I was doing an exercise the other day where I looked back over the past 3 decades of my career to think through every major breakthrough I had and every big move I made.

Not only was this a fun trip down memory lane, it also made me realize a few very important things.

One of them is that nearly every breakthrough happened during a very challenging moment in my career. And in a few cases, they happened when I was desperate—when I was in a very tight spot and desperately needed things to turn around.

And that got me thinking, "You know ... desperation can lead to some very powerful breakthroughs!"

That's the topic of this week's short podcast episode below.