Hey there, I’m Steve Schlafman, but people call me Schlaf (pronounced shh-laugh). Welcome to Where the Road Bends (WTRB), a free newsletter and podcast on personal evolutions, life transitions and conscious change.

I’m an ICF-certified executive transition coach, writer, podcaster, and teacher. I’m also a recovering venture capitalist and tech operator.

My mission and vocation is to help high performers in midlife navigate work-life transitions and manifest their next calling in life.

Why another newsletter on transition and change?

For the last seven years, I’ve been focused on my own development, immersed in learning about change, transformation, consciousness, mindfulness, coaching, psychology, human development, philosophy, spirituality, and writing.

Though I’m regularly writing longer essays about many of these themes, much of what I learn, think about, and write never sees the light of day. A while back, I realized I could be sharing more of what I’m learning, be more open about my own transformation, and to help those who want to change along with me.

Change and transition is a fundamental feature of the universe—we're in a constant evolution just by being here, as we age, as we experience new things, and as we travel on this living planet. Change pervades the multidimensionality of our lives—home, work, health, spirituality, technology, relationships, leisure, rest, learning, and love—every single day.

WTRB examines how we can navigate career and life transitions, develop an expansive understanding of ourselves, build new habits, and sunset old ones. I also share learnings from my own change journey, my coaching, and findings, perspectives, and ideas from my continued research into the fields I mentioned above, to illuminate and nudge us towards new paths, ideas, beliefs, and states of mind.

The goal is the same across all of my work: to help you learn about yourself and create a rich life that’s in deep alignment with who you truly are.

My transition journey

In January 2017, at the ripe age of 37 and just a year after I got sober, I made Partner at the multi-billion dollar VC firm I had given my life to. Despite climbing to the top of the mountain, something was still missing deep inside me. Everything I worked so hard to achieve had finally arrived, but I felt no different.

Despite the money, power, and status that VC provided, the job and lifestyle left me burnt out, and unfulfilled. My ego craved these benefits but my soul yearned for more. Deep down inside, I craved a new vocation that was more aligned with what I valued, who I was becoming, and what energized me.

Several months later, I walked into my weekly partner meeting and I resigned without a grand plan. When they asked what my plan was, I told them, “I think I want to become a coach.” That conversation kicked off a five-year transition where I wandered in the wilderness without a compass or a map.

I now help high performers in midlife discover and manifest their next calling. In other words, my vocation is to help executives and entrepreneurs navigate work-life transitions so they don’t have to face the wilderness alone like I had to.

To learn more about my work, check out my site, or if anything I write or share resonates feel free to say hi.

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A free newsletter and podcast filled with wisdom on personal evolutions and life transitions.

People

I contain multitudes and potentials. Musings on change, transition, consciousness, identity and my unfolding journey.