According to Howard Stevenson, professor at Harvard Business School, the key to attaining satisfaction in life is to learn from negative experiences. These critical inflection points, Stevenson argues, are the most valuable moments in that they allow you to reevaluate your goals and calibrate your vision.

In this lesson, Stevenson explains that an inflection point is defined by a place where there is no tangent to the line.

So what does that mean? You can pick almost any direction. The problem with that, of course, is that you are faced with too many choices. You need to edit those choices, Stevenson says, in order to allow yourself to properly analyze your best options.

The Fundamentals

Live life forward. What have I learned from my past?
Start at the end. What is my vision for my life? Is the juice worth the squeeze?
Structural Questions

What are my basic values?
What are my strengths?
Where am I able to have a competitive advantage?
What legacy do I want to leave?
Opportunity-driven Questions

What do I want?
Have I had 20 years’ experience or 1 years’ experience 20 times?
Is this organization going in the direction I want to go?
Inflection Point Question

Which direction do I want to go at this point?
Questions for Negative Experiences

What resources do I have now to move forward?
Am I pursuing the right path for me?
Am I realistic?
Have my goals changed?