Making Unconventional Decisions

I once took a job that from the very onset, I knew it wasn’t for me. I decided to quit on the fifth day; it was a Friday. Over the weekend, I called many friends and mentors to consult about my decision. Simply, no one validated it. Everyone, rightly in commonplace, advised me to stay for at least a few months, learn more about the position, and appreciate the value of having a job that would pay my bills. They truly advised so by all conventional standards, except that I was sure I didn’t want a second of that job. I deliberated for two more weeks and eventually quit at the end of the fifteenth day of work.?

Why am I sharing this with you? I am not willing to encourage you to quit your job at any moment you feel like it wasn’t the right fit. Almost always, you have to find a way to make things work. I am neither writing this to say, “oh, look, I was brave and I did it.” I am writing to express my thoughts about how each of us sometimes need to find our own, and only our own, unique way in the world.?

While it is undoubtedly invaluable to learn from other people’s experiences, get advice from our mentors, and occasionally have role models to follow, everyone has a particular, complex career path and life journey. Accumulation of events and experiences in your life form only one pattern: you. Statistically speaking and from a macro scale perspective, fluctuations disappear and things might eventually average out. Therefore, to simplify our lives in the long run, we often adhere to sets of rules. And in most cases they work. However, on a micro scale, in regards to certain critical points in your life, a set of rules might not be applicable. In those situations, it is only you who can make a determination. You have to analyze whether your situation attains the standards you have set for yourself.

When individuals offer you advice, they often don't fully understand the circumstances and requirements of your case. Despite their greatest efforts, they are only able to glimpse a small portion of the entire system. It is your job to put all the pieces together to make a final decision. The old saying, “trust your gut” is kind of like that ultimate phase of decision making. It comes after you've combined all the information and used it to your case. It is sometimes worth trusting your intuition.

You may wonder if it is too risky not to follow the standards? Surely it is. You make decisions in life. Sometimes they are good. Sometimes you make mistakes. But you learn and continue to make better decisions over time. The point here is that on rare occasions, you are the only one who should make the final call, even when no one in the world supports your decision.