In the year 1519, Hernan Cortes stood on the coast of modern-day Mexico and ordered his men to destroy the fleet of boats that had carried them from Spain to the New World. The message was clear: there’s no turning back when there is no way back.
This week I quit my job and sunk my last boat.
The job I am leaving was a good, not a great job. Six figure salary, superannuation contribution. Seven-and-a-half-hour workday. Annual leave, personal leave, international travel. When I received the job offer these were the phosphorescent bursts of information that flickered and burned on the paper and had me rushing for a pen, but over time I realised that these numbers and phrases were actually my own boats, boats of safety that prevented me from moving forward into a more creative life. Sometimes boats don’t float you, they sink you.
I cannot announce that I am moving on to an "exciting new role" or looking forward to "joining an inspirational team". Before me the way is clear, a blank page. It is a prospect that fills me with equal parts trepidation and intrigue, essential companions if one is to do anything worthwhile.
My decision places me in the realms of what has been termed the Great Resignation. But I don't see it as such. For me, I am not resigning, I am embracing. Embracing more time for experimentation, for thinking, for writing. Embracing more time to pursue pathways which may not lead anywhere but not for that are not worth pursuing.
I am hopeful that in the pursuit, by resolving, at least for a short time, the battle between the desire to be free and the desire for safety and security, in the inevitable movement forward, I will find a measure of happiness and fulfilment.
To be clear, under strictly financial or logical reasoning, I should not be doing this. I am not the guy with the 4-hour work week plan, multiple passive income streams or three-minute ab schemes. What I am is a man who looked around him, looked at the road ahead and decided he wanted something different. The path I was on did not fulfil me, so I made a change.
What exactly that change looks like and how exactly I will fund it are details that I will work out as I go along.
Out of Office will be a place for me to share my thoughts and experiences on building a creative life, work-life balance, books I am reading and other things that take my fancy. I will also interview people who have made the decision to take their life out of the office. The comments section will be a place for you to share your advice and experiences of leaving the office to pursue a different path, making a change or fighting the resistance to do so. It will be dynamic. It will be eclectic. I will publish every two weeks on Thursday mornings.
When I informed friends and colleagues that I was resigning, nearly all expressed a mix of admiration and envy. “How brave of you”, “I would love to do that,” they said, or “How exciting, I am so jealous.” Some actually meant it. But it got me wondering how many of us out there want to destroy the boats, that want to move forward into the unknown but, for whatever reason, are unable to do so. If that feels familiar, then Out of Office is for you. Join me, I don’t know where I am going, not sure how I will get there, but the direction is forward, it will be fun and there is no turning back.
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