An enormous challenge

Well, it's enormous to me, which means a lot to me and nothing to you. But hey, it's my blog, I get to pick the headlines.

Right?

So here's my problem. I have recently realized that I suffer from a terrible affliction. Namely, I'm hopelessly bored.

Now, people who know me will choke at this point, sputter, and eventually gurgle something along the lines of "bored? you? how much more do you want to do?". They are completely right, of course. Between running a (small) software company, filling a (part-time) executive role in two others, running a consulting practice, and handling a few other pet projects, one might say that I am quite busy.

But that's exactly the point. I am very, very busy. I do a bunch of (seemingly) very important things that impact a number of people. But I'm bored. I can't help it. Thing is, I'm used to having a big impact. My career has always been focused on solving massive challenges, making a big impact, turning things around in a big way. I live most comfortably when there is something almost impossible that needs to be done, and it appears like I'm the only one demented enough to do it. There's a kind of exciting energy that comes from operating in this mode, and I find it to be very fulfilling.

Right now, I'm buried in maintenance. Every single project I am involved in is now at the point of requiring a maddening number of baby steps taken, minor goals achieved, gradual improvement needed. That's all well and fine, but it is not my strong suite. I need the thrill of the hunt, not the dedication of farming.

This lady told me recently that I am the busiest bored person she knows. That certainly struck home. Of course, her solution of trying to make get involved in even more maintenance tasks was, shall we say, misguided. But the sentiment was still true.

I'm surely stuck in a rut. How to solve this? Maybe going back to corporate full-time could work for awhile. Maybe. Who knows? But this is driving me crazy.