The Atlas

We all play different roles in our lives. And most of our biggest internal conflicts arise when one role clashes with another. Recognizing that is what is happening and articulating that can be a powerful tool in teasing apart the conflict and finding a way forward.

Searching means having a goal, but finding means being free, being open and having no goal.

When I used to find myself mentoring green, young professionals, one of the first premises I would always start with is the idea that actively managing their career was their #1 job.

Breaking habits is hard. Especially ones that are reinforced in our professional subculture. Staying busy for the sake of busy is one of the ways we numb. In my attempt to cut it the hell out, I decided the best course of action was to move myself to a culture that doesn't reward it as much -- Medellin!

My biggest security blanket in life is having a big, hairy audacious goal. Something I can focus on wholeheartedly, at the near exclusion of everything else, and charge at, full-steam-ahead.

What do you do when your boss asks you to do something unethical?

I'm not sure I know any successful, accomplishment-oriented person who does not struggle with this one at some point or another. Our nose-to-the-grindstone Protestant Work Ethic culture fuels it; our academic upbringing praises it; and our professional social interactions reward it. And yet... at some point, in some way, one day it happens: our identity being rooted to our job shifts from being a source of pride and validation to being a source of pain and limitation.

Some simple tactics for how to deal with a boss (or anyone else) who frustrates you the point of tears.