A couple of weeks ago I walked away from a well-paying, mostly enjoyable job. My immediate goal is to channel my energies into a business idea that I have been refining. Beyond that the change was motivated heavily by the desire to focus my time and career going forward on things that feed my soul i.e. – Technology Entrepreneurship, Product Design, User Experience/Interaction Design (UX/IxD) and Visual Communications.

Leaving the comfort of a good, regular paycheck is not easy for most people. It certainly wasn’t for me – even though this is my third time doing so. This time around my wife and I have the looming specter of two college tuitions staring at us beginning next year.

My decision to leave required accounting for many considerations – as I imagine it would be for anyone else who has the obligations that come along with a family. As part of thinking it through, I drew inspiration and encouragement from the experiences and words shared by many – either through personal conversations or through their public writings. I’d like to return the favor by sharing my experiences and thoughts for what they are worth, with anyone who is in a similar position. The caveat of course is – I am just embarking on a journey and I don’t know how it will all turn out. I am not even sure how I will define my own success. Then again as they say the journey is the reward and I feel lucky to be even have the opportunity. As philosopher Albert Schweitzer aptly said – Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

A colleague asked me “..so what ultimately pushed you over the edge? Over the past year or so, certain personal experiences have served as unambiguous reminders of the ephemeral nature of life and have helped cement my resolve to go spend time doing what I really enjoy most. What ultimately pushed me over was the realization that I could be spending my time working a job, helping build someone else’s dream, while being a slave to a paycheck in order to save money for days in the future that I might never actually live to see.

So going forward, you can expect my blog, my twitter feed, my thoughts and energy to be channeled towards the things that I enjoy, and am most passionate about – technology entrepreneurship, mentoring, product design, UX, IxD, visual communications (presentations/marketing/branding), photography and travel. These are the things I enjoy the most and these are what I hope to invest my remaining time on. Hopefully you’ll come along for the ride and check-in with me from time to time to see how the journey in unfolding.

Meanwhile, let me leave you with three quotes that I drew the most inspiration from during this process of contemplating change.

“If you don’t build your dreams, someone will hire you to help build theirs.”

Tony Gaskins

“I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

Steve Jobs

“Everything you want in life if right outside you comfort zone.”

Robert Allen