Many of you are well on the path of growth and self-development. You may have listened to some key podcasts (including Universal Man), read self-help books and blogs and engaged with family and identified some key areas in your life where you might need to focus your energies. The next step is to figure out, with your focus defined, what success in these areas might look like for you.
That is where Tom Walton found himself after attending the 2021 Universal Man Camp: asking himself what his key goals for improvement were and how he might define his own success. With a strong competitive streak and drive to perform perfectly that has developed throughout school, university and now his career, Tom has always worked hard to be the best he can be in his profession, embracing a mindset of being first in the office and last to leave - succeeding at all costs.
With the help of some great mentors, he worked hard to build expertise and credibility in a specialised area, bringing home some of those great material successes that we all strive for like the family home and fancy car. While this version of success brought great professional and material rewards for Tom and his family, it also came at a cost. Tom was often stressed and irritable. His strong drive kept him at performance level long after he left the office and he often needed to turn to a round of golf or a few round of beers to provide an escape.
Eventually, a few key events in life proved the catalyst for Tom to sit down and, with the help of his partner, put himself on the journey to not only realign his purpose and focus, but search to find his “off button,” exploring self-help books and meditation as strategies to begin with. Yet, with a growing young family and some more life under his belt, Tom has come to realise that the genuine fulfilment he is looking for in life might not come from focusing on excelling in his profession at the expense of other areas of his life. Today he is a bit more aware of where his focus should be.
