Why Success Suddenly Feels Empty
It's not you. It's not me either.
I was sitting in my office three years ago staring at a spreadsheet that should have made me happy.
Revenue was up. The agency was healthy. Clients were paying on time. By every metric I’d chased for 24 years, I was winning.
But I felt nothing.
Just… flatness. Like I’d climbed a mountain only to discover there was no view at the top — just another mountain that looked exactly like this one.
I thought something was wrong with me.
Turns out, it was the scoreboard.
The Broken Scoreboard
For 40 years, I had a scoreboard. And it worked.
Title. Income. Team size. Revenue. Close the deal, see the number go up. Hit the target, feel the win.
Simple. Clear. Addictive.
But if you are like me, somewhere in your 50s, something shifts. You hit the number… and you feel nothing. The dopamine stopped showing up. You’re still winning by every measure you set for yourself — but the scoreboard doesn’t light up.
At first, I thought I was broken. Then I looked around.
It’s not just my scoreboard that was broken. The game itself changed.
The world that we live in, the world that scoreboard was built for — predictable careers, stable industries, a clear path from achievement to retirement — that world doesn’t exist anymore.
AI is rewriting every industry. The skills that made us successful are being automated or made obsolete. The economy that rewarded our experience is transforming faster than any generation has experienced.
Your parents could hit their numbers, retire at 65, and trust the next chapter would take care of itself.
We can’t. The world is moving faster than it ever has. And nobody seems to know how to navigate it.
You’ve spent years building your skills, sharpening your saw and being the best at the thing you do. Now, we are not sure that skill is even needed in the future.
The Trap of Being Good at Something
Here’s the trap: you’re really good at what you do.
That sounds like a blessing. It’s actually the problem.
For decades, being good was the goal. You worked hard to get competent. You got competent, you got opportunities. You got really good, people started counting on you.
Being needed felt like winning. And it was — for a long time.
You keep doing it because you’re good at it. People depend on you. They expect it. And you can’t imagine stopping because — who are you if you’re not the person who does that thing?
That’s the Competence Trap. And here’s what makes it dangerous right now:
The skills that trapped you? They might not even exist in five years.
The role you’ve perfected? AI might be doing it cheaper and faster.
The identity you built around being “the person”? That person’s job description is being rewritten as we speak.
Act III. Places Everyone!
What if the emptiness is a signal?
What if your instincts are telling you something the news hasn’t caught up to yet — that the old playbook is broken, that the path your parents took doesn’t exist anymore, and that the people who thrive in the next decade will be the ones who paid attention?
What if this chapter is about living differently?
The first two acts of your life were about discovering and doing. You built a career, a family, a reputation. You proved you could do hard things.
The Third Act is about something else: meaning.
You’ve already proven you can work hard. The question now is: how do you want to live?
The Question You’re Really Asking
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably asking yourself questions like...
Is this all there is?
What am I supposed to do now?
Does anyone else feel this way, or is it just me?
Here’s what I want you to know: it’s not just you. And the fact that you’re asking is not a problem… it’s the beginning of something.
The emptiness you feel after success isn’t a sign that something’s wrong with you. It’s a signal. It’s your life telling you that you’re ready for a different chapter.
The question is whether you’ll listen.
What I’m Doing About It
I don’t have a map. Neither do you.
But I’m committed to walking this path out loud.
Every week, I’m digging for answers — real ones, from people who’ve thought deeply about what’s happening. And I’m sharing everything I find.
This isn’t another hack to find your “life’s purpose”.
This is figuring out what’s coming next — together.
We’re learning how to keep moving, because the map has ended where you’re standing.
If you’re feeling what I described — the flatness, the “now what?”, the sense that the old scoreboard doesn’t work anymore — you’re waking up.
Welcome to The Third Act.
Are you ready for a different game… to live your life forward?
Ready or not, here comes the future.
BG Hamrick: The Third Act
Living your life forward