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Grow & Scale A Business That Will Set You Free
Is This All There Is?
The Question That Signals It’s Time for a Career Change
You’ve built a good life.
A solid career. A respected title. A track record of success.
Maybe you’ve even checked most of the boxes: education, family, the house, the portfolio.
And yet…
There’s that quiet, persistent whisper.
“Is this all there is?”
It shows up on Sunday evenings. Or in the quiet of an early morning commute. It surfaces during back-to-back Zooms that drain rather than inspire.
It’s not that anything’s wrong.
But it’s not exactly right either.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many mid-career professionals—high achievers with 15 to 25 years under their belts—reach a moment where the outward success no longer matches the inner spark.
They crave more meaning. More joy. More freedom.
They want work that energizes them again.
But then the objections come.
“I should be grateful.”
“I’ve worked too hard to throw it all away.”
“I don’t even know what I’d do instead.”
Here’s the truth:
That quiet whisper?
It’s not a sign that something’s wrong.
It’s a sign you’re ready for more.
You’re evolving. You’ve outgrown the old structures. And deep down, you know that what got you here… won’t get you where you want to go next.
That doesn’t mean reckless change.
It means thoughtful exploration. Strategic transition. Reconnecting with your strengths, your values, your joy.
It means giving yourself permission to imagine a next chapter that feels expansive—and true.
So if you’re hearing the whisper, don’t push it away.
Honor it. Get curious. And know that you’re not alone in asking the question.
The answer?
No—this isn’t all there is.
There’s more. And it’s waiting for you.
Ready to explore what’s next? Let’s connect. Email me: [email protected]
Take The Damn Vacation
When I started out at The Big Firm, the supervising partner sat me down for the onboarding talk. He said we got three weeks of vacation.
Then he leaned in, lowered his voice, and said, “But no one ever takes them.”
I remember thinking: That’s messed up.
So I scheduled all three weeks that first year.
Because if they were giving them out, I was taking them.
Summer’s coming. And a lot of folks are about to pretend to take vacation.
You know the kind.
You set the out-of-office message that says you won’t be checking email. But you do.
You tell your team you’re “unavailable.” But you’re not.
You’re at the beach, supposedly. But also on Zoom, in a collared shirt and swim trunks, fielding client calls while the kids are standing at the door with their sand toys.
That’s not a vacation.
That’s self-deception with a suntan.
Fake vacations will leave you more depleted than before you left.
They’ll frustrate your partner. Disappoint your kids. And shortchange your spirit.
A real vacation means you unplug.
It means you go away—mentally and emotionally, not just physically.
It means you rest.
Because rest isn’t a luxury. It’s a discipline.
Every elite athlete knows this. Rest is baked into the training schedule. It’s where strength builds. Gains consolidate. Energy restores.
But in business? We treat rest like weakness.
We grind. Hustle. Burnout. Brag about how long it’s been since we’ve taken time off.
And then wonder why we’re exhausted. Frustrated. Lost.
In our coaching work, we do it differently.
We begin with lifestyle design before business design.
We ask: What do you want your days to look like?
What do you want your life to feel like?
Because you weren’t born to live for work.
You were born to live; to laugh; to adventure; to love.
And yes, to rest.
So please—take the damn vacation.
Not a half-vacation. Not a performative vacation.
A real one.
You’ve earned it.
And your life is too precious to waste.
P.S. When you’re ready to create the work and the life you really love, we should talk. Email me: [email protected]
And when you’re done recording your away message, check out our website at: https://summit-success.com/
But that’s entirely up to you.
There Is Good
There is so much darkness in the world right now. So much anger. So much fear. So much division. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. Easy to believe the whole world is falling apart.
But that’s not the whole story.
Even in the worst of times, good still shows up. Quietly. Humbly. Persistently.
There are people bringing meals to the sick. First responders who go back in, again and again. Teachers staying late. Neighbors lending tools and time. Strangers helping strangers.
There is music that lifts the soul. Art that stirs something deep within us. Mountains that hold the sunrise. Oceans that kiss the shore.
There is laughter that can’t be stopped. Love that refuses to quit. Small, steady acts of kindness that don’t make the headlines—but still shape the world.
Anne Frank saw it. Even as the world around her burned. Even in hiding. Even in fear. She wrote:
“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.”
What we focus on, we see. When we look for the good, we find it. When we honor it, it grows.
And when we become it—when we choose to be part of it—we make it real.
See the good.
Start With Love: Why the Right Map Matters
I was carried away by the sound.
Beautiful beyond words. Beyond anything I had ever heard.
Each note more glorious than the last. A soaring concerto. A virtuoso violinist.
I was the commencement speaker at a high school music academy. And this masterpiece—this breathtaking prelude—was played by a graduating senior.
I leaned over and whispered to the assistant director beside me. “What music school is he going to?”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s not. His parents want him to study economics.”
I was stunned. And sad.
What the world would never hear.
But more than that—I knew exactly how his story might unfold.
You see, many of my clients come to me later in life. In their 40s, 50s, 60s.
They’ve followed the path they were told to take. Graduated top of their class. Got the degree. Landed the high-status job. Collected the big paycheck.
And now they’re miserable.
They don’t know how they got here—or how to get out.
They feel lost.
For that young violinist, the detour came the moment he stepped off the stage. He had the wrong map from the very beginning.
Career guru Dick Bolles—author of What Color Is Your Parachute?—says that following your dreams still matters. Love still matters. Loving what you do matters.
Benjamin Bloom at the University of Chicago studied 120 world-class athletes, artists, and scholars to uncover the secret to greatness. It wasn’t intelligence or privilege. It was one thing:
Extraordinary drive.
Drive fueled by passion.
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself,” said Abraham Maslow.
I asked a coaching client today how he ended up in law school instead of pursuing the philosophy degree he once loved.
“People told me to be realistic,” he said.
Too many parents—and too many of us—follow a map handed down by culture, fear, and outdated assumptions.
We push young people into debt, into lifeless degrees, into “safe” careers that leave them empty.
And years later, those same bright souls show up in my office—dull-eyed, drained, asking, “Is this all there is?”
It doesn’t have to be that way.
If you’re going to climb the ladder of success, make damn sure it’s leaning against the right wall.
Make sure it’s your wall.
Start with love.
Start with what stirs your soul.
That’s the only map worth following.
And here’s the truth: it’s never too late to chart a new course.
To rewrite the story.
To choose passion over prestige. Purpose over pressure. A life you love over one you merely survive.
Create a new map.
Start with love.
Mindfulness Might Be Bad
Mindfulness is #trending.
There’s a lot of research; from impressive places like Harvard and the University of Massachusetts: mindfulness practices will reduce stress and inflammation; they’ll increase acuity and productivity; and they’ll make you happier and give you a greater sense of overall satisfaction.
But here’s the rub. Mindfulness means that you need to show up in the moment. In this moment.
Not swirling; not distracted by the smartphone; not multi-tasking; not racing about; not running around.
Not in the past. Not in the future.
Here. Now.
Seeing what is. Experiencing the present. Whatever it is: the good; and the not so good.
Which may be good; or not so good. Because we live in a culture of overwhelm; a state of continuous partial distraction. A culture in which busy has become a badge of honor. A culture in which busy has come to mean something: Like we’re important; significant; successful.
But as Brené Brown says, “It’s easy to convince ourselves that if we stay busy enough, the truth of our lives won’t catch up to us.”
Which of course is the ultimate “problem” with mindfulness: when we show up in this moment, we must confront ourselves. We must confront what’s working in our lives, and what’s not; where we’re full and where we’re empty. What brings satisfaction, what brings joy, and what brings despair. Which relationships work, and which ones don’t.
In the moment, you can’t hide from yourself. The camouflage of busyness is gone.
And, of course, that can be scary. Because you might have to do something different.
So before you jump on the bandwagon, just realize that there’s a price to this mindfulness stuff.
You’ve been warned.
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