Creative entrepreneur ideas kept gnawing at me even while working at one of the most coveted companies in the world. If you think you have free will at your job, try walking in tomorrow with a sledgehammer and smashing your computer monitor. Then you’ll really know if you’re a free-willed employee or something else entirely.
After working at a top tech company for nearly two years, I decided to leave. My last day was a Friday in November. It wasn’t because I felt trapped in the traditional sense. Quite the opposite.
The reason I left had to do with wanting to live on the bleeding edge of creative thought, which is a very personal place to live, and something the corporate world is not conducive to.
The Golden Trap
It was a very secure place to work. Everything you’ve heard about how employees are treated at top companies is true. Free food. Amazing benefits. Generous salaries. Fabulous perks.
This is by design. When you treat employees well, they work hard for you. It’s not difficult to come in early or stay late when there’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner waiting.
But there’s a trap in the comfort. You love your job so much that side projects fall by the wayside. You want to excel in your position, so your true passions sit on the back burner. I wanted to be great at my job, so I let my creative projects sit idly to the side.
The Creative Tick
I have a creative tick that keeps gnawing at me. Write a book. Produce a movie. Compose an album. Sail across the Mediterranean.
Yes, I have voices in my head. And as much as I grew from that experience, my intuition was telling me a new adventure awaited. So I listened.
Leaving wasn’t about going off to write bad poetry. It was about exploring what real freedom actually looks like.
Without a job, without the need for linear time, I could follow whatever intuitive urge arose. If I wanted to start a business, I would. If I wanted to write a book, I would. If I wanted to learn everything about the future of physics, I’d buy a bunch of books and do just that.
Stuck Energy
Having a job felt like stuck energy. Doing the same thing every single day, even if those things were amazing, just didn’t seem right to me.
Working a job felt linear. You work hard all your life, and if you’re lucky, you retire at 55 or 65, which is when your income starts declining because it was always dependent on your working.
As an infinite being, I should be looking for opportunities that offer exponential dividends. Not trading time for money.
I want to give ideas legs and have them take on a life of their own and work hard for me. Not the other way around.
The Quantum Shift
Money is no longer something I want to shove into a savings account and hoard. I want to give money, ideas, and energy the ability to grow and take on a life of their own.
This is the reason to quit a secure job. If you believe yourself to be the creator of your reality, then it’s this shift in thinking (how can money work for me, rather than how can I work for money) that allows exponential growth.
Jobs are old energy. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are changing the paradigm. We’re moving into an age where we’ll learn to give our ideas legs, infuse them with energy, and have them work for us.
A Bigger Sandbox
I had a great job that I left because I needed a bigger sandbox to play in.
How big is the sandbox you’re playing in right now? Have you outgrown it? Are you working because you love the daily work, or because you think you need the paycheck at the end of the week?
A few things I learned along the way:
Fail early, fail often. The speed of innovation is the difference between good and great. Aim for the impossible and never settle for less.
There can be more than one right answer. Spend time imagining all the potentials. Don’t settle on the first thing that comes to mind.
Fear is never an effective motivator. A great team is a fearless team. If your only motivating factor is the fear of not getting a paycheck next week, you’re working for the wrong reasons.
Making money is easy once you shift your thinking. Find something you love more than money and dive wholeheartedly into it.
Imagine the possibilities. There is no work to do other than imagination.
Ready to create with AI authentically?
Explore AI Tools for Creators to learn how to use AI without losing your voice.