"I am going to say no to Google."

Words I never thought I'd say. I not only told Google I was passing up a product management position with them, but I also quit my full-time job as a director of product at Degreed.

I've been asked how I made quitting my job possible, especially with 5 kids. Three habits got me there:

  1. Tell your story
  2. Build in slack
  3. Optimize for learning

1. Tell Your Story

As I told those around me about quitting my job to co-found a company, many remarked, "That's what you've always talked about doing!" I hadn't realized how much I shared my personal vision. But I had made a habit of telling others that my vision was to run a company that helped others love their work.

In high school, I noticed many people hate the day-to-day of their jobs. But some people and companies were different. Some people loved their work and created delightful experiences. I wanted to be a manager that people loved working for. I wanted to found a company that created delightful experiences.

Clayton Christensen, Reid Hoffman, and Stephen Covey became my role models. The ideas they shared and the companies they built inspired me. I could see myself running a company someday because of the skills I was gaining.

For 10 years I told hundreds of people that I would start a company someday. Too many people think having their "dream job" will fix all their problems. Too few realize they can make their current job better. Those ideas fueled my desire to make that type of change through my current jobs and eventually to start a company.

Telling my story about my goals was key to making this jump. First, it helped me get the skills I needed. My story reminded and motivated me to focus on learning. It helped me enlist support from managers and mentors to develop those skills. Second, my business partner had long known this was what I wanted to do. When the opportunity came, he thought of me.

Having a powerful story makes accomplishing it more possible.

One of my favorite examples is Jeff Weiner, former CEO of LinkedIn. He talks about manifesting your story. Because he had written his dream down and told his roommate about it, he scored an interview with Warner Brothers when he wanted to become a media executive.

So I ask you: What is your story?

  • What do you want to do?
  • What problems do you find interesting?
  • Are you working towards that vision right now?
  • Why not?

2. Build in Slack

Living within our means and prioritizing what matters helped me build slack into my life. That slack has given me freedom of choice, another key in me being able to start a business.

My wife and I practiced habits of going without when we got married and had our first kid during college. We had nothing, were careful to spend money on what we needed, and avoid debt.

When we did have a job, we saved what we could. We built slack into our budget, overestimating costs at times because we knew it would help us end up with more. I knew, especially having kids, that I would get some money back from taxes, but never planned on using that, so it was a nice surprise.

When grad school came around, we decided to live with parents for a time. Our bedroom was an unfinished storage room in the basement. It wasn't glamorous. But because of that sacrifice, we graduated from grad school debt free, again building in slack.

When I first started working at LinkedIn, I had a crucial conversation early on with my boss so that I could have slack with my time. I had already proved myself as an intern, and showed my willingness to get done what needed to be done. In return for making sure I continued to be on top of things I asked to 1. leave each day at 4pm so I could catch a train and get home to have dinner with my family, and 2. work from home on Fridays. My boss said yes. When I was at work, I worked hard. Many times I worked on the train to and from work. And there was a number of nights I got back online and finished work late. But, I had slack in my time to spend it where I wanted to - with my family.

I made do with less, so when times came where I wanted to spend more, I had it to spend. This made time to spend learning the skills I needed to build a business, as well as allowed for the financial savings that made taking a risk something I could do.

3. Optimize for Learning

I wouldn't be able to start a business if I hadn't learned a wide variety of skills. People knock millennials for leaving jobs quickly, but one benefit of switching jobs is the ability to optimize for learning. I've had 6 full-time roles in my life. 15 if you count all of my part-time roles in high-school and college. I could have done fewer roles, with more consistency, but every time I felt myself capping out in terms of learning, I had to change. I didn't want to be comfortable.

I'd been at LinkedIn for a year and a half, founding and building the initial learning product. While there was plenty left to do, I felt myself slowing down in terms of learning, as things became more repetitive. I was the go-to for a lot of knowledge, which was fun, but also showed me that it was time to move on. So I started conversations with other teams, talking about my long term goals and skills I wanted to work on, as well as the skills I could bring to the table. I found another role that utilized the product skills I built, but also had enough different work to be very challenging for many months. Don't get comfortable. Comfort is the enemy of progress.

Another piece of optimizing for learning has been my reading habit. I've carved out time to read ever since I graduated from college. I read on kindle and listen on audible. I listen on commutes and read on planes. That habit has helped me read over 150 books since I graduated college. Right now I average around 20 a year.

If you want to read more I encourage you to surround yourself with great content. Loot your local library (many have great online offerings and free audio books as well). Kindle and audible are wonderful. Use read-it-later type apps and functions like you find in pocket or degreed. Ask those you look up to what books and articles they are reading. My favorite email reads are Seth Godin's daily blog, Farnam Street, and Barking up the wrong tree.

Everyone should prioritize learning. Learning is compound interest for your career.

Why I Left My Job (and Why I'm Co-Founding Sprintwell)

While those 3 habits were how I left my job, the why is I left normal employment to create.

I am co-founding Sprintwell with my good friend, Charbel Semaan. He and I became friends when we worked on Learning products at LinkedIn. We found a knack for working together, he on design and me on product. And we'd also said we wanted to work together again in the future.

I have planned for years on quitting my job and working on my own venture. And it was still hard. The last Friday of full time work felt weird. I had a solid plan moving forward, but it was still that feeling of jumping off. Knowing that my next step wouldn't be on solid, predictable ground.

It's scary to create, to leave something existing for a new idea. The main problem stopping companies and individuals from creating is their culture. For individuals we might call this mindset or habit. This is what we consider the most important problem we want to solve - help others breakthrough so they can create.

I know the 3 habits above got me in a position where I could find an opportunity (by telling my story), have the skills I needed to do so (optimize for learning), and was in a financial position to take some risk (by building in slack). We are very excited to inspire others to create and invent their future faster.