A real coaching story about success, meaning, and the search for purpose
Have you ever met someone who seems to have it all — yet wakes up with a dull ache that whispers, “Is this it?” This isn’t a crisis as much as a quiet nudge from within. It’s uncomfortable, yes — but also honest.
One of my clients, an investment banker, once said with a wry smile: “I make rich people richer.” She enjoyed the pace, the perks, the business-class flights — but beneath it all, there was a vacuum she couldn’t ignore.
In our conversation, she described her life as a web that kept getting more entangled in her head each day. Webs are intricate, sticky, beautiful — and once you’re caught in one, hard to escape.
So I asked, “If you wanted to unravel this web, where would you begin?” She thought for a while and replied, “I’d hold on to one strand and untangle it from all its knots.” That sentence changed the temperature of the room. We had a starting point.
“I’ll hold on to one strand that truly matters and begin there.”
As we explored, she saw that the discomfort wasn’t about being in the profession per se. It was about disconnection — between who she was (values of contribution and fairness) and what she was rewarded for (profit, precision, performance).
“It’s not success that hurts — it’s success that’s out of sync.”
She didn’t need to renounce her career. She needed to find her strand — the one that connected success to meaning. Two strands appeared quickly: financial inclusion and mentoring young women in finance. Her eyes lit up.
Here’s the irony: the higher we climb, the more we measure our worth by external markers. Unconscious success can feel heavy; alignment makes the same success feel light. That shift is internal, but its effects are visible.
Over the next months, she didn’t change industries; she changed her story. Emails softened, conversations deepened, and people noticed her not just for deals closed but for the presence she brought to the room.
Sometimes what looks like burnout is a values conflict in disguise. Coaching doesn’t hand you meaning — it helps you hear it calling, and then align your doing with your being.
What’s your one strand — the thread that connects your achievement to your aliveness?
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(c) The Yogi Compass – Coaching journeys that help leaders discover their True North.
Yatish Chandrasekhar | PCC (ICF) | CXO Coach | Mentor Coach | Leadership Facilitator
theyogicompass.com | yatish@theyogicompass.com
