It’s time for you to have sovereignty over your professional life. Your Declaration of Independence from corporate America, educational institutions, government, or wherever you may be working.
If you haven’t already, take time to celebrate – you’ve spearheaded an initial idea into a venture. That’s an amazing accomplishment! But now it’s time for continued growth. How do you maintain momentum? Most likely you are (or were) working your 8-to-5 job while launching your new business. That’s the smart and responsible route to a career change. If you haven’t already won the lottery, invested wisely, or plumped up your savings account so that you can survive for a year without an income, you may want to reassess prior to casting your reliable paycheck aside. But if your new revenue stream has been flowing at a constant pace and you’ve swept emergency funds into your account, then it could be time for a bold move.
Now that you’ve been running two careers parallel for a while, you have begun to feel a little more secure. Starting to get tempted to solely focus on your innovative idea. But you aren’t quite sure.
A non-decision is actually a decision.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. (United States Declaration of Independence)
The Declaration worked out pretty well for the United States, so it should work out for you. There are certain times in your entrepreneurial life when you may doubt your decisions, probably pretty often in fact. If you wait until you are 100% confident of any decision, you will remain exactly as you are. We may have been under British rule as of today if our forefathers had waited until they were sure.
Highly driven people tend to work at the same pace they want their business to grow. Hard work equals better profit, right? Yes and no. As quoted by novelist David Foster Wallace, “bees have to move very fast to stay still.” It is more efficient to work hard towards a single, clearly defined goal. And that means separating yourself from your comfortable soon-to-be-former career. Confidently decide to take ownership of your life. Don’t allow a non-decision become your decision.
Someone may want to tell the bees.
You solemnly declare:
At this juncture in my life, it is necessary for me to leave my “safe” career, and to assume my sovereignty of the separate and equal entrepreneurial career to which I am called. I will stand firm in my decision and respectfully explain to all that ask, including my former job, the reasons for my bold departure. (Your Declaration of Independence)
Go establish yourself as an independent entity. As a true leader.
