There’s a hollow feeling that creeps in when you’re competent, even successful by society’s standards, but deeply unfulfilled. You can do the job. You get the paycheck. You provide. But a quiet voice asks, “Is this all there is?” This isn’t a midlife crisis; it’s a spiritual and creative calling. The transition from being a consumer of life to a creator of your life is the most important journey you will ever undertake.

The Value Shift: From Success to Joy Early in my career, my hierarchy of values was simple: Success and Achievement. They were my gods. I chased them relentlessly, and while I found some success, there was a notable lack of deep, abiding joy. Everything changed when, through conscious work, I rewired my core values. I created an incantation that began: “I, Josh, see, hear, feel, and know that I am joy. I am love, I am compassion…”

Placing joy and love above success and achievement wasn’t a soft decision; it was a strategic one. It altered my energetic frequency. Almost immediately, my work became more attractive. People resonated not just with what I was saying, but with who I was being. Conversion rates soared not because I became a better salesman, but because I had become a more authentic, joyful human being. The external success followed the internal shift.

The Three-Step Reality Shift When you’re stuck in the gap between where you are and where you want to be, a simple, three-step mental process creates clarity and momentum:

1. See It As It Really Is: Take a brutally honest, unvarnished appraisal of your current situation—your job, your relationships, your fulfillment level. No blame, no sugar-coating.
2. See It Better Than It Is: This is where vision enters. From that honest foundation, ask: “What would a better version look like? How would it feel?” This is creative, positive thinking with a realistic base.
3. Make It The Way You See It: This is the action phase. With your honest starting point and your compelling vision clear, chart the steps—especially the internal work of mindset and skill-building—to bridge the gap. This is where you move from being a dreamer to being an architect.

The Builder vs. The Mother: A Parable of Impact The ancient parable distinguishes two builders:

• The Stonemason builds a magnificent, visible temple of stone and arch. He is praised for his skill, and people say his fame will last forever.
• The Mother builds an unseen temple with patience and prayer, stone by stone, with no praise or recognition from the world.

In time, the stone temple crumbles to dust. The temple the mother built lives on through the ages, for that “beautiful unseen temple is a child’s immortal soul.”

This is the heart of the matter. Many of us are skilled stonemasons in jobs that build temporary, external structures—reports, deals, metrics—that leave no lasting imprint on a human soul. The deep ache of unfulfillment comes from a desire to build the mother’s temple: to have a lasting, positive impact on the inner lives of others. For me, this was the stark difference between processing repeat offenders in a system (the stone temple) and coaching a single client to heal and rebuild their life (the immortal soul).