1d • 💎
When to Move On
A clear, grounded look at income, work, and fulfillment. It’s time to get deep.
Most people don’t stay in jobs because they love them. They stay because it feels safe.
That was me.
I had a long, respected, 20 years career. VP role. Top one percent income. All the perks.
From the outside, it looked like complete success. From the inside, it felt like I was trading hours of my life for a version of myself that no longer gave me life…
Here’s the important part.
I didn’t leave because I was miserable.
I left because I was aware.
This conversation is not about just chasing your passion or burning the boats prematurely. It’s about learning to recognize when staying is costing you more than leaving.
We start with income. Because if you get this part wrong, nothing else matters.
STEP ONE. ☝️
Tell the truth about what you actually make per hour.
This framework came from listening to Alex Hormozi, and it permanently changed how I viewed my career, my hours worked, and my effective income.
Most people lie to themselves about income because they only count salary vs hours clocked in. They don’t count the life cost.
Write down:
• Your total income, including all bonuses and commissions
Now write down:
• Hours worked each week
• Commute time
• Travel away from family
• After-hours calls and texts
• Mental load you carry home
• Dinners missed
• Weekends and gatherings half present
• Stress that follows you into bed
Add all of it up. Every single hour.
This BLEW MY MIND 🤯
I was always on call, always expected to answer a text (no matter what time at night), always required to travel for meetings, on top of the 60 hours a week the job required.
Now divide your total income by every hour the job actually takes from your life. Your freedom. Your choices.
That number is your real hourly wage.
(Much lower than I would have ever thought.)
For a lot of high earners, this is the first uncomfortable moment. The paycheck is big, but the hours are bigger. And the total effective $ per hour is less than you thought. 💭
STEP TWO 2️⃣
Run the same math on your side hustle (or imagine it, realistically)
Do the exact same thing with whatever you’re building outside your main job.
For me, it was making YouTube videos about health. No grand plan. No expectation it would replace my income. Just curiosity and fun.
I tracked:
• Time spent creating
• Learning
• Filming and editing
• Answering comments
• Talking to brands
Then I divided income by hours.
At the time I was making $0 from Adsense and my only side income was from affiliate deals and brand sponsorship opportunities. It wasn’t much in total, but the hours and effort I spent making it was minimal. I was making between $1-$3k a month spending less than 4 hours a week actually working on it.
So I wasn’t replacing my total career income.
But per hour, it wasn’t far off.
Remember this…
Replacing your total income is a finish line.
Hourly value (effective hourly pay) is a directional signal.
STEP THREE 3️⃣
Pay attention to where energy multiplies vs drains
Here’s a simple question.
At the end of the week, which work leaves you tired and proud, and which leaves you tired and empty?
All work costs energy. So you should feel tired after a week of good work. Only some work gives it back.
Fulfillment isn’t about loving every task. It’s about whether the work feeds your sense of progress. When it fuels you.
Ask yourself:
• Do I feel myself expanding or shrinking here
• Am I learning skills that compound and make me a better person
• Would I still do this if no one noticed for six months
• Is this building leverage or just survival
DONT MISS THIS PART 🔐
Understanding the type of “tension” you feel
This is where confusion usually happens.
Not all discomfort means you should leave. You have to identify the kind of tension you’re carrying.
1. Growth tension
This is healthy friction.
You’re stretched. You’re tired. You’re learning. The stress produces competence and growth.
This feels like:
• fatigue with purpose
• responsibility that sharpens you
• pressure that leads somewhere
You don’t quit this. You lean into it.
2. Maintenance tension
This is where many high earners live.
The job isn’t hard because it’s challenging.
It’s hard because it’s repetitive.
You’re maintaining systems you already mastered.
This feels like:
• competence without excitement
• respect without momentum
• success that no longer stretches and fuels you
This is dangerous because it’s comfortable enough to keep you stuck and expensive enough to make leaving feel irresponsible.
3. Misalignment tension
This one is quieter and easier to ignore.
Your values or identity have shifted, but your work hasn’t.
This feels like:
• winning at something you no longer want to win
• success that feels hollow
• constant low-grade resistance you can’t explain
Staying here too long is costly, even if the income looks good.
Why income alone cannot make the decision
Money answers the question, “can I survive.”
Fulfillment answers the question, “can I survive and be happy.”
Confusion happens when people try to solve a fulfillment problem with money, or a money problem with motivation.
You can sell yourself on both and only you know the right answer.
That’s why the hourly math matters, but it’s not the final answer. It’s just the permission to look deeper.
Another calculation worth doing:
The optionality test
Ask yourself this:
If my income stayed the same for the next five years, would my options expand or shrink?
Some jobs pay well but quietly narrow your future.
Some paths pay less early but widen it.
Optionality looks like:
• skills that transfer across industries
• relationships and networks that expand
• work that creates new doors
A role that reduces your future options is more expensive than it appears.
Why timing matters more than boldness:
People romanticize quitting. That’s not what this is about.
I didn’t leave when I was angry.
I didn’t leave when I was emotional.
I didn’t leave after a bad week.
I left when:
• the math made sense
• the side work gave me fulfillment
• the direction felt clear, even if the outcome wasn’t
Leaving too early can create chaos.
Leaving too late can create regret.
Wisdom lives in between.
Moving on is not rejecting or discounting your past.
It’s integrating it.
Nothing I did before was wasted. It funded, trained, and clarified what came next.
The mistake isn’t staying.
The mistake is staying unconscious.
This community isn’t here to tell men to quit their jobs. It’s here to help them tell the truth about their lives and the challenges they face.
Sometimes that truth leads to endurance.
Sometimes it leads to transition.
Always, it leads to alignment.
You may feel alone, but you are not alone.
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When to Move On
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