That's never a great idea. What I did do was start maxing out savings as soon as I could, even before I had a goal to quit and bet on myself. I also fell for the two most common misdirections we are sold: 1. The income will always be there. - Mine shrank every year for the last 4 years I was with my company (and I still maxed savings; in fact, I saw the writing on the wall and increased). 2. All I need to do is save $X,000,000 and I can walk away. - These numbers are usually based on some sort of withdrawal rate (4% is common) that does not take into account that savings will continue to grow, as long as you don't touch it, and if you have already adjusted your lifestyle to what you need, allowing for the things that really matter (it's travel for us) then you will need much less to live on. Now, I only have to replace a fraction of the income I was bringing in a year ago, and I have sold very few assets to do so ( for travel). Every situation is different and requires a tailored solution. The first step is to understand that it's possible. That was the hard part for me. It took me 4 years to finally decide to act on the plans I had built. I had to overcome the doubt: of myself, and about what others would think. I am not retired sitting on a beach (ok, I have my fair share of beach time), but I do have control of my time. I spend more time with family, see amazing places, and I am exploring what else I can put my energy into.

I am coming up on 1 year since I applied to become a ski patroller full time at my local mountain. Not much of milestone in hindsight, but an important one nonetheless. Spoiler: I got the job! ( as ypu can see from the picture) Getting my ski patrol job is what gave me the final boost to quit my corporate job for good. Of course, thst was after a couple of years of planning to get my lifestyle in order to make the change. This post isn't about how I quit, or what I am doing instead. It is about why I decided to leave the safety and comfortable identity of my 20 year career. I am honestly still not sure which changed more, me or the job, but I realize now that doesn't matter. There are a lot of people out there that feel like the reasons they chased the dream of a comfortable, well-paying job are no longer valid. They could feel like the company changed, the work changed, or they just grew out of the that need for perceived security. I wanted to do MORE. And I didnt want to do it for someone else anymore. I remember walking into yet another off-site where we flew all of these people in from around the country, and cost a hundred thousand dollars or more of company funds for the 3 days of meetings. We rehashed the things we had been talking about on the weekly team meetings, before meeting with our 3rd new leader in the past 6 years. She promised change, and that she would listen to us, after going through all of the frustrations we had of the prior leadership. Then she brought up a power point that had the same initiatives on it as the last leader had showed us on the last quarterly all hands. And I felt nothing. Not anger, or frustration. Not fear, or uncertainty. If anything I felt confidence. Confident the decision I had wanted to make for so long was the right one. I know there are many people in this group who have left the relative safety of a job to chase a dream, or are working, diligently and responsibly toward that. What I want to know is: what told you that it was the right decisiontl to chase your own dream?

Check this out! Built the Exit Ready? planner as a website! Fully interactive! https://rorypiontkowski.com/

I need some ideas for videos...might be Insta, maybe YouTube, maybe both. What do you think about ( NOT numbers related) when you think about the day you don't have to work to make money anymore? Imagine you can choose what you do based on how cool, fun, or interesting it is, rather than how much it pays or whether it has health insurance? I will make the video and give you credit.

A few years ago, I sat in a meeting listening to a new leader pitch the exact same "transformation" our old leader had pitched three years before. Pretty much the same initiatives, different name on the title page. And I remember the specific feeling of it; not anger, not even boredom. Nothing. I didn't care. That's when I knew something in me had already left, even though I still had another four years in that seat. So...why do so many people want to leave their corporate jobs? They worked for years to get where they are. It is not easy to become a high earner at a large company. They got the benefits and the money. That gave them many of the things in life they had dreamed about: cars, a house, vacations. Talking about work with their friends makes them feel good. The title sounds impressive, and people say "Wow, nice!" The security that comes with a stable job is not just financial; it becomes part of your identity, even if it is a mirage in this day and age. And for many people, this is enough. Some people thrive in this environment. For others, there comes a day (not always a big one) when they start to question whether they could be doing more, whether what they're doing now fulfills them, or whether the trade-offs are worth the returns. These people begin to realize: They sacrificed personal time with family for superficial relationships with co-workers and clients. The work they are doing has become one cog in a machine that never actually makes anything, except more work for the machine sold to their clients by manufactured demand. The benefits act like handcuffs and earmuffs, expected to buy your silence too. The bulk of what happens inside a large corporation is "cover your ass," instead of supplying a need. And these things start to eat away at them. This creates doubt and insecurity. It causes once proud and confident people to start shedding what makes them great friends, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, sons, or daughters. I'm not saying the answer is always to quit and bet everything on something new.