Hey, it’s great to have you. And welcome new readers!
I’m back
After sprinting for the past year without much of a break, I’m back.
Last month, I left my job at a crypto venture capital firm and am currently pausing to really reflect and figure out what to do next.
This will be the longest break I’ve had since graduating college and starting work full-time in 2016. For once, I don’t know what’s next - no SAT score to hit to get into college, summer internship to secure to get that full-time offer, or GMAT to get into an MBA program. It’ll be time for myself that I may not have once I start working full-time again, an opportunity to cross things off of my bucket list. It’s also a time of uncertainty given the state of the economy, especially in tech.
Do I take a risk and start something of my own? Or do I take a role that’s more sustainable than my most recent roles within tech? What will I do in these coming months? These are the questions I ask myself as a new member of the quarter life crisis club.
Two versions of “retirement”
The biggest thing I looked forward to after starting my funemployment was not having to wake up to an alarm. I could sleep in every day. Stay up late without worrying about having to get up early the next day. No early meetings nor deliverables to hit. Nobody to report to. I could do whatever I wanted to, whenever I wanted.
And that’s what I did. I was a couch potato for the first week, signing into Netflix for the first time in recent memory and binging on shows. Staying up past midnight every night scrolling on my phone and waking up past noon. Not going outside for two straight days and living without commitments.
But then it got old. One day, I looked into the mirror and saw a version of myself who freeloaded by living in his parents basement. I was gaining weight from eating junk food, growing a five o’clock shadow by not shaving, and living in Gundam land (the anime series I was watching). I began to feel a resistance, as if I was procrastinating to avoid facing something: what I would do with my newfound freedom and uncertainty.
This couldn’t be it. There must be more.
I began getting sick of this way of living and gradually started climbing out of this pit. I set myself a schedule that gave me time to make progress towards my career, self development, and still have fun. I created a bucket list of things I wanted to do and set goals with concrete deliverables.
Eventually, I got myself back on track with this new routine. I stopped taking naps in the afternoon and avoided using electronics before bed so that I could fall asleep at a reasonable hour. I made myself sit in front of the computer in the mornings, my most productive hours, and began chipping away at my goals. I scheduled in time for fun to finally check out the places I wanted to go (there’s little competition for a 3pm weekday reservation).
Now, even though I don’t have to wake up to an alarm and can do anything, I get up with a sense of direction and excitement to work on my projects on my terms. I’m trying to enjoy the process.
Takeaways on carving my own path
The first thing I did after starting on my own was to relax. I had been so accustomed to being on “go” mode that it was hard for me to stop. Looking back, I’m pretty sure my sleeping in past noon was due to my body’s need to rest. I needed some uninterrupted downtime to unwind. My restlessness after the week of rest may have been my sign that I was ready to get back into action.
The second piece in charting my own path was to set goals that included input-oriented deliverables. Rather than being outcome-focused, such as targeting landing a specific job, I focused on completing actions that would lead to the goal. In this case, it would be to reach out to a few specific people to get their take on my job targets in order to get advice and referrals. By measuring my success via my inputs, or work I put in, I’m able to get the ball rolling and take action while celebrating small wins vs. sit in fear of facing a humongous goal.
The last action I took was significantly reducing my consumption of social media to avoid the trap of self-comparison. After scrolling through LinkedIn and seeing where my peers were and also doomscrolling the MBA and Layoffs subreddits on Reddit, I began to question myself. I started developing tunnel-vision and it was only after stepping out of this limited viewpoint that I able to start measuring myself by the most important benchmark: myself.
Oh, the places you’ll go!
My journey has just started. In fact, I haven’t cracked the code on how to spend a perfect day, nor do I believe there has to be such a thing. There will be ups and downs. Things won’t go as expected. I’ll adapt as I go.
The most important thing is to stay in the game and avoid overdoing it and burning out.
More to come on where this takes me. I’m taking you all along for the ride.
P.S. - I’m exploring creating a small group for those who are also in a transitionary period (or simply working on side projects) to provide support and accountability. If this is you or you know someone, get in touch!