For decades, you wore a corporate mask.
The version that got you promoted and led teams.
That mask wasn't fake.
Just incomplete.
You suppressed parts of yourself to succeed.
The creative side.
The emotional side.
The curious side.
After 20 or 30 years, you forget where the mask ended and the real you began.
The person you're looking for has been there all along.
Look Backward to Move Forward
Want to know who you are without the title?
Look at who you were before you had one.
What did you love as a kid?
What came naturally to you?
As a kid, I took apart radios and figured out how they worked.
I was fascinated by both systems and people.
Somewhere in my corporate climb, I muted half of that curiosity.
Your Values vs. Their Values
Imagine your 90th birthday.
Your closest friends and family are giving toasts about your life.
What do you want them to say?
None of my answers were about quarterly earnings.
They were about being present for my family.
Living with integrity.
Helping others grow.
Those were MY values.
Not the corporate values I'd internalized.
Talents vs. Skills
There's a difference between what you're good at and what energizes you.
I was good at budget management.
It drained me.
I was good at translating complex concepts.
It energized me.
Both were skills.
But only one was a natural talent.
Now you get to choose.
Build your next chapter around what energizes you.
The person behind the title is waiting.
Ted
P.S. If you found this helpful, you're not alone in this journey.
Thousands of professionals are navigating this same transition right now.
The ones who thrive are the ones who acknowledge the grief, embrace the void, and have the courage to start over as beginners.
You've got this.
