Book excerpt: A guide for creating a life of maximum fulfillment and purpose, by the career coach whose approach has helped hundreds re-orient their careers and lives The traditional approach to career is failing us. Determine what you want to do with your life, it says, and methodically make your way toward that destination. We’re taught that once we get there, no matter how fraught and fatiguing the path is, we’ll find fulfillment. This is the 5-year plan, it’s setting the “right” goals, it’s one of the first questions we ask kids: what do you want to be when you grow up? The problem is this advice simply doesn’t work. It’s outdated and based on a world that doesn’t exist anymore, if it ever did. And, it’s created a generation of Underfulfilled Overacheivers, who have leaned in, climbed the ladder of success, did everything they were supposed to do, and yet feel burned out and unfulfilled. In the last decade, career coach Megan Hellerer, herself a recovering Underfulfilled Overachiever, has worked with hundreds of these women, from CEOs and bestselling authors to award-winning scientists and activists, helping them get unstuck and discover meaningful, purpose-driven work. Directional Living comes from Megan’s innovative paradigm, one based on the premise that a fulfilling, purpose-filled career and life is built by following your inner sense of direction, not pursuing a fixed destination. Through this revolutionary new blueprint, we learn to find the work we are uniquely well-suited to do in the world, move from misery to meaning, and transform our careers on the way to transforming our lives. Directional Living is both a philosophy and a practical guide to creating not just a great life, but your great life—one full of genuine purpose, meaning, ease and authenticity.