Bob Buford is serving as a contributing writer to the American City Business Journals.

Twice per month, Bob’s writing is featured in 46 Business Journals across the U.S. This week’s article features current Halftime Institute CEO and new author, Dean Niewolny. Dean’s debut book, Trade Up releases on July 18.

For a complete list of all Bob Buford’s articles in the American City Business Journals, CLICK HERE. 

Are You Bored with Success?

Nov 16, 2017, 3:15am EST

It happens — and oftentimes without warning.

You are rolling along in your career. You are making money. You are being lauded and perhaps bonused for your great work.

The view from your corner office is stunning.

In some ways your job has gotten easier. You know the ropes. You have people, now; great people who help you be your best. The years are rolling by like a bullet train and you are going places.

But then, a strange thing happens. Usually it begins with a very quiet and unexpected uneasiness. The thrill isn’t gone, exactly, but it seems to be going. Your success with all of the associated perks is not causing the goosebumps and thrills it once did.

Wanting more…or at least something different

I’ve been there. I had a successful career in the financial services industry. I was making money. I had a few houses and an airplane. I could get a good table at the best restaurants. My dreams, such as they were, came true.

I grew up in a middle-class environment, and I always wondered how the really wealthy kids on the other side of the tracks lived. I saw their nice stuff, and I have to say that it bothered me a little.

I decided right then and there that my kids weren’t going to have to worry about those things. They would have the best of everything, whatever that took. I set about building a career that would do just one thing: make me the most money possible. Financial services seemed like a no-brainer. I like numbers, and this was a business about numbers. A match made in heaven, right?

But then one day, after a few years I was standing at my window in my corner office, looking out on Chicago, and it happened. This unsettling feeling of what I would call smoldering discontent came over me.

My first thought? How is this possible? I’m at the pinnacle, and yet the mountain doesn’t feel like it was worth the climb…READ MORE