Last night I spent a few minutes flicking through a copy of my old book Quit Your Job, Change Your Life.
Very interesting it was too.
I wrote the book three years ago, just after I’d quit
my job. It charts my entire thought process behind quitting, pretty much from A-to-Z.
As I read, I could clearly see the “lens” I was wearing when I wrote the book and just how fiercely & righteously I’d bought into my own ideas about the tyranny of the 9 to 5.
Even so, there are still a few timeless golden nuggets tucked away within its glossy pages.
The section I wrote on the 6 big fears (the fears which stop people who want to quit from actually quitting) is worth the price of admission alone.
As are the 38 quotes dotted throughout the book from big shots like Rumi, Brené Brown and Maya Angelou.
Take, for instance, this quote by the jazz trumpeter Miles Davis which I featured on page 52:
“I’ll play it first, and tell you what it is later”
This is in stark contrast to most advice trotted out by helpful well-wishers.
Advice
like “look before you leap”, “measure twice, cut once” or even Big Baloo & the Cub Scouts’ very own “always be prepared”.
Yet the Miles Davis quote has acted like a trusty compass as I’ve navigated my coaching and this newsletter. And even as I’ve navigated the 9 to 5 now I’m back resting snugly in her hallowed arms.
Yes, the quote is a handy reminder of the value of experimentation & intuition.
But it goes further than this.
Not only do I shy away from trying to have everything perfectly planned & figured out, but more & more I see that this planning and the need to justify every action to others or to myself as part of some grand masterplan is the very thing stopping me from simply following my inclinations moment to moment and getting on with living my life.
There’s a short chapter exploring this idea in the book too.
But enough about that for now.
I don’t often talk about this book, let alone promote it.
Today is an exception.
If you'd like to get your paws on a pdf copy of Quit Your Job, Change Your Life for the princely sum of £5, hit reply and let me know.
Once you do, I’ll send you a payment link.
And once settled, I’ll email you a pdf copy of the book.
That’s all for today.
- Tom