so I decided to change it.

Fall of 2015 I spent over a month in Switzerland on a work trip for UBS Wealth Management.

For many, including myself, it was a dream come true. Not only was our trip all expenses paid, but we also received our bi-weekly checks from the company. This was a completely new world me.

Here is a photo of the conference room we spent out 10-12 hour days in during the week.

While we were building an app in the room above, we took coffee breaks with a view of the lake and Alps...

YEP. Great view right?

Well the whole day while we were cooped up in a conference room with dress slacks on, building things I didn't really give a shit about (it showed because my personal assessment for the project was graded subpar), my mind was elsewhere.

How could I focus on building trading bots when there was so much out there to explore?!?! So much life to be lived?!?!

Fortunately on weekends I spent my time doing handstands in the Alps, and riding 30km+ on the bikes our hotel let us use.

In these exact moments I realized I was on the wrong path. While I saw the passion of other people in the conference room, my passion came out when we were outside of it. I began to realize I was faking it.

I HATED FAKING IT.

Pretending like I enjoyed waking up early to listen to some exec talk about topics that were far from interesting to me.

It made me start to hate myself because I was living a lie that I did not know how to escape.

We are raised to get the degree, get the job, marry, buy the house...yadda yadda ... and over here there was me who was checking all those boxes.

Making more money than I could have imagined at my age.

Traveling to places I dreamt of.

Meeting people from all walks of life.

Constantly learning new things.

Yet, I still felt empty.

Why?

Because I wanted to spend more time outdoors. I missed playing sports and being competitive...I wanted to be an athlete again. I despised wearing my dress attire because I thought about how much $$$ I spent on it and wished I could have spent it on other things. All my life, even as a kid, I wanted a tattoo sleeve...yet I found myself holding back the real me because of my "job," because I didn't want to risk my "career path" based on someone else's judgement of me.

Then one day something snapped in me.

I still remember when I got my year end review in 2015. All great marks except a few remarks about how I wasn't playing nice with the corporate politics.

It was in this moment that I realized I had to make drastic changes to my life. I refused to keep becoming someone that I was not proud of.

I won't bore you with many more details of this story, but in short it goes like this...

All of 2016 I spent planning my escape. I moved to Houston and got my job to allow me to WFH. I then quit that job to find something more conducive to the skills I wanted to learn (sales). I got my NASM Personal Training Certificate and started my side business. And then a few unfortunate life events sped up my plan to quit that new job on January 2nd 2017.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Because it took me only one year to plan my escape. A year may sound like awhile, but it's really not. It flies by!!!

And if you are going into this year with some of the thoughts I had above, I'd love to help you with your ideas/plan so by this time in 2022 you are well on your way to building the life you dreamed of too.

If it is something you are serious about, I highly recommend you watch this YouTube video I just released about the 5 things to consider before you jump ship from your career/job too.

Today I am not forced to spend money on material items just to fit in.

I no longer wake up early for other people I don't care about, rather I wake up early for myself and my own goals.

No more working on projects that care more about company politics than actually making a positive impact on the world.

Today I have the tattoo sleeve.

I get outside every day.

Surround myself with people who inspire me to become a better human each and every day.

And most importantly, I am married to a woman who is my biggest supporter, as I am hers. We work together to build our dreams together each and every day.

Today exists because of the feeling I had in my gut in fall of 2015, and then the actions I took in 2016 and beyond.

Moral of this story, if your gut is telling you something...lean into it!!!

And if you are struggling with the taking action part, hit me up!!!

Have a kickass Monday!

#thriveon

CJ

p.s. I am grateful for all the lessons life provides for us. We just have to be willing to listen to them.