I Quit 9-5: Story on Clarity and Commitment

I wrote this back in April 2021 and shared it on Twitter. For easier consumption, I'm reposting it here.

Here's the story.

It was early 2017. I remember standing in my bedroom and listening to The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.

Around 2 hours into the book, I said to myself:

“Holy shit, I’ve been such an idiot.”

According to this chart by Tim Urban I was experiencing step 2 and 3.

So, I had a new, vague dream (make a living online) and almost no clue how to get there. Plus, I was starting to question lots of things I thought were "true."

I didn’t know anyone who was doing what I aspired to do, so I turned to blogs, youtube, podcasts, and audiobooks. Luckily I fell in love with personal development. Audiobooks and podcasts were my music and Matt D'Avella was my Netflix.

More consumed books and stories led to more clarity. More clarity led to more experiments. Failed experiments led to more clarity and so on. This continued for several years.

Meanwhile, I was working in IT. And despite changing companies where the vision and mission of the company aligned with mine. I was not able to close this gap. The more clarity I gained on what I want to do creatively, the less motivated I was to continue my 9-5.

And when your creative clarity increases, it’s easier to focus. It’s easier to be consistent, which all leads to closing the gap towards your dream.

This gives the confidence to stop working on your backup plan and fully commit and lean into your creative pursuits.

And that's what I did.

This is the first Monday in 10 years I have spent as an unemployed dude.

That said. It's not a complete YOLO move. We’ve managed to save up enough to live well until the end of 2022 without earnings (of course crushing through savings is not the intention).

Thanks for reading. I’ll leave you with 3 quotes on this topic.

“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Believe in your abilities to figure things out.” – Brendon Burchard

“You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” – Jim Carrey

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Take care and good luck.

– Janis