This isn’t the first time I quit my job, but it will be the last. Honestly, saying goodbye to Google was supposed to happen a year ago…or six months before that if I’m honest. If you ask my friends, they’ll tell you that I’m kidding myself and Google is too good to let go. They’re right, but I promise you that this is it. Recently, I quit.
Is Google all it’s cracked up to be? No. It’s better.
The grass is greener at the Googleplex, but I won’t bore you with the perks because they’ve been documented. I’m willing to bet my stock that no company treats their employees better, but it comes at a cost. My fraternity brother said something once that stuck with me, “The grass may be greener, but you better believe the water bill is a lot higher!”
He was right.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m dealing with first world problems but they’re problems nonetheless. The challenge with Google, and any great company, is complacency: you sacrifice tomorrow’s potential for today’s pleasure.
Yes, I’m too comfortable (free food and personal masseuses, anyone?).
And life is too convenient (chauffeured shuttles with WiFi to work? Yes, please!).
But we’re too young to settle.
Be honest: do you love what you do? Don’t answer that. I know you don’t because the majority of us don’t enjoy our nine to five jobs. I started working on Wall Street. When I say I hated life, I mean that I HATED LIFE. Anyone who says they enjoy the indentured servitude that investment banking brings is lying to you. And, more importantly, they’re lying to themselves.
Then again, we lie to ourselves every day. The idea that you and I were meant to sit and stare at a computer screen all day is just wrong. But the road to what’s right is remote.
Here’s what it takes to quit your high paying job in pursuit of your dreams in a city as expensive as New York: ditching dinner with friends, lots of cheap beer, saving more than you spend, building a business on the side, five hours of sleep a night, no vacations, missing family functions, skipping weekend weddings, moving from Manhattan, and forget about dating? No time and truthfully couldn’t afford it anyway.
Who wants to do all that?
Who wants to give so much not knowing what they’ll get??
Who wants to sacrifice everything for the slim chance they could have anything???
Not me, but what I want doesn’t matter. To get this far I learned that there’s a difference between want and need. The secret you ask? It’s self-control.
Building my blog has been my dream, and it’s taken some work. Actually, it’s taken a few years to be in a position to leave my day job, but I’ve been willing to wait.
Today’s timing isn’t perfect, and it never will be. You will always need more money and a perfect plan is hard to come by. What I know now is that today will never be the right time to lose the weight, start that business, or find a new job. Neither will tomorrow.
Delays cast doubt, and you wind up disputing if it even makes sense to begin.
But it does!
Make moves.
The reason why is simple: you are the CEO of your life. The decisions you make today will set the course of things to come. Do something today that will pay dividends down the road. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” I can’t remember the last time I pushed past my limits.
But, I know that that you’ll never reach your potential until you assume some level of risk.
It doesn’t have to be your job, but leave something behind starting today. Stop settling for what’s good enough and make room for what’s great.
In time, what will you give up?
Michael Peggs ordained himself with the title Chief Branding Officer. He seeks to help young professionals define their personal brand and become that image.
Image credit: CC by Robert Scoble
