I quit before I felt even remotely ready

There was no way I was doing this for another month.

The fluorescent lights and stuffy air.

The fake, over-polite drawl of people talking on phones.

The meetings about meetings.

The slow death of watching the clock and pretending to care about things I didn’t care about.

I left my research job in London when I wasn’t clear about how I’d find new clients.

I had managed to find a couple over the preceding weeks, but there was no guarantee I could replicate that luck. If it was luck. I didn’t know.

I just jumped without much of a plan.

(Wait, did I even have a real plan?)

And I felt weird. Icky. Crazy.

But free.

Looking back, I realise the thing that made me finally move wasn’t a spreadsheet or a well-formatted business plan.

It was deciding to back myself before I had proof.

That was really it. I chose myself before I had proof it would work out.

Most people waiting to leave are waiting for the HOW TO.

They often use that as an excuse. They say they need the roadmap, but they have Google and still don’t leave.

What’s blocking them is the belief that they can do it and deserve to do it.

They are missing the WANT TO.

For me, that only came after I gave myself permission to choose myself. To trust that I could figure it out.

Once I respected myself enough to finally leave, the want-to was cemented. Now I had to find a way.

And I surprised myself with how the possibilities lined up for me. Because I wasn’t coasting anymore, pretending. I was an active participant in my life again. I noticed things.

The how-to figures itself out when you stop negotiating with yourself.

And it starts with self-respect.

If you want to learn more about the habits I changed to realise my self-respect and finally leave, you’ll want my book, The Art of Self Respect.

The book shares 25 habits that lay the foundation for finally betting on yourself.

I’m running a limited bundle (for subscribers only) that includes three bonus frameworks to accelerate the calm confidence learned in the book, which I don’t offer anywhere else.

Until this Wednesday 21st, 3pm ET, you get free access to The Likeability Code (usually $147) - this covers the 9 principles for becoming the kind of person people are naturally drawn to.

After Wednesday, that bonus is gone.

Get The Art of Self-Respect bundle here.

Alex