They say that history repeats itself, and that those who forget their history are bound to go through the same things over, and over, and over again.
I agree.
You can learn a lot from recorded history, whether it's a textbook, a blog, or your personal notes.
I think personal notes are the most impactful. 1
That being said, if you've already read this, you can go here to pick up where you left off.
This year I'm going to force history to repeat itself so that you can come along for the ride.
Two years ago, I decided that I didn't want to continue work at the large enterprise software company, and made it my goal for the year to leave with the ability to have at least three months of freedom before needing to apply to jobs.
A lot of people have asked how I did it - without even having another job lined up - and a few have replicated my steps to find themselves, typically inexplicably, in much better life situations because of it.
So, this year, I thought it would be fun to just do the same thing all over again and write about it so that you can follow along.
But really, I'm doing this again because there's something that I want out of it. I left the large enterprise software company to work for a small enterprise software company under the guise that it would be more fun, challenging, rewarding, and impactful.
Many, many people who took the "best step in my life" before I did said so.
However, it turns out that after that wonderful new company smell 2 fades away, it's not so much different than where you were before, unless you personally are very passionate about the work you're doing, in which you're in the right industry.
Don't get me wrong - it is more fun, challenging, and rewarding, but a great deal of that comes from the mentality and lifestyle I've built rather than the company itself.
As the cliche saying goes, life is what you make of it.
So, now that I've figured out that those that took the "best step in my life" before me were kinda overexaggerating, I think it's a fitting time to force a repeat.
So, come along! If you feel like you've stagnated in your role, want to push your career forward, want to plan for something big, or just want to feel more in control of your life, this will help you.
Of course, I'm not sure of your exact situation, but you can always feel free to send me a message and I'll help you if I can. I'll give you a way to contact me below.
When I started, I didn't know how much I was spending, saving, or making. When I thought of each one before, it would be the crudest approximation based off of the fact that I still had some amount of money left in my accounts at any point in time. In any case, there was always savings if needed, so I was all good, you know, just in case I needed to dip in to buy a car or a house one day. I was contributing a little bit to my retirement accounts because I had started reading FI blogs earlier in the year and they said it was a good idea. I think I contributed the slightly-above-average amount of 10% of my income to a combination of traditional and roth accounts.
Heck, I even felt like I had enough money in the middle of 2015 to go buy a new car. (You can read about that here)
Anyway, you get the idea. I basically had no idea what I was doing and felt totally helpless with regards to anything money related.
But if I was going to be able to leave my job and survive comfortably for three months without income, I knew that had to change quickly.
And that's the first thing that we're going to have to do in 2018.
I think this time will be a bit more fun because I'll be writing about it, and you can follow along if you wish. I've already been through the process once before: I know how much I spend each month; I know what having FU money feels like, I know how much I'll need to pay in taxes for this year - all things that took quite a bit of time to figure out.
So you could say that I'm cheating (oh no, how terrible. I should get expelled) because I have a leg up in this one. But don't let that discourage you.
You know, if you do let it discourage you, you're basically saying you can't do it and you have a lot of 'yes, but...'s you'd rather cycle through. You also have no faith in yourself.
But if you want to take the first step towards freedom: Welcome aboard! It's going to be a hell of a ride.
Drop me a line if you want to let me know you're coming with. And if you ever get discouraged, send me or someone a message instead of letting it eat you up. I'm here to support you on this one, and so are your friends and family.
In the time between now and the start of the year, I'll be setting up my accounts so that I'm starting as close to a fresh start as I can. This means emptying my spending accounts, starting fresh on a new budget, and probably some other things I haven't thought about yet.
Ready to get started?
Go to the first step.