Why?

My first post answers a few “why’s”, in a somewhat chronological order.

Now, I feel obliged to discuss a few caveats. The opinions in this blog are (obviously) my own and I completely understand that everyone has different views on how best to spend their lives. I’m going to take a wild assumption that not everybody will agree with my views or decisions and I totally appreciate that they are somewhat unconventional.

Why I quit my job in a booming field

With some thought and mostly luck over the years, I ended up working in a high demand field (Information Security) at a fairly young age. Not so long back, I was really happy with my career and prospects. In fact, if you were to go back in time, say three years, I’d just finished university and was getting paid peanuts in an IT Support helpdesk role. If you time-travelled and said to me,
“Ash, in three years from now, you’re going to walk away from a well-paid, highly sought-after role in a Mon-Fri, 9-5 career, with absolutely no job, income or prospects lined up”, I’d definitely tell you to ease off the laughing gas, to put it politely.

I had a great routine and work-life balance. I had a job I genuinely enjoyed which challenged me. I worked with colleagues who I learnt from and had laughs with. Money was rarely a blocker and unless I screwed up fairly badly, I was heading for a very rewarding career. Seems gravy, right? Well, the truth is, it genuinely was.

What changed? Well, at the time, not much at all. In fact it seems ridiculous when I think back to September 2016, waiting in an airport lounge to board a flight to Seattle. The insignificant event? I bought a book. That’s it, I bought and read a single book – The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris (4HWW). If you haven’t heard of it, the basic premise is to become a member of “the new rich” by starting a minimum effort, maximum return business based on your existing interests, experience and skills.
Did I think up a great idea which I could operate for 4-hours per week whilst spending the rest of the week doing what I want? Hell no I didn’t – I couldn’t be arsed to sit and brainstorm everything I thought could work; my first few ideas seemed as effective as a chocolate fireman, so I gave up and instead visited the first ever Starbucks cafe – a worthwhile swap right? Not quite…
But what the book did show me was the idea of what Tim calls “mini-retirements” and the idea of living life before your later years. Not only can you leave routine behind to experience the continents of the world, you can actually save money compared to your usual lifestyle. Here’s an example Tim used (full post here):

“When you recognize that the costs of travel are mostly transportation and housing costs, and that you can rent a posh apartment for three to four weeks for the same price as staying in a mediocre hotel for four days, things start to get very, very interesting.”

Skipping a little…

“I was initially paying for the apartment and then I realized it made no sense, gave it up, and ended up putting my belongings into storage. I went from $1,500 a month to $150 or $200 a month. “

Paraphrasing, Tim’s view in his book was people shouldn’t spend their lives working for 48 weeks of the year, rushing through one or two week holidays until they retire at 65-70. Why waste the best years of your life? Who knows what physical and mental state we’ll be in at 70? Depending on whether you take up work/volunteering on your travels, and where you go, you can actually save money by taking a mini-retirement. This really struck a chord with me.

Starting at a young age, most of us are led to follow a life of education, secure long and secure careers, work our way up the corporate career ladder, buy a house and so on (read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki for more insight here).

Now, my views are not as extreme as “you could get run over by a bus tomorrow”, “live every day like its your last”, but when I read the 4HWW I started to think about a more balanced idea of the two extremes.

As the mind often does, I then started noticing travel related things. News articles, conversations and blogs. What’s more, friends of mine had put this into practice and I’d been blind to it all along. They had left behind the conventional idea of job prosperity and getting on the property ladder and instead were travelling, volunteering or working their way around the world experiencing amazing continental cultures, seeing incredible sites and taking part in authentic local activities.

They say you regret the things you don’t do – not always true but it works in this scenario. I started to believe I may later regret missing a similar opportunity.
Mini-retirements are often possible no matter what commitments a person has. But, over the coming months I started to think how much of a great time now really is. I don’t have kids, I don’t own a house, my career will still be waiting if I take some time out, as will my friends and family.
I have built up a reasonable sum of money for a house deposit. Clearly the sensible thing to do is buy a house but that’s too far too conventional right?
Something else I learnt from the 4HWW – money is a renewable resource, time is not. I may be unlikely to get run over by a bus tomorrow, but time is always ticking, whereas money is a resource which can be later renewed.

Best of all, Tim introduced me to the concept of defining your nightmare. Meaning you should define what would happen if you aimed for your dreams and it all went very pear shaped. The idea being, you realise even in the worst case the outcome is not usually that bad, and in most cases, very, very unlikely; with more successful outcomes more realistic (I’m happy to share my notes on this if you ask nicely).

So there we have it, the rational for me quitting a rewarding job. I’ll talk more about my plan in later blog posts but there is another ‘why?’ to answer.

Why start a blog?

Well, a few reasons, or should I say aims.
Firstly, I have a bad memory. No, really. How much detail can I remember about previous holidays? Where are the pictures of said holidays? Did I ever record the experiences in writing? Not much, somewhere on a lost hard drive, and no. If I put some effort in, I’ll have a treasure trove of experiences which should remain on the web for quite some time.

Secondly, surprisingly there are friends, family and ex-colleagues out there who actually want to see what I’m up to. Win/win right?

Thirdly, and this is the unexpected reason which I’ve only recently discovered. I actually enjoy writing. Unlike verbal conversations, writing allows me enough time to reflect about what to write before I write it. There’s still a chance of written garbage though…

So basically, as long as I continue to post new blogs every few weeks or so, I will be meeting a minimum of two out of three of my aims. All I need to give in return is time, and I should have lots of that…

I’ll aim to post at least monthly with an update on my experiences, both good and bad; I’m expecting a lot of screw-ups along the way so check back here every now and again for guaranteed * entertainment.

* not guaranteed