Trading Certainty for Growth!
In November 2017, after 22 years of office environments and 16 years within the same multinational organisation, I resigned from my “job for life” (as many used to refer it as).
People wondered if I was having a crisis. Maybe I was. But as I packed my bags to explore the wilderness of freedom, I realised it wasn’t a crisis, it was a necessary evolution. I had to unlearn the belief that certainty equals safety, and that my value was tied to a corporate role.
Referencing Tony Robbins’ theory of the “6 Basic Human Needs”, I discovered during my 8-month long pre-jump reflection and exploration phase, while also training to become a qualified Coach, that life had become unbalanced. I had over-indexed on Certainty (the stable job, the safe home, the status of my corporate role). My soul was craving more Uncertainty, Growth, and Contribution. I needed to step into unknown territories, to learn new skills and make a more significant impact.
I quit safety with no new job to go to, but a one-way ticket to Kathmandu, to join a volunteering project. As soon as I stepped out of the 9-to-5 world, I found a whole new “tribe” and encountered a new challenge: the paradox of choice. In the corporate world, your options are curated, often limited. In the wilderness, the choices are infinite.
One of the greatest challenges I faced — and now coach my clients through—is improving decision-making in a world of infinite possibilities. Having fewer options makes things easier, but having endlesschoices requires a different kind of mental muscle.
I didn’t leave my corporate life because I didn’t enjoy it or I couldn’t manage it anymore, I left to upgrade my perspective and master the art of choosing in life. This led me to an expanded sense of freedom, where “Freedom” is the clarity to see infinite choices, the courage to pick one, and the peace to never look back.
This “unlearning” approach is exactly what supported my return to high-level corporate consulting in 2023. Not from a place of “needing” that routine, but as a choice to progress in that way, and bring the perspective of a strategist who has navigated the wilderness and knows how to build a roadmap.
Check-in with yourself: Are you holding onto a “Certainty” that no longer serves you?
