I think it's hard to give blanket advice, but I can give you my experience. My internal disposition towards the job shifted over time. First 5 years, "wow this is amazing, this doesn't feel like work, can't believe they pay me to do this". Over time, that shifted, and the newness of the job was replaced with this trapped feeling of redundancy. Being a great PM in a coverage model means dedicating your life to knowing 300 companies well. And I was less of a savant and more of a "I will outwork you" sort of investor. I, slowly, started to get the "Sunday Scaries". But the arrival of kids really accelerated that contemplation. I lived at 2 River Terrace and there was a Le Pan Quotidien and my morning routine 2-3 days a week was to take the two oldest down for a croissant and coffee before work, quickly. It was only a 10-15 minute window, but the best part of my day. Ending that window felt harder and harder as I connected more with their personalities. "Dada don't go to work let's say and feed the ducks". I mean, heart wrenching. "Sorry kid my biggest short is blowing up..." Layered on all of this was a sort of existential crisis that sparked a spiritual opening. I was an atheistic capitalist in 2015 and I'm now one of the more woo woo people I know. I always was so cynical of the milquetoast "everything happens for a reason" mindset. I now believe it to be true. Right around those moments, my rising career success (one of the most profitable analysts at my firm in the first 7 years), hit a huge speedbump (chin first into late 2015 Hillary/Turing/Valeant regime change in healthcare), and for the first time in my professional career I was really objectively looking at a huge failure moment. That accelerated everything. And, looking back, was a huge blessing in my path. My wife yearned to be in Arizona (she grew up here), so we started the conversation. But sitting in a high potential seat (i had successful peers have $10-$30m+ years, individually) with deferred comp handcuffs makes it hard to leap. My version of "everything happens for a reason" was inspired by my (many) readings of Paulo Coelho's the Alchemist, "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it". And Steve Job's dictum that what feels messy in your life path will all look coherent, poetic & perfect in retrospect (this is sublimely true for me). My belief is we life in a supportive universe and the simulation will tilt itself to support your calling (knowing how to press the right buttons helps, mostly around the David Hawkins concept of raising your own level of awareness with a "water finds it's level" mindset. I became a deeply rigorous student of David Hawkins work). Our job is to get quiet, pay attention to the signals & omens, have the courage to follow the path when it appears, and, most importantly, let go of the white knuckling of the "how" and put trust in the universe. "Universe, show me how good it can get" was the mantra I repeated, as well as the affirmation from Napoleon Hill, "I believe that I am always divinely guided. I believe I will always take the right turn in the road. I believe that God will make a way where there is no way". It's super cheesy, but this mantra still sits on the wall in my office and has been a critical tool in putting me in the right path. Fast forward to 2017, everything came together. My division at a multi-manager was shut down (leaving me a free agent, no non-compete, deferred vested, a hugely unusual situation for a hedge fund PM). A super exciting consulting path emerged that I could lead remotely. And it just sort of all worked out. I'm a practical guy, as you are likely as well. So woo woo faith in the universe is not enough and could lead to ruin if the right preparatory steps are not undertaken. This almost always, in my experience, includes an alignment with your partner to downshift lifestyle driven burn for a period of time. But my "woo woo" analysis of things is that the deep yearning inside of me that built and built those LPQ mornings were the trigger that gave the universe creative freedom to design the path that has led me here. It's also a fun way to live going forward, I highly recommend it. Demanding the universe to "show me how good it can get" hasn't failed me yet.

I will walk through my three step process for building an agent that is: Step 1) gather the raw knowledge Step 2) build the agent spec Step 3) build the agent Here is a snippet of the raw for "Munger's Mental Models".