Over the last few months, many have asked me about my shifting experience of corporate life.
In particular, what's changed between the frazzled, bitter Tom from v1 of my banking career vs the calmer, more upbeat and dare I say more productive Tom the Banker from v2.
I always have a different answer.
So I figured it could be interesting to pause for a moment and ask myself this:
What’s working for me at work
right now, at the start of 2026, as I write this very email from Fort Grundy’s turret office at 7.53am on Wed 14th Jan?
So that’s what I’m doing.
Here we go:
*** I’m not trying to think my way out of uncertainty. Of course, corporate life is almost DEFINED by uncertainty. But realising the undeniable truth of this (i.e. seeing that corporate life always was, always is and always will be one steaming, bubbling hotpot of uncertainty) has helped me take uncertainty in my stride more than ever
*** I’m not trying to sound impressive. I’d rather just sound like myself
*** I’m happy to let my career look messier than it “should”. I ripped the band aid off here when I took my 6 month sabbatical then quit my job in 2021 before going BACK to my old job 2 years later. So anything
I do today is small fry compared to that. But being more okay with a less traditional, more Tom-friendly path has certainly taken the pressure off trying to tick the tried & tested corporate boxes. Side note, but I’m looking forward to what Sunday Times bestselling authors Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis say about this too when I publish their interview on squiggly careers soon.
Related to this:
*** Today, in Jan 2026, I know I’m not defined by my job. Yes, the coaching and writing alongside the banking has made my Tom the Banker suit & tie feel lighter. But this one goes way deeper. The more I see that I’m not my job, my CV, my personality, my past, my future, my strengths, my weaknesses, my thoughts
or my feelings, the more perspective I have and the steadier I become
*** I don’t try to be calm any more. It’s counterintuitive, but the calmer I try to be, the less calm I am
*** I don’t try to make decisions
before I know what to decide. The simplicity of this today compared to say 5 or 10 years ago is staggering. There were oodles of moments in my first career where I had a tricky email to deal with, a project going off the rails or a transaction blowing up. And my strategy was to try to FORCE the next step, rather than take the next step when I knew what next step to take. A bit like taking a bite from a hard, green, furry, unripe banana vs simply waiting for the banana to ripen
*** I’ve reduced my tolerance for stress. I’m quicker than I ever have been to notice when I’m getting in a tizz. And when I do notice, I shut it down if I can. Tom the Banker from v1 would’ve seen shutting down his stress as counterproductive. But Buddha of Banking Tom knows less stress makes him better at his job (and it feels much nicer too)
*** I’m not trying to feel motivated before I start work. Back in the day, I’d dig deep to find as much determination and willpower as I could to get going on another 12 or 14 hour day. It really was one almighty internal tug of war to summon up the oomph just to open my laptop lid. But today, motivation looks like an output, not an input. So if and when I don’t feel like
work (it happens – I’m only human), I just start working anyway
Interestingly enough, most of these things are stopping something rather than starting something.
Yet another feather in the cap for The Subtraction
Method.
If you’d like to stop fighting your job and start flowing with it instead, you might like this:
https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com
To fulfilment,
Tom