As a fan of Jim Carrey, one of my all-time favorite movies is The Truman Show. The hero, Truman, lives inside a Utopian bubble carefully constructed just for him by a savvy media company. Unbeknownst to Truman, hidden cameras broadcast his every move live on television 24/7 to an audience of millions. While outwardly, he appears happy-go-lucky, inwardly a subtle desperation begins to take hold, as he gradually realizes that the life he thought was his, is in fact a monstrous hoax perpetrated upon him.

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I lead a running group in Central Park and this week one of the participants asked me to recommend one of my favorite marathon guides. Although this is not a book about technique, training, or nutrition, I have always loved The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of Life by Amby Burfoot.

A lifelong runner and running advocate, Amby Burfoot has been executive editor of Runner's World magazine since 1985. He is also the author of The Principles of Running and Runner's World Complete Book of Running.  In 1968, he won the Boston Marathon, the first American to do so in 11 years.

The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of Life is a collection of essays which covers a range of topics including courage, goals, family, materialism and humility. It is a compact read which prompts further thoughts for the road. 

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I was recently surprised, after reading Self-Promotion for Introverts by Nancy Ancowitz, to learn that introverts comprise about half the population. And, according to an article in USA Today, 4 in 10 top executives are introverts. In fact, the article offers Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Charles Schwab and Steven Spielberg as examples. Add comedian Jerry Seinfeld to the list. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, he shares that he is an introvert: “I love people, but I can’t talk to them. Onstage, I can.”

As a coach, I find that a number of my clients lie closer on the spectrum to introversion than extroversion. How do I know? If I haven’t conducted a Myers-Briggs assessment on the client, I reference the below named attributes*. Which list describes you more than 50 percent of the time?

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In the hit 2009 movie “Up in the Air”, George Clooney stars as a corporate hatchet man, hired by companies to do the dirty work of laying off dozens of their employees. He refers to himself euphemistically as a “career transition counselor.” To each person laid off, he offers a generic pep talk that is surprisingly effective. “Anyone who ever built an empire, or changed the world,” he intones like a sympathetic parish priest, “has sat where you are now. And it’s because they sat there that they were able to do it.”

A tad trite, perhaps? Certainly. But is he right? Absolutely. And the evidence of this can be seen in a terrific new documentary entitled “Lemonade.” You could almost consider this a companion piece to “Up in the Air” as it tracks the lives of 16 advertising professionals all recently laid-off, downsized or otherwise let go by the firms they previously worked for. For anyone who has been recently discharged or is trying to figure out “what’s next”, this film is a revelation. And a celebration.

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There’s a very famous parable (credited to Russell H. Conwell) about a poor farmer who cursed his rocky fields and dreamed of a life of riches and ease. Fixing upon the idea of finding diamonds as the way to achieve his dream, he sold up his farm for a pittance and left to explore foreign lands for the precious gems he so desired. His search was futile, ultimately ending in poverty, despair and early death.

Meanwhile, the man who bought the hardscrabble farm from him soon discovered that the small, dark rocks that peppered the fields were actually raw, uncut diamonds. This led to the discovery of one of the largest and richest diamond mines of all time. Had only the poor farmer looked in his own back yard, all of his dreams could have been fulfilled!

As a coach, part of my job is helping my clients uncover their individual hidden “acre of diamonds”. Too often, we tend to overlook our own particular brand of genius, thinking that if it comes too easily, or is too much fun, it must be worthless. To uncover their personal gems, I’ll often ask my clients, “What do you think is your greatest strength? When are you most fully expressing this talent? What do you do effortlessly that is special? If you were on the cover of a magazine, what magazine would it be and what would the story be about?

Peter Bregman is a successful author and consultant on the topic of how we live and how we work. His writing captures the perfect balance between stories you enjoy and practical advice you can implement. With all of his noted success, I wondered how he discovered his own special “acre of diamonds.”

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