My Conscious Pivot: Finding Deeper Fulfillment in Life's Latter Acts

There comes a moment in many (fortunate) lives when the question shifts from "How can I have more?" to "What truly matters?" This pivot often arrives when we've accumulated enough - enough success, enough security, enough proof of our capabilities (or a health scare) - to step back and ask deeper questions about meaning and purpose. I kind of hate the characterization of a ‘second act’ - the way some simple discussion on this point tends to go. I don’t know how many acts I have in me, what qualifies as an act to label it that simply. I’ve been thinking about this since 2017, when I stepped away from the traditional investing work I’d done my entire professional life. Drawing from the wisdom of positive psychology, existential philosophy, and Stoic teachings, I and we can learn to navigate a transition through multiple acts, with intention and grace.

The Wisdom of Enough

Dr. Laurie Santos, whose research on happiness at Yale has reached millions, in class and via a terrific podcast, emphasizes that beyond meeting our basic needs, additional achievements and possessions contribute surprisingly little to our well-being. The hedonic treadmill ensures that each new acquisition or accomplishment provides only temporary satisfaction before we return to our baseline happiness. This insight creates a profound opportunity: when we recognize we have "enough," we can redirect our energy toward what research shows actually enhances life satisfaction.

The Stoics understood this principle millennia ago. Seneca wrote extensively about the liberation that comes from voluntary simplicity and the focused pursuit of virtue over possessions. They recognized that true freedom comes not from having unlimited options, but from choosing wisely among them.

Deepening Rather Than Widening

When we consciously pivot toward depth over breadth, we align with what Viktor Frankl called the "will to meaning." Frankl observed that humans can endure almost any suffering if they find meaning in it but struggle even in comfort when life feels purposeless.

For me, in my journey, this conscious pivot involves four key areas:

1. Cultivating Deeper Relationships

Research consistently shows that the quality of our relationships is the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Yet many of us spend our earlier years building careers at the expense of nurturing these connections. The conscious pivot involves intentionally investing in family and friends - not just being present but being actively supportive.

This might mean becoming the family member who remembers birthdays and organizes gatherings, or the friend who checks in during difficult times. It could involve mentoring younger colleagues or students (I teach a bit) or volunteering time and wisdom to causes that matter to you. The Stoics contend that we are inherently social beings, and our flourishing depends on contributing to the common good.

Santos' research reveals that performing acts of kindness not only benefits recipients but significantly boosts the giver's well-being. When we shift from accumulating for ourselves to contributing to others, we tap into what psychologists call "eudaimonic well-being" - the deep satisfaction that comes from living meaningfully rather than merely pleasantly.

I want to demonstrate love for my family and friends by intentionally prioritizing support, companionship, deeper transparency and personal vulnerability. I want to actively assist colleagues and students achieve more, learn and grow, hit milestones, get those jobs and wins. I derive great satisfaction from the successes of my family, friends, colleagues and students.

2. Pursuing Excellence in Select Domains

The conscious pivot involves identifying your core competencies and areas of genuine interest, then going deeper rather than wider. This approach resonates with the Stoic concept of focusing on what is "up to us" - our efforts, choices, and responses - rather than dispersing energy across activities where outcomes remain largely beyond our control.

Marcus Aurelius, despite his vast imperial responsibilities, wrote about the importance of focusing on essential duties and letting go of activities that merely seem important. In our context, this might mean declining projects that don't align with your core objectives, even if they offer prestige or profit.

Frankl's logotherapy suggests that we find meaning through creative values - bringing something unique into existence through our work or deeds. When we concentrate our efforts on fewer areas where we can achieve genuine mastery, we create the conditions for this type of meaning-making.

I’ve done a lot of different tasks as part of my career in investments, more recently, in education. I now want to focus on what I do well and what I like, and go deep, for better outcomes and deeper satisfaction.

3. Prioritizing Health as Foundation

The Stoics viewed the body as the vessel for the soul's journey, deserving of care and respect. Seneca, despite his philosophical focus on mental development, maintained daily physical practices and paid careful attention to his health. Modern research validates this ancient wisdom: physical well-being directly impacts cognitive function, emotional regulation, and overall life satisfaction.

Santos' work on happiness emphasizes that simple practices - regular exercise, adequate sleep, nutritious eating - have more impact on well-being than most people realize. These aren't merely personal indulgences but investments in our capacity to serve others and pursue meaningful activity.

The pivot toward health consciousness isn't about perfectionism or vanity; it's about recognizing that our physical vitality enables everything else we want to accomplish. When we're older and have enough, we can finally prioritize these fundamentals without guilt about time "taken away" from career advancement – if not now, when?

I want to maintain a narrow gap, as Peter Atilla would say, between lifespan and healthspan: I could live to be 90-100, I want to maintain both my highest possible mental acuity and physical well-being, to maximize my contentment, engagement and joy in my last decades.

4. Harmonizing Work and Passion

Perhaps the most profound aspect of conscious pivoting is the integration of work and personal values. Frankl emphasized that meaning can be found in any work, but it's easier to find when our activities align with our deepest convictions. The Stoics taught that we should strive to live according to our nature - to identify what we're uniquely suited to contribute and focus our energies there.

This doesn't necessarily mean changing careers but rather changing our relationship to work. It might involve taking on projects that align with your values, even if they're less lucrative or visible. Or it could mean approaching your existing work with renewed purpose, seeing it as a vehicle for expressing your character and serving others.

Santos' research shows that when we experience "flow" - complete absorption in activities that challenge us while utilizing our strengths - we access some of the highest levels of human well-being. The conscious pivot involves structuring our lives to maximize these flow experiences.

I’ve been rigorously intentional the past few years, working to harmonize the work I do (investing) with personal interests and our family objectives and values. This has manifest in joining a multi-family office as a Partner (Beatrice Advisors) that share my (and my family’s) perspectives, joining Boards of non-profits and organizations that align, and teaching a next generation at university, as well as writing, on adjacent topics (Impact Investing, the World’s Wicked Problems), driving a narrowing coherence and symmetry to my activities, and deepening outcomes and my own learnings and contentment.

Reducing Your Limitations

Counter-intuitively, the conscious pivot toward fewer priorities creates more freedom, not less. When we stop trying to excel at everything, we can excel at what matters most. When we stop accumulating indiscriminately, we can invest more meaningfully. When we stop saying yes to every opportunity, we can say yes more fully to the right ones.

The Stoics called this "preferred indifferents" - recognizing that while health, relationships, and meaningful work are valuable, our happiness depends primarily on how we approach them rather than on achieving specific outcomes. This perspective reduces anxiety about results while increasing our investment in the process.

Frankl observed that happiness cannot be pursued directly; it must ensue from meaningful activity. The conscious pivot embodies this truth. By focusing on depth over breadth, service over accumulation, and character over achievement, we create the conditions for profound satisfaction.

Practical Steps for the Pivot

The transition requires both philosophical reorientation and practical changes. Begin by conducting an honest audit of your current commitments. Which activities energize you and align with your values? Which drain you or exist merely from habit or obligation?

Create space for reflection - the Stoics practiced daily self-examination, and modern research confirms the benefits of regular meditation or journaling (admittedly, for me, this is more a mental practice with occasional outlining). Use this time to clarify your values and assess whether your actions align with them.

Gradually reshape your schedule to prioritize the four key areas: relationships, focused excellence, health, and meaningful work. This might mean setting boundaries, saying no to certain requests, or restructuring your days to include time for what matters most.

Remember that this pivot is not about retirement or withdrawal, but about intentional engagement. It's about bringing your full self to fewer pursuits rather than spreading yourself thin across many.

The Ripple Effect

When we consciously pivot toward depth and meaning, we don't just transform our own lives - we model a different way of being for others. Our families see us prioritizing relationships over status. Our colleagues observe us focusing on excellence over ego. Our communities benefit from our more intentional service.

This is perhaps the greatest gift of conscious pivoting: it demonstrates that there is another way to live, one based on wisdom rather than accumulation, depth rather than breadth, and meaning rather than mere success. In a culture that often equates worth with busyness and net worth with self-worth, choosing the path of conscious limitation becomes a quiet revolution.

Conscious pivoting isn't about having less - it's about choosing better. It's about recognizing that when we have enough, we have the freedom to focus on what truly matters. And in that focus, we often discover that what we thought was enough was actually the beginning of abundance.