How to find meaning after success

Podcast appearance on Khe Hy’s: The Examined Life.

MrBeast, the meaning of life, and a whole lot of hand waving

YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

12 months ago, while I was stuck in my WTF-to-do-with-my-life mode, I stumbled upon a podcast between Khe Hy and the author

Paul Millerd

(who just launched his new book, by the way). These were two examples of people who threw out the typical career playbook and decided to live life differently. The timing could not have been better with my own journey, being at the early stages of a career break.

12 months later, Khe asked me to come on his podcast, The Examined Life, to talk about my own experience. A full circle moment, indeed.

Here’s what I think you might find valuable from the discussion:

1. How work can fill the void of meaning. Beyond just money, work gave me an opportunity to actualize myself, to matter, and have an epic journey. And that helped fill the void (at least, for a while). [wrote more about it here]

2. How to fall into the trap of doing the-next-logical-thing. There’s a seductive temptation to continue following on the same path. Not far away are always nice, safe opportunities. But is that path right for you?

3. The “wall” I hit 3 months into my sabbatical. Why did I want what I want? Am I just being pushed along with the tide? Who am I without work? These are all questions I had to contend with. [wrote more about it here]

4. How to disappear and regain perspective (through the “4 Fs”). How I cleared all the obligations in my life, and scaled down to the core of Family & Friends, Fitness, Fun, and ReFlection. [wrote more about it here]

5. Meaning as the highest form of wealth. Getting money or freedom or success are just milestones along the journey, but you will still need to figure out what’s next. How I used Interest + Impact to find the work worth working on next.

6. What is the right amount of impact? We both share our struggles trying to find the right depth and breadth of impact. And how we’ve tried to navigate through.

7. Meaning is not found, it’s continually made. Like a great relationship, you can meet someone great, but that relationship won’t stay great unless you continually foster and work at it. Meaning is the same.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts. What resonated? What do you disagree with? In particular, let me know what you think about our discussion on impact toward the end (which you can tell we are both navigating).

I also recommend checking out Khe’s podcast and newsletter, which are simultaneously entertaining and enlightening.

Check out the whole discussion: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

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P.S. I wrote about these topics in more depth, as part of my Don’t Work series. You can start with part 1: Work identity serves, then severs.