The moustache under your nose

Recently I had two very stimulating conversations with friends I've not spoken to for a while. Both have had successful corporate careers, and now, reaching a certain age (I won't embarrass them), are turning their minds to what they would like to do with the last years of their working life. Both still have energy and passion, but want to devote their time to something they find personally meaningful, as well as earn a crust. So the subject of 'what to do next' has been forefront for them.

Now when people reach this stage, what I often hear is ambitions to do something wildly different, exotic or left-field. Not the case for these two. Instead of wanting to cycle the length of Burma (one of my own exotic ambitions) or climb Mount Kilimanjaro, they have experienced more of a 'coming home' to themselves. Both have been appraising the sum of their (considerable) experience and finding that what they want to do is something very aligned to their sense of themselves as a human being and now that they can see it, it seems completely obvious as a direction. So obvious in fact they have discounted it as a possibility and were in danger of forgetting all about.

So what is the 'moustache under your nose' - the thing so obvious that you've stopped seeing it? Take a look at the books on your bedside table, or the hobbies you love spending time on. Maybe that will give you a clue on your future direction