All The Right Moves: Rational Expectations

1. Is it time to downsize my dreams?

One day, you're the CEO of Me Inc.; the next, you're out on the street with a sandwich board proclaiming, "Have PhD. Will Work for Food." One moment, you're a pioneering CEO wearing khakis to work in Silicon Alley; the next, you're explaining the differences between relaxed-fit and cargo-style khakis to your customers at the Gap.

The ruling narrative of our careers has done an abrupt 180. We've gone from no limits to no options, from boundless growth to brutal rationalization. It seems as if no one is exempt from the compromises, humiliations, and outright rejections that accompany the worst hiring slump in 20 years. All of a sudden, we can't help but think what would have been unthinkable a few short years ago: Must I temper my ambitions? Do I have to settle for less -- and am I lucky to get even that? In other words, is it time to downsize my dreams?

The answer to that question, it turns out, is another question. The shift coloring our collective work psyche is from a clear imperative to make more -- best expressed in that classic Silicon Valley bumper sticker, "Stop for Lunch and You Are Lunch" -- to a searching question that encourages us to make the answer up for ourselves. That question, of course, is the eternal but freshly relevant one recently unleashed into popular conversation by Po Bronson with his book What Should I Do With My Life? (Random House, 2002).

Since its publication last December, the book has topped the best-seller lists, been featured on Oprah and Today, and sparked a grassroots sensation. It has also generated some push back. "One reaction is, How dare you encourage people to pursue their dreams in this brutal environment," says Bronson. "It's a real disconnect to assume that the way to a better life is something that happens only in good times. Actually, the opposite is true. In my conversations with more than 1,300 people who have either found a sustainable solution to the question or are in the midst of wrestling with it, it's when your best-laid plans go awry that you make the first, best steps toward the life that you want to lead -- and the work that lights you up."

Discounting your dreams in the face of external pressures is dangerous. When you hunker down in survival mode to wait out or protect yourself from a tough environment, chances are, you will get stuck there.

It's equally unwise to spin elaborate escape fantasies. When your job, your status, or your relationships aren't secure and satisfying, says Bronson, "what happens is that people pursue the general goal of 'happiness.' People say, 'I could be happy doing this, I could be happy doing that.' But it doesn't help them make any kind of a determined decision about who they are and what they want."

A populist at heart, Bronson sought out stories from people of every age, class, profession, and background -- from truckers and bankers to artists and athletes. What he discovered was that there is no inherently right or objectively wrong answer to the question, What should I do with my life? It turns out that the best way to do something meaningful -- and to recession-proof your livelihood -- is to make it a means of expression rather than merely a means to an end.

Ironically, the bust was the best teacher of that lesson. "The 1990s was a frenzy of people thinking that happiness comes from the outside: 'If I had more money, more prestige, more something, I'd be happy.' One thing that you didn't hear a lot of in that era was the reflection, What's important to me?" says Marshall Goldsmith, who is as entrenched in the inner circle of the world's most powerful CEOs as Bronson is seeped in the lives of ordinary people on the front lines of the economy. "The positive spin on the bust is that people began to see the illusory nature of that kind of happiness. It all disappeared. And it always can disappear."

Goldsmith is one of the world's most celebrated behavioral coaches, with more than 50 CEOs of top global companies among his clients. He's also probably the only one in the world who professes equal devotion to the wisdom of both Peter Drucker and Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Goldsmith's advice is peppered with ebullient Buddhist-inspired aphorisms -- Be happy now! Life is good! -- and his simple but profoundly effective process for helping successful people achieve positive, lasting change is deeply infused with Buddhist philosophy. "The great Western disease is, 'I'll be happy when. . . .' " he says. "When I get the money. When I get a BMW. When I get this job. Well, the reality is, you never get to when. The only way to find happiness is to understand that happiness is not out there. It's in here. And happiness is not next week. It's now."

Which brings us back to the original problem: how bad the economy is right now. How do you act powerfully when you feel like a victim of global economic forces? How do you take risks, try new things, learn, and grow, when there's no give left in the system? Goldsmith is unforgiving. "Make it up!" he bellows. "Most creative people make stuff up. Nothing about this economy prevents you from pursuing your long-term dreams. There are tons of options. It's just that most of those options involve work. The price of achieving your dreams just went up. Big deal. The nice thing about achievement is, when it's something you do for yourself that's important to you, even if you don't get the money, you still feel like you've won." Polly LaBarre