Where do I begin? It must begin with my career - having served dutifully for 30 years in Corporate America. I learned all the things to do and not to do during those 30 years, but learned very little about myself.

It wasn't all lost time, however - what did my time investment in "work for corporate America " achieve for me? Well, for one thing, it has given me a semblance of financial security, thank goodness, even though the market is taking its toll on my, and everyone else's, sensibility around money. It gave me a fabulous professional network of friends, colleagues, acquaintances and role models. It also taught me some important lessons:

1) Don't expect corporate America to be loyal to you; loyalty is as archaic as the IBM typewriter;
2) Do expect to manage your career and your career choices; noone else will do that for you either;
3) Do expect that all you are, and all you will become, will likely be tied up with shareholder returns, as it should be when you're working for a company that is funded with shareholder equity.

But those are the corporate lessons. I ask myself, as I think about my one True North (yes, I'm getting there!) what have I really learned about myself - about my core, about my sensibilities and what I am all about. Then one day I happened on this saying, and it hit me like a ton of bricks - THIS IS MY ONE TRUE NORTH. It is entitled "Enough Time" and it goes like this...

"Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life."...

Why has that one statement meant so much to me? Well, today I reached a new milestone - I became a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) with my new business, which I started 1-1/2 years ago after quitting my new job after only 5 weeks. You see, I realized that life was more than just hating going into work every day and feeling, at the end of the day, like I had not really made a difference; oh yes, I had given back (as a P&L revenue generator and a leadership development professional) to organizations that had little loyalty to me, or my skills. But what did I really do that helped me down my own road, my own journey of "success"? In recent years I recruited, hired and developed future leaders, coaching them to greatness in their search for success and my professional relationships did make it worthwhile. But was it enough?

Now, as an entrepreneur managing my own business, I am doing what I KNOW is my one true north - I have started over - with my own leadership and career coaching practice, and making a difference in people's lives.

Now - I am touching lives daily - lives from all walks of life; and the twine that binds us all is a search for a place where we can feel like we're making progress in our journey towards success, happiness, greatness, however we choose to define it - whether it's in how we communicate with our peers, our bosses, our pitch to prospective clients, or landing that "perfect" job.

Now, I am helping people be the best they can be. And I get thanks in ways that mean so much, because they are heartfelt and speak directly to individual goals, individual aspirations, and individual happiness.

Everything, truly, changed when I figured out there was EXACTLY enough time left for the important things in my life - my family, my health and most importantly, my touchstone which is to hopefully make a difference in peoples' lives.

Find out what is important in your life - and make it happen. Everything will change, as it has for me. I lose my way some days, and get frustrated at the lack of money at times compared to the false security of the paycheck and health care insurance that corporate America provides. But I do not lose my way nearly as often as I did. Now, I wake up every morning and wonder, whose life will I help today? How can I make a difference? And still take care of myself and my loved ones?

Everything changed the day I figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in my life. It's empowering. It's my new compass - my One True North.