Day 3: I left the corporate world after 10 years, and this is how I made my decision
Two major tech companies, ten years of service, a highlight reel of operational career milestones and multiple continents. That’s the one sentence summary of my career in the last decade. After being a young, ambitious professional and many years of “playing the game”, the truth is all I really wanted to do was venture out on my own as a writer.
How would I even begin professional writing? What goals should I set? How would I make a living? With all these questions unanswered, I made the leap to leave my corporate job and haven’t looked back since. Despite all the ambiguity, I’ve never felt more in the driver's seat of my own life.
Feeling uninspired and ready for a change, these are the filters that ultimately helped me make my decision.Pay attention to where you pay your attention
For me, there was a point where I realised was a bystander to my environment. Things that motivated me or stressed me out before, become an annoyance or worse, a mindless task. The promotions and perceptions are no longer motivating and you can’t imagine your life in 5 or 10 years. Sure, I could’ve plugged away for another few years in my corporate role and continued to rake in a good income. But at what cost? I was not finding fulfilment or purpose in the role. My personal values and work ethic would never allow me to get away with “quiet quitting” and if I was going to give this writing thing a shot, I needed to give it attention and space. Paying attention to how what invigorated me gave me the biggest clue that I was ready to make a huge change.
2. Let go of how things ‘should’ be
I’m the child of first generation immigrants, so I truly understand the pressure and expectations to have a stable and secure job. The mere thought that I was letting my parents and community down was a huge setback for me making the right decision for me. It was only when I blocked out the chatter of how I thought everyone would react that I was able to really listen to my gut. And my gut was telling me the time was ripe to remove myself from an unproductive and often unhealthy environment for my personal growth and mental health. I had to realise that ultimately, my parents just want me to be happy and live a life with purpose.
3. Realise and reinforce your priorities
I’ve worked with amazing, inspiring individuals and no disrespect to any of them, but ask me who my manager was 8 years ago, or who were my global team mates in 2017, and I’d skip a beat to recall their names. My family, close friends, those that checked in on me during Covid-19 when I was an expat living on my own in Singapore, now they are the people I want to invest my time and energy towards. I will no longer compromise my time with my loved ones, without purpose filled work that I can’t explain to them. I’ve never felt my priorities aligned with my values as I do now.
Aligning my decisions to my values has revived me and helped me tap into my creative energy. I feel optimistic about the future.
While life decisions hold gravity and lots of ‘what if’s’, ultimately the right decision has to come from within. I hope you are putting your attention, energy and presence towards a life that is meaningful for you.
That’s all each of us could ever hope for.
