They came in sounding like people with a complaint about their provider. What they had was a complaint about the shape of their plan. The portfolio was in pieces, and no one had ever assembled the sentence that says which dollars pay for which parts of their life in which year.

Every one of those households is in a season. Reading which one they’re actually in is one of the most under-appreciated diagnostic moves in this work.

The single most important frame for my career longevity is simple: always have a vision of a larger future than a past. As long as you have something meaningful you're building toward, waking up energized is easy. And if you don't have it, no amount of past accomplishment fills the gap.