Afew years ago, DJ DiDonna seemed to have everything going for him. He had started a successful venture called the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab, which used psychometric factors to help banks issuing microloans in the developing world avoid risk.
“We created an alternative credit score to give people access to finance, live up to their potential, and help their families,” he says. DiDonna spent years living out of a suitcase while jetting around the world to talk to bankers and meet inspiring entrepreneurs. “It was an incredible journey,” he says. “It was also a draining, unsustainable way to live.”
Even as he was feeling fulfilled by helping people, he felt himself crashing. “I didn’t think you could burn out from your dream job,” he says. In 2017, he realized that he needed to take a break—and not just a one-week vacation. He decided to take time off and explore neglected interests in the outdoors and in spirituality—by spending six weeks walking 900 miles as part of a Buddhist pilgrimage in Japan.
The experience was life-changing. “It helped me process the possibility that the time at the company I had started could… Read More
