A question rolls in from a newsletter reader:

What interests or activities outside of work bring meaning and joy to your life? 

My answer, in no particular order:

Pushing Baby Grundy on the swings. Tackling the Financial Times crossword with Lauren. Going for a walk. Playing chess, poker and bridge. Studying, practising or reading about magic. Spending time by, in or on water. And putting my feet up on the chaise lounge with a glass of Hibiki Whiskey.

Coaching and writing bring me a lot of joy and meaning too.

But I'm not sure I can classify these as “outside of work”.

Sure, they’re not my day job. But then again, I think of myself as a writer/coach who banks rather than a banker who writes and coaches. So yes, banking is technically my job. But the coaching and writing are work too. They both keep the piggy bank topped up and the wine pouring here at Chateau Grundy.

It’s got to the point where they’re so baked into my day to day life that it would be impossible to remove them. A bit like it would be impossible to remove the sugar baked into a chocolate cake.

I mean, I do occasionally take a week off. But even then, I’m sketching out draft newsletters, replying to emails from readers and arranging coaching calls with clients.

So it’s got to the point now where I just can’t NOT write or coach.

And every time I do, I feel like I’m where I belong. 

This is quite the contrast from my 20s where it was more a case of not being able to clock off from my banking job instead. But rather than this job filling my life with joy and meaning like my coaching and writing do today, it was filling my life the way a wet sock fills a shoe. It was deeply unpleasant, it squelched along with me wherever I went and it got worse as time went by.

Perhaps that metaphor sounds kind of funny.

But it wasn’t funny at all.

Imagine knowing your soul is withering away on the vine because of a job which sucks all the life and joy and meaning out of you.

Not for a few days…

Not for a month or two…

But for years and years and years.

That really was my life.

Thankfully, that decade of my life is in the rear view mirror now I’ve entered my Buddha of Banking era. Today, I take a huge amount of meaning, joy and pride helping other people find their source of meaning and joy via my writing and my coaching.

In fact, this is what inspired my program The Music Inside You.

At $3,000, it’s the most expensive program I offer.

But it’s a very niche offer too. It’s only for people who’ve been stuck for years and who know deep down that they have so much more to offer themselves and the world, but have no idea what that looks like or how to go about it.

If that sounds like you, I’m offering you the opportunity to bring so much joy and meaning to your life that it will feel like you’ve stepped into a whole NEW life.

I’m not sure you can put a price on that.

Best of all? You don’t even need to quit your job if you don’t want to!

If you’d like to check out the program, here’s the link:

The Music Inside You 

The only way to join is to book a free Discovery Call with me. Slots are open until 6^th June.

To fulfilment,

Tom