Success Strategies

The First Day Of Freedom: What Happened After I Quit My Job At Google

As soon as I hit publish, I was good as gone. There was no turning back. Little did I know, I would have no choice – a scandal was approaching and not even Olivia Pope could save me.

My exit from Google was a well-orchestrated event. One commenter posted on my nowinfamous YouTube video, "A word of caution to anyone considering quitting on a whim. This guy clearly planned this out. This didn’t just happen."

Dolfy123 hit the nail on the head. This was months in the making, and I made sure to dot my I’s and cross my T’s. Or so I thought.

Leading up to my resignation, I went on somewhat of an apology tour. Sorry for leaving, but I got to go! Oh, and I'm going out with a bang. My manager and colleagues were all in on it. I would come out with a Huffington Post piece accompanied by a video and it would be great. Except the blog post posted before I could complete my apology tour.

Oops. Now I was really apologizing.

After four years of good standing, my last two weeks at Google were a little rough. There were some tense meetings and, at one point, I fully expected security to walk me right out of the building. But on Friday October 3, I walked away from Google without an escort and without a clue what to do next.

Freedom can be paralyzing.

I think it’s one of the reasons so many of us stand still. With responsibility comes accountability, and it’s much easier to point fingers than raise your hand and admit, it’s me. I’m the one you want. The missed master plan was mine, and mine alone.

My plan went wrong almost immediately. When your video goes viral, you drop everything and race to catch up. You never can. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced — hundreds of new connections in a matter of minutes, so much traffic my blog balked (the servers went down) and email after email comes pouring in. I’m talking thousands! It took 2 months but I answered every single one. I’m proud of that.

And no — I’m not complaining. Extra attention is a great problem to have. I spent years writing to so few that the opportunity to move so many was, in itself, moving. What I realized is that we all want the same things:

I think life should be about finding something that makes you happy. I wasn't happy. I am going to find something that fulfills me more. — Ali I.

It's so easy to get comfortable and to never end up doing what you love, nor seeking your purpose. I too quit my comfortable job in September of 2012 to pursue my passion full-time, and though the grind is Real, I haven't regretted it one bit. — Jacob Q.

I too left a career to pursue my dream of becoming a Bikram Yoga teacher. I packed up and went to California for 9 weeks to train with Bikram himself, and now I'm back on the East Coast teaching yoga to the people and planning my next endeavor. Leaving a stable career is the most courageous thing I've ever done. — Ashana A.

Congratulations! Now go do something fabulous in the world — something that will POSITIVELY impact lives as you model for them what things may not come easy. — Rosemary H.

Walking away wasn’t easy. It never is. And on Monday October 6th I was left longing for a lull — a break from anything and anyone. Liberating? Not quite. She skipped over me. Today, I feel a greater sense of service than ever before.

For me, that means launching a brand new podcast where I’ll be sharing the secrets to making a living from what you love. But I couldn’t chase my calling where I was. I didn’t love it.

So what was saying goodbye to Google all about? Space. More specifically, the space to create. Let me explain.

I’m a New Yorker so excuse the big-city scenario for a second. Have you ever packed into a subway train during rush hour? You walk into the center thinking you're in the clear, but you're actually getting pushed and pulled from both sides. You get the better sense to sit down but you’re packed in so tight that you stand back up. The decision to occupy the door becomes the obvious one, but people hit you on the way out and step over you on the way in. At that moment, the best thing you can do is get off and wait for a less crowded car.

That train is your career, and what we all need is room to re-evaluate. Renew. Breathe. Stretch. Strengthen. To come back and supply the world with our authentic art. Sorry for the bad butterfly cliche, but space is the shortcut to spreading your wings and fly. There comes a time when it’s necessary to leave the nest for a less crowded car.

Dedication requires separation, and in your separation you’ll find your revelation.

The truth eliminates all other options. The convenient option is out. So is the comfortable one. On the road from good enough to great, the best thing you can do is create. The irony is that I had to leave Google to arrive at the answer: perfect does not exist; you must produce it.

The freedom to forge ahead is an express train to making a living from what you love. Step inside. Sometimes that means transferring from one thing to another.

When it’s your stop, get up and go.

All aboard!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/first-day-freedom-what-happened-after-i-quit-my-job-google-peggs

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The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.” –Mark Caine

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Success is a journey and not a destination. Those who want to be successful in life plan it, it just doesn’t happen neither is it accidental. He who fails to plan, surely plans to fail

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