This isn’t what I had planned: But that's where the best things in life start
The year is 2002. I am 18 years old. I have two jobs: one on a farm, feeding animals, cleaning up filth, topping meadows; the other in a pub, feeding animals, cleaning up filth, topping beers.
I love them both. They give me a blend of physical effort, social interaction, meaningful purpose, natural beauty, and good old-fashioned fun.
And my future is all laid out before me: finish my Law degree; make bank; buy a Porsche, an old Land Rover, and a big house in the country; live happily ever after.
I probably don’t need to make it plain that I had yet to fully develop a sense of maturity, or self-awareness, or humility.
And I definitely hadn’t figured out that if I was too hungover to go to half of my lectures at university, I would (and did) fail most of my first year modules and be scheduled for summer resits.
I remember getting the results that essentially meant my summer plans were ruined. My six weeks of travel and fun were going to be replaced with study and redoing exams, still without half the material I needed, and probably, therefore, with the same results.
That moment scared me enough into cramming my way to a year-end grade that was just good enough to avoid that outcome - and by ‘just’ I mean by about 2 points - and my summer was saved.
But it was a good early lesson that sometimes, things don’t work out the way we intend.
I can’t say I fully learned that lesson - that’s a story for another time - but it at least gave me some understanding that I needed to think a little harder about what it takes to get the life you want.
For a lot of people that lesson shows up later on.
A lot of the time, it’s a realisation that you’re in the wrong job, it’s bringing you down, and worse: it’s starting to have a negative effect on every other area of your life too.
Last week I wrote (here and here) about something called Escape Pod.
I had the idea for this about seven or eight months ago. I put out a few feelers, got some input from a couple smart people I trust, some of whom even said they wanted to join. Then I got busy with other initiatives, the project lost momentum, and I put it on ice.
Then just over a week or so ago, two things happened:
one of those friends reached out and asked me what the heck happened, I’m still interested;
I came across the branding I’d had done for it on my hard drive and figured it was a shame to waste it.
Sometimes, that’s the only kind of push we need.
So what is it? Well, in a nutshell, it’s a group for people who have fallen out of love with their job (or maybe were never in love with it in the first place), want to quit to go do something they do love, and are looking for help to make it happen.
That’s not really a nutshell. But you get the idea.
So I thought to myself - how much do I care about this idea? Do I care enough that I don’t need to charge for it? If the answer was yes, then I could do it alongside the other things I have going on, because the motivation would be right.
So that’s what’s happening. A free program, for six weeks, with two primary objectives: first, to share the plan I put into place when I went through this, and second, to create a community for mutual accountability to hold people to the promises they are making to themselves.
I put the shilly-shallying aside and hit post.
And the response was…unexpected.
I have had a LOT of people reach out and say it’s what they need, and asking how they join.
I’ve heard stories about identity crises and burnout and frustration and self-sabotage.
But most of all, what I’ve been hearing about is about better futures.
Hope.
Optimism.
Self-belief.
Creativity.
Conviction.
What’s true is that a lot of people have an idea. A lot of people have a talent. A lot of people want more purpose. What’s also true is that a lot of people just need a little courage and a little support to turn those things into reality.
That’s what Escape Pod is for.
Roughly, I’m building it around my own experience of leaving my job, which I was no longer excited about, to go and start something that I was.
That process took me about six years. It didn’t have to. It just took me that long to feel ready (although I share a couple perspectives on “feeling ready” below…).
Everyone’s timeline will be different. But I know this to be true: you will give yourself more time than you actually need. And that’s why you need a group like Escape Pod to help you make whatever it is happen (plus, it’s free, so why wouldn’t you join).
So, here’s what you can expect from the group:
Six weeks, an hour per week, give or take
A group of people from all over the world and with different backgrounds and dreams
A plan. A structure. Accountability.
Some fun. We’ll keep it light, even when it gets heavy.
And I think I can add one more thing: you will go away with the tools to make that change you’ve been putting off for too long.
I can’t guarantee you’ll actually do it. Because that’s down to you.
But I will make sure you leave with your “how”.
And I probably won’t stop bugging you until you make it real. Because watching that happen for people is one of my favourite things in the world.
And that’s why it’s free.
Some closing thoughts from people a lot smarter / funnier / betterer than me:
“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” - Hugh Laurie
“Ready is not a feeling, it’s a decision”. - Unknown, but I wish I knew, because this is gold.
So don’t wait until you feel ready.
Instead, decide that you already are.