Starting the Blog

On Friday, February 10, 2012, I quit my job working as an investment banker. In some ways, the decision was easy: I hated my job. I had wanted to quit for a long time. I was deeply unhappy. I was stressed out all the time. It wasn’t the right fit for me. I felt like I had no free time to pursue other endeavors. It affected my mood, my attitude, my personality and maybe even my character. It affected my marriage and my relationships with others.

However, in other ways, the decision was difficult: I did not have another job lined up. I have a wife on unpaid maternity leave. I have a six-month-old child. It was a reputable job at a reputable firm and I am giving up a big salary, prestige and everything else that comes with those things, like lifestyle, status, etc. My parents are disappointed and sad that I didn’t stay. The economy is still bad and I’m a little worried about the potential for long-term unemployment. I’m also worried about looking like an irresponsible bum to others, particularly my family and extended family.

The purpose of this blog is to share my thoughts and reflections from my experience quitting a job, trying to find out what to do next, and trying to find a new job. In sharing about why I quit, I hope to help myself debrief and get a better understanding about what didn’t work. In sharing about what to do next, I hope to stay motivated and driven to soul search and find out what I’m good at, what I’m passionate about, etc. And in sharing about the job search process, I hope to stay focused on finding a new job at the appropriate time. In posting my thoughts onto this blog, I hope to share with my friends what I am going through, receive support, and elicit feedback from my friends. And perhaps, it may also help you process some of your own thoughts.

I acknowledge that I am in an extremely fortunate position. I have a wife who can, will, and wants to return to work in May to a nice law firm job which she loves and pays well. We no longer have any grad school loans to worry about. And we have some money saved up. In fact, we are taking this opportunity to travel overseas to my wife’s home in Australia. We are leaving today and will return to the U.S in six weeks. This gives us a good amount of time to spend time away, introduce our young child to extended family, and do spend some dedicated time decompressing and brainstorming about next steps. It’s already been a tremendous blessing to be able to relax for the last two weeks even before our trip.

Because of this fortunate circumstance, I want to take advantage of this opportunity to be patient and thorough in doing my brainstorming. I want to be methodical and diligent. I don’t want to rush into anything. However, I also want to move the process along and not be lazy or waste my time. As mentioned above, I see this entire process in 3 stages: looking back historically, reflecting on my current passions and abilities, and then developing a plan to find a new job. I’m not sure how long each will take, mainly because it is out of my control. But, I think my initial plan is to spend about 1-2 weeks on the first part: looking back and reflecting on my past jobs and what worked and didn’t work. And we’ll take it from there.

One book that was recommended to me by a family member was Strength Finder by Tom Rath.
http://www.strengthsfinder.com/home.aspx
The book also includes an online self-assessment. I’m planning on reading this book and taking the assessment during “stage 2”, but I may start earlier. I think at a minimum, it will be helpful toward discerning what some of my potential next steps could be. If you have another book that you recommend, I’d definitely consider reading it.

Boarding a plane in a few hours, so will post again from abroad. I may try to write some thoughts on the plane if I get the chance. Thanks for reading!