Turning 40

Another Decade in the Books

Well, it’s 12:01 a.m. and I’m officially 40.

But instead of celebrating the milestone with family and friends, or finding myself tucked quietly in my bed, I’m alone in the Dallas airport; stuck halfway home after wrapping up a marketing pitch to a midwest institution.

And while it’s far from how I imagined it, I suppose there’s nothing quite like a quiet airport to provide a pregnant pause for some proper self reflection.

So here it goes…

I turned 30 in the backyard of a New Hampshire farmhouse, surrounded by friends and immersed in a chaotic “Life Crisis Carnival,” complete with an unerring psychic and a poorly executed fireworks show.

Since then, my life has taken me places I couldn’t have imagined.

From a stint in Salt Lake starting at 30, where I worked first as a VP and then as a GM of a now-late OPM; to San Diego, where I found myself a Vice Chancellor at 33; to founding my own business by 36, amidst the backdrop of the pandemic.

More importantly, along the way I got remarried, bought a house, and welcomed my beautiful, powerhouse-of-a-daughter.

In many ways, I hardly recognize myself today. In other ways - both for better and for worse - I see I haven’t changed too much at all.

So as the terminal quiets down around me and stranded passengers find quiet corners to hide away in for the night, I thought I’d think back on the past 10 years and share 10 things the past decade has taught me…

1. If you want to get really far in your career, outwork everyone, do great work, always make your boss look good, and don’t be afraid to leave a job as soon as it stops serving you.

2. If you plan to work that hard, think long and hard about what you’re working for, because chances are you’ll grow professionally at the cost of something personal.

3. No matter how much people warn you, sometimes you gotta learn for yourself that tying your self worth to your professional accomplishments is a surefire way to lose more than you gain.

4. The louder life gets the more you need to slow down and listen to yourself.

5. Rather than trying to escape how you’re feeling you should be working to make how you’re feel a feeling you don’t want to escape.

6. As you get older, your world gets smaller; friends will fall away and family will narrow your focus; but if you do it right, your world gets deeper too.

7. As you make more money, it will become more clear that time is a far more valuable currency.

8. What you consume consumes you, so watch what you eat, drink, read, hear, and scroll.

9. Art isn’t advertising and advertising isn’t art; it’s great to bring a passion to the work you do, but don’t conflate productivity for creativity, one will feed you while the other feeds your soul.

10. And perhaps most importantly, I am enough - and so are you.

In the end, I’m turning 40 realizing I know far less today than I thought I knew at 30.

But one thing I know for certain is just how grateful I am for all I have.

Time is no guarantee; and for all its flaws, life can be incredible if we just slow down long enough to see it.

So as I look forward to the decade ahead, I’m focused on family, on health, on continuing to get out of my head and into the present, and on celebrating the abundance that no doubt abounds.

And I’m focused on saying the things that deserve to be said…

To that end, I hope you know how incredible you are and what a gift you are to the people around you. I hope you know that you are loved.

Because in the end, it’s love that we leave behind.

Now here’s to hoping I can catch that last flight out of Dallas and finally find my way back home…

---

About The Author
Seth is the founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based performance marketing agency on a mission to build a better agency for organizations building a better world.

You can learn more about who we are and what we do at www.Kanahoma.com.