Why I Left a Healthy 6-Figure Corporate Salary...

I recently walked away from a multi-billion dollar company in the CPG industry and subsequently a healthy 6-figure salary, a steady paycheck, an attractive benefits package, a matching 401K plan, and the opportunity to continue contributing in exciting ways to the Global battery innovation space. Sounds nuts, right? Well for me this departure was the next right step in my consciously evolving to my BEST self.

And sorry to disappoint, but I didn’t leave because I was miserable…I wasn’t. I didn’t leave because I hated my manager…I didn’t. My departure from my more traditional career in Corporate America was less about what I was walking away from and more about what I was walking towards: Fully living my ikigai.

Now more times than I can count, I’ve been asked the question “Why did you do it?”. In what follows, I’ll make an earnest attempt to answer that question, sharing my journey from corporate manager to full-time entrepreneur.

First, for those of you who had to re-read that word ‘ikigai’ a few times and are perhaps still wondering what the hell it means, I’ll offer this reference (props to both the Japanese and the World Economic Forum) to save you the Google search. Nothing like instant gratification, right? Once you read on the concept you'll understand the irony of that statement.

And can I just say I LOVE the fact that it can be explained with a Venn diagram. That really resonates with my engineering heart. But I digress. Hopefully you’ve had a quick read about ikigai and are now familiar with the concept. Note for the purposes of this article please consider the ikigai elements in the following order:

1 – Joy/Curiosity/Passion

2 – Talents/Gifts

3 – Serving the world’s need

4 – Earning money

Now to my journey. Best to begin as most things do…with a feeling. The past decade or so I have had this nagging feeling that contributing to the world along a more traditional chemical engineering path was not the best path for me. I just somehow knew it wasn’t how my gifts and talents would be best leveraged. It wasn’t until about 5 years ago when I retired my post-work party hat and began truly listening to that feeling, that signal…that I began my journey to discover my ikigai. At the time I can honestly say I wasn’t really passionate about anything. And I didn’t even know the term ‘ikigai’, let alone realize I was slowing beginning to take conscious steps towards mine.

In the absence of both passion and knowledge of this concept of ikigai, I began identifying and writing down those elements of my work and personal life that brought me joy and/or peaked my curiosity. Slowly but surely I came up with: serving some small part in bringing a smile to someone’s face, exploring new approaches and ways of thinking to solve a problem, meeting new people, and engaging in new cultures. Again, I didn’t know it at the time but I was documenting and bringing conscious awareness to the first element of my ikigai.

As I explored those curiosities, I simultaneously began listening to messages outside myself. I began answering questions like: What do others identify as my strengths? Where do they find unique value from me? What do they consistently pinpoint I can do better than most they’d seen before?

A began writing down compliments which spoke to these strengths in my journal. One day I decided to consolidate them all on one page. See a few examples below. And by the way, if you’ve never done this before I HIGHLY recommend it. I’ve gone back to read and re-read that page 100s if not 1,000s of times when in need of a little pick-me-up:

“You have an amazing vibe!!”

“I’m sitting behind you so I can get a backdraft of some of that energy!”

“You are radiant!”

“Your greatest gift is your energy.”

"You are remarkably articulate."

“Have you ever done motivational speaking? You should…that’s your calling.”

Obviously that last quote was a major guiding light, but as I read and re-read all of these messages laid out in black & white in front of me, I noticed they were painting a picture. A picture of my unique talents and gifts. So at this point I had not only identified my joy/curiosities but also the talents/gifts which really resonate with others. I had dimensioned the first two elements of my Ikigai (somewhere around this time I discovered the term ‘ikigai’ and realized that’s what I was pursuing).

The third element, serving the world’s needs, for me was by far what took the most time. It was a process. It was a LONG process. 2.5 years to be exact. It was a process that required my remaining in tune with intuition as well as listening to the messages all around me. A process that required my understanding my emotions to be guideposts. A process that enabled me to live the strategy of Change Enthusiasm? before I had even put language to it. A process that enabled me to recognize I had been living this strategy most of my professional life and it, in large part, had been the reason for my career success. A process which culminated in the creation of the strategy of Change Enthusiasm?, a message that is resonating with hundreds of thousands of individuals across many different industries and upon which my entrepreneurial endeavors are now based.

Now, I bet you’re wondering about that fourth element of ikigai. Where’s the money, right? I bet you’re thinking to yourself, “Sure Cassandra, figuring out how to help the world and have fun doing it sounds all well and good but I have a family to feed.” I get it. Trust me I get it. And honestly, for me, the earning money part was the easiest once I correctly aligned the first three elements. Once I aligned what brings me joy with my natural gifts with serving the world’s needs…money grew legs. Money began walking into my life.

Also take note, it was a very deliberate and intentional journey pursuing my ikigai. I didn’t jump into a completely different career once I began listening to that nagging feeling. I continued to enjoy my work in the CPG industry while journeying towards my ikigai. In fact, as I discovered the first two elements and began cultivating the strategy of Change Enthusiasm? in pursuit of aligning the third, my corporate career became even more fulfilling. I began finding opportunity to explore my curiosities and leverage my talents within that space. I became excited for every opportunity to not only practice but exemplify Change Enthusiasm?. I continued having really great days. Like I said in the beginning, it was less about running away from anything, more about continuing to evolve, walking towards my ikigai. The next step in my evolution, in continuing to align my joy + talents to serve the world in the best way possible, was a step into full-time entrepreneurial pursuits.

Not quite sure how to end this, so I’ll simply say this...

My entire journey started with a feeling so it should come as no surprise that Step 1 of the strategy of Change Enthusiasm? is recognizing a feeling (stress, anger, apathy, fear, anxiety, etc.) as a signal. Setting ikigai aside, as you sit reading this article, if you’ve been getting a feeling, getting your signal…I invite you to listen and recognize you’re in your moment of opportunity. Your moment of opportunity to make conscious, productive choice towards a better feeling and ultimately your BEST self. What that choice is for you, I have no idea. I just trust you’re getting the signal for a reason. Listen. Recognize. Choose. Maybe your choice is towards evolving your current work plan to bring those elements that you're excited about to the forefront. Or towards evolving into a new role or function which better leverages your talents and strengths. Regardless of that next step in your evolution, my advise? Take it. Trust it to be the next step in your journey to BEST self.