Be a Little Bit Swash-Buckling

“In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story.”
  - Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com

If you are looking for inspiration and confirmation about your choice to strike out on your own, watch Jeff Bezos’ Princeton address “What matters more than your talents”. He talks about his decision, 16 years ago, to quit his job at a financial firm in NYC to start Amazon.com.

Cause.

Just last week I quit a job that I liked at a company that I admired to run a one-man Android application development shop. Like Jeff, after talking with my boss I needed to take some time to “think about it”; I was being offered a promotion during the same meeting that I was letting my boss know I was planning to leave. Something like that requires serious re-consideration.

If you are like me and have second-guessed your choice because of what someone else has said to you, you are not alone! Even Jeff Bezos, mastermind of Amazon.com, net worth of $12.3 billion (billion with a ‘b’) in 2010, was advised by his boss to not make the choice to leave and start Amazon.com. Be inspired by Jeff’s comments about his choice: “I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing; and I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all…. I took the less-safe path to follow my passion; and I am proud of that choice.”

Effect.

When you make life choices, you have to be daring; “a little bit swash-buckling”, as Jeff puts it. There will always be people who will try to make you second-guess your choices; who will give their opinion about how you are deciding to run your life (even though you did not ask); and who give their own reasons why they would definitely not do what you are choosing to do.

This is a natural effect of choice. When you choose a new adventure (striking out on your own) and someone else is left with the old and familiar, both parties have a need to rationalize their situations. You, obviously, have your reasons, or else you would not be taking this large risk. They, however, need to re-justify their situation and why they are not choosing to make choices like you are. Sometimes, their rationalization involves belittling your choice; sometimes it involves explaining your choice away; inevitably, there will be someone who will (in as many words) tell you that you are making a bad choice.

Take heart.

Jeff presents the following dichotomies which I am calling “You vs. The World”. In my opinion, you must choose to belong in one of the two columns; abdicating choice is a choice in and of itself. Choosing to be in the “You” column means you choose to take the road less traveled.

Remember these dichotomies and remember that you and only you have the power to decide what life you will live.

“In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story.”
  - Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com