Good morning from Vashon Island. I am still in the state of Washington, and today is Wednesday and Wednesdays are for questions. As I was driving through Oregon, I was listening to a podcast I had never heard before. It’s called Meditative Stories.I sat next to the producer at the event in San Francisco, so I wanted to take the time to listen to a few of their episodes. I listened to Keith Ferrazzi, the author of Never Eat Alone, to Martha Beck, and to David Whyte.

They were all great stories, but two of the stories stood out for me. Both Keith Ferrazzi and Martha Beck talked about their early childhood and the early imprint on how they moved in the world, what was important to them. what kinds of relationships they were forging, and what kind of persona they were presenting to the world.

I was sharing these stories with my friends Leonard and Megan over morning coffee the other day and Leonard mentioned a question that he had been asked many years ago.Both Megan and I went wow, that’s a good one. Here’s the question. What are you playing for? What are you playing for?

In the case of these two stories that I had listened to, both people were talking about the early stories in their life and how they had directed all of their personal and professional attention and energy. They were playing then for something very different than what they’re playing for now.  Just to be clear, I think that question, what are you playing for can speak to many different things. You might be doing something for a personal sense of gratification. You might be doing something to prove yourself to accumulate wealth for fame and notoriety or simply for survival or to support your family.

In any event, I think that’s a good question to ask ourselves, because the game can change. The playing field can change. I remember Leonard was reflecting back to me the fact that I walked away from my business, Scout Talent, basically from one day to the next. It was really quite surprising to a lot of people. And when we were talking about that question  what are you playing for, it became very apparent to me why I walked away.

I was not playing in the executive search arena to build a business to sell or to become known, not even really to amass wealth. I was playing for other personal reasons and once I hit my goal target, I was basically no longer interested in that business. So, I unhooked from it entirely. I’ll leave you with that. Think about it for a minute. What are you playing for?, that’s all for now.

Until next time, from my heart to yours.