seems.

What is it about Halloween that so excites, that so sparks the imagination?

Yes, fun for sure. The chance to let loose, hideout, switch it up. The possibility of being someone new, something new, someone different from who you are in the hum-drum of each day.

And the truth is that a lot of folks are worn down by the hum-drum of each. They want new, better, different. Just not the same. For god’s sake, not the same.

So, who do you want to be?

More important: Who are you already… really?

Are you your job? Your role in a relationship? Your hobby, pursuit, passion?

I am an executive coach, high-altitude mountaineer, blue-water sailor, adventure photographer, husband, father, business owner, pastor….

But is that who I am… really?

If you have a job and lose that job… who are you?
If you have a marriage and the marriage unravels, who are you?
If you have kids and they grow up and move away, who are you?
If you’re an athlete and you’re injured, who are you?
Who are you when your friend betrays you? When your parent dies? When your business fails?
Who are you in the face of success, failure, and change?

Who are you… really?

Your identity. The very core of who you are. What a struggle that can be. Especially for success and achievement junkies… I know a few… They’re the folks who come to coaching… (As for myself, on the advice of counsel, I can neither admit nor deny any of the heretofore!)

When you’re not doing, achieving, accomplishing… who are you?

(Yeah, I hate that question.)

Ann and I traveled to Nepal a few years ago… a completely different culture… a completely different pace… If stress and adrenaline are your fuel, you won’t find much there. And without that fuel, we ask, … who are we?

The Buddhists teach: Nothing to do, nothing to be, nothing to have.

Really. WTF? What then?

One of my very favorite stories from the Torah is when Moses comes upon the burning bush. God speaks to Moses from the bush, telling Moses what he needs to be about. Moses, looking for a bit of borrowed cred, asks God for God’s name. God says, “I am who I am.” Tell those Israelites that “I am” sent you.

Maybe there’s a clue here. Maybe when you define yourself with a title, give yourself a label, or tie an object to who you think you are, you make yourself small, and limit your (divine) potential.

Maybe, at the end of it all, one more billable hour booked, one more product sold, one more article published, one more email sent, one more race run, one more mountain climbed, won’t really matter.

Maybe it’s ok just to be.

And damn, what an interesting (and unusual) costume that might be!

Happy Halloween.

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When you’re ready to reclaim the you that’s really you, let’s talk. Email me: [email protected]

And stop by for a visit: https://summit-success.com/

The Very Unsexy Secret To Success

by Walt | Oct 23, 2025 | Success | 2 Comments

Big goals can be intoxicating. They light us up, fire the imagination, and pull us toward something greater than ourselves. But they can also terrify us.

A dream business. A book. A keynote. A new career. From where you stand right now, it can feel impossible. You can’t see the way. You don’t know how it will unfold. And when it gets hard , because it always does, it’s easy to want to give up.

Don’t.

When I ran the Vermont 50 miler, I learned a really important lesson: Fifty miles is a long, long way to run.

You start in the dark before dawn, headlamps bobbing, cold air biting, the trail stretching out ahead into the unknown. In the beginning, you feel strong and excited. But hours later, the euphoria fades. Your legs ache. Your mind rebels. You question everything.

That’s when you learn the truth. You can’t run fifty miles all at once. You can only take one step, then the next. You focus on what’s right in front of you. You climb one hill, cross one stream, reach one aid station. You keep moving forward. And if you do that long enough, step by step, mile by mile, you find yourself at the finish line.

It’s the same in business. The same in life. We want the whole plan. The roadmap. The certainty. We want to know it will all work out before we begin. But that’s not how growth happens. Every great goal, every extraordinary life, begins in uncertainty. And the only way through it is persistence.

You don’t need to know every move. You don’t need to have all the answers. You just need to take the next step. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

That’s how books get written: one page at a time. That’s how businesses grow: one client at a time. That’s how new careers are built: one conversation, one connection, one brave action at a time.

When you hit the wall, and you will, remember this: you’re not failing. You’re learning. You’re stretching. You’re becoming the person capable of achieving what you set out to do. Persistence isn’t about pushing harder. It’s about showing up again and again, even when you don’t feel like it. It’s about keeping faith when the outcome isn’t yet visible.

You take one step, then the next. You trust that the path will rise to meet you. There’s power in simplicity. Focus on today’s action. Write the page. Make the call. Send the proposal. Have the conversation. You don’t have to see the finish line to move toward it. You just need to keep moving.

Because momentum builds. Clarity comes through action. And somewhere along the way, what once felt impossible starts to take shape. Step by step, the dream becomes real.

That’s the secret. Not talent. Not luck. Persistence. Keep going. You’ve got this. Take one step. And then the next.

Are You Feeling Crispy Around The Edges?

by Walt | Oct 16, 2025 | Success | 0 Comments

Maybe you’ve felt it lately. That sense of being just a little crispy around the edges. You’re not completely burned out, but you’re not your best self either. You’re tired, short-fused, drained. The joy that once fueled your work has started to fade.

Burnout doesn’t happen all at once. It creeps in slowly. It starts with small compromises: skipped workouts, late nights, missed weekends. The voice that says, “I’ll rest when things slow down.” Except they never do.

The signs show up in subtle ways. You start to dread the inbox. You lose patience with your team or your family. You feel detached from your purpose. You wake up tired no matter how long you sleep. You start wondering whether any of it still matters.

If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The world is moving faster than ever. Expectations are higher. Our devices never stop talking to us. The pressure to perform, to keep up, can be relentless.

And yet, the truth is this: you can’t give what you don’t have. You can’t lead, create, or serve when you’re running on fumes. You can’t be your best for others if you’ve abandoned yourself.

So what do you do when you realize you’re burning out?

First, stop pretending you’re fine. Acknowledge what’s real. Burnout thrives in denial. It grows in silence and shame. Admitting that you’re tired is not a weakness; it’s an act of courage.

Second, reclaim your margins. Every high performer I’ve ever coached has wrestled with this. They fill their calendars to the brim, mistaking activity for impact. But great lives and great work happen in the white space, in the moments between the doing. You need rest. You need recovery. You need stillness.

Third, come back to your body. Burnout is not just mental; it’s physical. Move. Breathe. Hydrate. Sleep. Step outside. Touch the ground. The body knows before the mind does. Listen to it.

Fourth, reconnect to what matters. When you’ve been running too long, you forget why you started. Ask yourself: What really lights me up? What brings me peace? Who do I love being around? Then, orient your days toward those things again.

And finally, get support. Burnout isolates. It convinces you that you’re the only one struggling. You’re not. Talk to a coach, a therapist, a trusted friend. You don’t have to do it alone.

There’s no quick fix. Reclaiming your energy and enthusiasm takes time. But you can begin today with one small act of care, one boundary drawn, one breath, one pause.

The paradox is that when you slow down, everything gets better. Your focus sharpens. Your creativity returns. You become more patient, more compassionate, more effective. You remember who you are.

The work will always be there. The deadlines will never stop. The demands will keep coming. But you get to choose how you show up.

So take a look at your life. If you’re feeling crispy around the edges, don’t wait until you’re burned out completely. Step back. Breathe. Refill your cup. You can’t pour from an empty one.

Need help? Let’s talk. Email me: [email protected]