Why I Quit My Six-Figure Engineering Job

I sat at my desk on a Wednesday just like any other, not realizing that my entire life was about to be turned upside down.

As I ran down the items on my To-Do list for the day, I came to a stark realization: I didn’t want to do any of them.

I started my career in engineering because it seemed like a promising career path. The allure of getting to work on the cutting edge of technology. Developing new products and services that revolutionize the way we work and live.

But I had been growing increasingly dissatisfied. The days began to grow increasingly mundane, and I’d been feeling especially frustrated over the months leading up. I felt I was becoming more disconnected from my true self. That I had to twist and contort myself to fit inside the box of my job and my company.

I was bursting at the seams for something with a greater connection with humanity. I wanted to do something that felt like I was making a real difference in someone’s life. Something that was truly meaningful.

On that day, I found myself tasked with turning a wireless gadget off and on, testing it to make sure it still worked.

And repeat it 100 times.

Now, I’m normally a patient guy, and I’ve prided myself on having a strong work ethic. My first job as a teenager was working as a Walmart cashier, and I took pride in being the fastest cashier in the store. I’ve always taken pride in what I do, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make the team successful.

But something finally pushed me over the edge.

I’d been working hard my entire career — 10 years as a Computer Engineer — and I still found myself waiting for the day when I’d “finally arrived” and started loving my work. When I got to work on exciting technologies, with a highly motivated and engaging team that I enjoyed being a part of.

As the tasks became more monotonous, I’d become somewhat of an expert on automation — I knew how to write a quick script or develop a tool to automate simple, repetitive procedures so they required less time of me. They say the best engineers are the lazy ones, and there is some truth to that.

But on this day, something different happened. Not something in my job, or my company, or anything else around me.

Something inside of me had shifted.

As I sat back in my chair and stared blankly at the wall, I wondered — How did I get here? I thought I was doing everything I was supposed to — completing my assignments on time or ahead of schedule, taking initiative and driving our software deliverables to completion, bringing together different parts of the team to successfully meet stringent deadlines.

So how was it that I was still doing work that made me want to smash my head through the monitor?

And in that moment, I had an epiphany.

Suddenly I realized how the entire way I was running my life was creating this situation. I realized that all my life, I had defined success as approval from others. As a student in school, it meant getting good grades in each subject. At the university, striving for A’s and working to get the highest possible GPA. And as an employee, getting the work done as quickly as possible to meet the targets set by management.

What stood out to me was this: None of these things involved pursuing a deep, inspiring purpose. They simply meant that my performance had been positively evaluated by someone else. Someone else had taken a look at my work and given me a stamp, saying “Job well done.”

But what was it that was important to me?

I finally realized that as long as I defined my success upon approval from others, there was a fundamental cap on the type and amount of success I would enjoy.

If I didn’t have a clear and compelling vision for what I wanted to create with my career, and with my life, then my journey was going to be subject to the whimsies of others. They might be individual people or giant corporations — but nonetheless, someone other than me.

As this new insight began to sink in, my whole body began to tremble. My breathing accelerated and I felt light-headed. It was as if I was being sucked into a different dimension, somewhere I’d never been before.

I instantly saw my life from outside myself, as if I had exited my body. I saw the timeline of my life journey, from a young boy in a classroom to a mature adult navigating the corporate world. I saw how my decisions at each step of the way had led me to this very moment in time.

A wave of energy coursed through my body, but I had no idea what was happening. All I knew was that I’d never experienced anything like this before.

Suddenly everything in front of me seemed irrelevant — my to-do list, the email piling up, the laptop, the desk. Suddenly all these things seemed trivial.

My body picked itself up out of the chair and walked toward the exit.

As I stepped outside the building, the sun hit my face and my entire world continued spinning. It’s difficult to explain the exact sensation — something similar to when you wake up from a vivid dream, and realize that reality is very different from what you imagined it to be five minutes earlier.

I walked for what must have been 15 minutes, my entire life flashing before my eyes. I’d had a moment of clarity that explained why my life had become what it was — a patchwork of achievements and job titles and paystubs.

I don’t know exactly what happened to me that day. I can’t put a label on it or explain it in psychological or scientific terms. All I know is that I experienced a shift at the very core of my being. And that I knew my life would never be the same.

Over the coming weeks and months, I continued the journey into life and career coaching which I’d started a year earlier. I saw the shift that others could experience in a powerful coaching conversation — a conversation 100% focused on what the client wants at the deepest layer of their existence.

My understanding of reality began to solidify, like a blurry picture coming into focus. I started to understand why extraordinary people can often have a “bland” life experience, a life that leaves so much potential unfulfilled. Why they experience so much pain and frustration.

The insights came pouring in, as if I’d been given access to a vault of ancient wisdom.

13 Rules for Living Your Truth

1. We each have a soul, or a higher-self, which contains all of our untapped potential, all of our dreams and aspirations.
2. Life presents us with a series of challenges, so that we may have opportunities to demonstrate our level of commitment.
3. We each have a deep soul purpose that calls us forth.
4. When we are out of alignment with our purpose, we experience stress, frustration, anger, sadness, emptiness, and many other emotions which drain us.
5. Our path of highest potential involves facing our deepest fears head-on.
6. Fear is a façade, and when we take a look behind it, there’s actually nothing there.
7. The uncertainty we see in the external world is merely a reflection of the uncertainty within ourselves.
8. Our dreams always seem better-suited for the future; pursuing them in the Now is always scary.
9. When the future arrives, it becomes the Now, and pursuing our dream will be just as scary. The only difference will be that we spent time on something other than that which is most important.
10. As time goes on, and our idea grows older in our mind, our level of drive and enthusiasm goes DOWN, not UP.
11. The best time to act on our desires is NOW. In fact, it is the only time we can decide to do something.
12. We can never “decide” to take action in the future — 3 months from now, 6 months from now, or a year from now. We can only decide whether or not we take action RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
13. Putting off our dreams for some day in the future is equivalent to pushing your dreams further away from you.

One by one, they started to seep in. And I saw something that could not be unseen.

I saw a clear choice I had — I could continue making decisions in order to win other people’s approval, or I could take a stand for what I believe in.

Once I saw the choice, it had already been made. I was all in.

Later that week, I set a date on my calendar to give notice. I began visualizing what lay before me — a new path with an entirely new set of experiences.

Now, as I pursue my career coaching high-achievers to attain a deep, lasting sense of fulfillment, I feel more alive than ever before. I see how my unique skills, talents and personality make me the right person for the job. I can appreciate that I am the only person who can do what I do, the way I do it.

I finally found my unique path.

As I reflect upon my experience that day, part of me wishes I could explain it. The Engineer in me wants to define it and classify it, to put a label on it. The entrepreneur in me wants to give you the 7 steps that can help you have the same breakthrough. And the coach in me wants to help guide you to your own personal breakthrough.

But the truth is that I didn’t consciously create that moment in time. “Having a life-changing breakthrough” was not on my to-do list that day. It simply came to me when the time was right.

Honestly, I don’t know what to call it. Maybe it was some type of awakening. Perhaps a spiritual event. Maybe a message delivered from a divine source. Of that I am not entirely sure. These are matters of personal faith.

All I can say is that if you are awake and consciously pursuing your growth, the insights will come to you when you are ready.

As for me, I know that I can never go back to a normal 9 to 5. I feel more connected than ever before to my purpose, and there is no turning back. I cannot sit back and put my future in someone else’s hands.

Despite the high level of uncertainty of the entrepreneurial life, I feel a deep sense of peace. I know that even when I don’t understand things with my logical mind, that there is a higher order of intelligence guiding me.

And I know that no matter what level of material success I achieve, that there is a deep level of satisfaction in dedicating myself to a purpose I believe in, living each day as my true, most authentic self.

And something tells me that’s where the true success lies.