Time to Reflect

Like most people, I spent decades working at a furious pace. In the words of one of my dearest friends (also a seasoned Wall Street veteran)- “you gotta do what you gotta do”. I had mentors along the way who told me that taking time out of the hectic scramble was essential to gain perspective, but it’s easier said than done.

For the first time in almost 30 years, these past 6-ish months have been completely different. Still working, but on a portfolio of things (boards and leadership coaching)- and with far more control over when I work and with whom. A complete 180. Here is what I learned:

1. You don’t know what you are missing when you are on the hamster wheel. You get a sense that perhaps there could be other ways to spend time but life is whizzing by too fast to be able to focus on exactly what. One small example- I was able to go on an overnight field trip with my youngest son a couple of months back. It was so great-and also made me realize so much of what I have missed in these 31 years of parenting.
2. What I thought I would want to do with more free time and flexibility isn’t necessarily what I wanted to spend time doing. I still watch no tv, but I read a lot more (I was always a reader, but this is a new level). There is so much more that I want to learn, that this has become a real focus. I spend more time with friends. I am learning a language (truth be told I am not a language person at all, and I don’t much care about being bilingual- my son wanted to learn and so I joined him. I love it. It is like a fun brainteaser. Who knew?).
3. It would take a lot to be willing to go back to a traditional job in a bank. In fact I can’t imagine really what could get me to do it- and I loved my job when I was doing it. It’s just that the opportunity cost (I would have to give up my boards and coaching), the reduced time with family, and the dead-end struggles (let me guess, you want to cut costs in half and double revenue? you want to be super innovative- but don’t want to change a thing? You really care about culture, as long as you can ignore what the people who work here care about?). No thanks. I hope this changes for the sake of the people in banking, but as I see it today, it will be a while before things truly change.
4. It would take a lot for me to go back to a start up too. Although more interesting that banking (at least the innovation is real as is the possibility of having a good culture), unless it is properly funded, with the right strategic partners, a great management team- and of course a great product or service- no thanks.
5. Being on boards and coaching senior executives to be better leaders is great fun for two reasons: it’s varied, and you are helping people. For me, these are two things that get me jumping out of bed each morning and excited about the new challenge of the day. Who could ask for more?

I don’t believe- no matter what the future of my career path holds- that I would ever trade away this ability to take time every day to think and to learn. The richness of life that this generates is priceless. Growth comes from regeneration, which can’t be done when you are running like crazy. Whatever role you are in today, I hope you can carve out some time to step back on a regular basis to gain some perspective. Things may look a bit different than you think!