Somewhere along the way right in my mid 30’s, work stopped being about money.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being able to pay my bills and occasionally fund questionable luxury purchases. But if I’m honest, that’s not what keeps me up at night.

What keeps me up is caring about decisions, my team, our outcomes and if I am doing right by my customers.

Which can be sometimes deeply inconvenient.

Because when you care this much, work starts feeling weirdly personal. A successful launch makes me feel like a genius. A tough review has me questioning every career decision I’ve made since the invention of Wi-Fi.

I can intellectually tell myself, “It’s just work.”

But then someone challenges a decision I’ve made for my team, and suddenly I’m reacting like they’ve insulted a family member.

The funny thing is, I don’t think I’m working for money anymore. I’m working for purpose, impact, relevance, and the satisfaction of building something that matters.

Which sounds noble until you realize it means a team structure discussion can completely ruin your afternoon or your weekend if you do it on a late Thursday night.. which I now avoid like plague!

Honestly, I’d love to be one of those people who effortlessly separates work from life but I guess I left that person along with a waistline.. in history and memories.

Till later!

Related: AI Anxiety and the Fantasy of Early Retirement: A Midlife Career Reckoning