At 7:50 AM on June 4, 1942, an air group commander named Wade McClusky made one decision — a 90-degree left turn over the open Pacific — and historians mark that moment as the turning point of the entire Pacific War. Dr. Mark Foley uses that story to explore something closer to home: the turning points that define our own lives. At 35, successful by every outward measure and privately miserable, Foley received a question from a trusted friend that changed the direction of everything that followed. If your life is moving but the direction doesn’t feel right, this one is worth your time.
Discussion Questions
QUESTION 1
Dr. Foley describes doing what he was "expected to do" for years before a single question helped him see the difference between that and what he was "designed to do." Looking at your own life, where do you sense the biggest gap between what you're expected to do and what you were designed to do — and what has kept you from closing it?QUESTION 2
Wayne's question — "What do you do well?" — was simple enough to ask in a conversation but significant enough to redirect the next three decades of Dr. Foley's life. Who in your life is positioned to ask you that kind of honest, clarifying question, and when did you last give someone permission to do it?QUESTION 3
McClusky turned when his instincts told him he was looking in the wrong place, even with his fuel running low and the risk of being wrong at its highest. Think about a course correction you've been putting off. What would it take — or what would have to change — for you to make the turn?