1 The two questions you must ask before you quit your job
How do you know when you need Untouchable Days?
I’ll tell you what happened to me after I quit my job at Walmart after a decade there.
First, why did I quit?
Well, it’s based on the three bucket idea I share in The Happiness Equation. Lemme share a quick version now.
A week has 168 hours in it. A 56-hour bucket for your busy job, a 56-hour bucket for sleep, and a 56-hour bucket for fun.
The work bucket and sleep bucket pay for, justify, and create the third bucket—the fun bucket. The anything-you-want bucket!
For most of my decade at Walmart my third bucket was writing my blog 1000 Awesome Things, writing The Book of Awesome and its sequels, and giving speeches about those projects. Call it a hobby, call it a side hustle, call it whatever you want. All that early work on intentional living was actually part of my fun bucket.
But after I settled down with Leslie and we had kids, my third bucket started filling up with bath, book, and bedtime. Suddenly I couldn’t be an evening and weekend writer anymore. Basically, I ran out of buckets and needed to decide if my 56-hour-a-week work bucket would go to Walmart or my writing and speaking.
What happened?
With the help of an old mentor I crafted a simple two-question model to help make the decision. I share these two questions because I think they can be helpful whenever you’re deciding to make the leap. A leap. Any leap.
Before you jump, ask yourself:
- The Regret Question: What will I regret not doing more when I look at it from the future?
- The Plan B Question: What will I do if it fails?
For me, the answers came clearly.
On the Regret Question: Even though I was climbing the corporate ladder at Walmart, the opportunity to dig deep and write and talk about my passion for intentional living was a wild and rare opportunity. I knew if I stubbed out that flame to become a corporate C-suiter, some nagging regret might torture me forever.
On the Plan B Question: What would I do if I chose to write and failed? If book after book bombed? If my publisher ditched me? If everyone unfollowed me? If I tipped into the dustbin of loud talkers from years gone by who eventually faded to mute? It could happen. Still can! But I knew I could polish off the resume and go door knocking again. It took time to process and confirm that thought, but ultimately I had faith I could find another job.
So I made the decision.
I quit Walmart and moved my 56-hour fun bucket over to the 56-hour work bucket. Still 56 hours for sleep! And what did the fun bucket become? Bath, book, and bedtime. Being around! Hanging with my family. Trying (trying) to be a great husband and dad.
The two questions felt right.
And the idea looked good on paper.
But there was just one problem.