Hello, this is dialogue.

Today I share an article by Suket Karnawat, a former Google engineer who decided to leave his current stable environment at Google to explore something new.

The original text is in English, thanks to the translation of CSDN Crescent, you can click on the end of the article to read the original text.

The body of the

Every time my friends hear about my resignation from Google, they ask me, “So, where are you going next?”

“Not going anywhere.”

“So you’re going to start a company?”

“No.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

The implicit question is, “How are you going to make money?” Honestly, I don’t know yet.

I want to start a new life, and I have no concrete plans as to how TO make a living. But they didn’t believe it.

Who would quit Google if they couldn’t find another one? Was he fired? Or don’t want to divulge trade secrets?

However, the reality is quite simple: I’m in it for the long term. I firmly believe that if I concentrate on strengthening my basic strength, I can climb higher and enjoy the scenery along the way.

Although I was very firm in my decision, it bothered me that they always didn’t believe me. What I care about is not whether they trust me or not, but that they don’t understand my plan.

Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain something in a simple way, you don’t know enough about it.”

So, I wrote this article mainly to refine my thoughts and share my experiences.

Have a purpose in life

Good decision-making requires a sound framework. If you want to establish a purpose in life, you must first find out the meaning of life. It was a necessary investment that not only helped me make the leap forward, but also served as a yardstick against which to evaluate my future decisions.

Note: This is my personal definition. I wouldn’t say it would work for everyone, and my thinking would change, but I don’t think it would change much. It’s a reflection on my years of mistakes, regrets and precious memories. It’s not complete, but I’ll validate it and iterate on it.

Health and Happiness

Live a sane and fulfilling life for a long time.

Experience rich life and enjoy the process. This requires a clear mind, a positive attitude to life, and a lot of energy. Negative emotions and energy levels must be managed. A healthy body is the foundation of improving work efficiency.

The efficiency of

Do the right thing.

Don’t waste time. Make time for the important things. This requires prioritizing, improving focus and productivity. Distractions, procrastination and lethargy must be controlled. Clarity, energy and resilience to negative emotions are the foundation.

Relationship between

Build deep and meaningful connections with friends and family. Quality over quantity.

experience

Increase life experience.

Life is short and there’s a lot to go through. Why don’t you try? Burying myself in work during the week and spending my free time on weekends watching TV and scrolling through moments is not the ideal life for me. There are a lot of things I want to do on my bucket list: build my own house, hike the Palachian Trail, do a stand-up comedy show, etc.

influence

Building a better world together.

The world is vast and things change so quickly, but we should not give in to it. We should always pursue progress. This always motivates me and I think it is my duty to make a contribution to the society.

Work is not for me

Because I had established such a life goal, a traditional job was no longer suitable for me. A regular job doesn’t give me the life I want.

While there are benefits to working at Google — money, status, success, and perks — these are not what define a meaningful life.

Most importantly, many aspects of the job conflicted with my goals.

This is not a Google-specific problem. While Google has some issues of its own, overall, it offers more opportunities for me to pursue a meaningful life.

But it wasn’t enough, and even the “best” jobs didn’t meet my needs, so I had no choice but to forge my own path.

A full-time job would limit my time and the experience I could have. A full-time life forces a schedule on me that all my life must revolve around.

Every decision involving time must prioritize work. This means that I don’t actually own my time, more like borrowing it from my boss. Even if they were generous enough to give me precious vacation days, they would have to ask permission to use them.

Some bosses are more lenient, so I don’t have to work nights and weekends, but only if I get everything done. And I don’t have any choice. I can’t just work 20 hours a week or take three months off every summer. I can’t take a day off work.

Because my time is clearly divided, I only have four hours in the evening and two days on the weekend, so I have precious little time to myself.

One might say, “There’s plenty of time left.” In theory, yes.

But in practice, work takes up too much time. Outside of work, I don’t have the energy to do what I want to do.

I tell myself I don’t feel like doing anything after a hard day, I need to recharge my batteries. So, I just lay down and watch it. But this is a cop-out, not a solution. How tired I feel affects my happiness and productivity.

If the purpose of work is to make money, then there is no time or energy to enjoy freedom after work, then what is the point?

Another might say, “You should try to keep yourself alive.”

Of course, I could work harder, but some of the basic nature of the work limits my inspiration.

First, the work is monotonous. Professional work lacks creativity and variety, which are essential to our lives.

Second, there is a lack of choice. If things were better, I would have a certain amount of “autonomy,” but that autonomy is defined.

As Jobs said, “Adults always tell you not to break the rules.”

When the going gets tough, I just do what I’m told. Either way, I have to motivate myself to do work that has no choice or suffers from cognitive dissonance. This is a lose-lose proposition because motivation must be internal.

In addition, some companies work against the principles of making the world a better place. Business impact is all that matters, and social good is just icing on the cake.

Don’t get me wrong verbally, we always think hard about the impact our products have on people. But business implications and social good will never be treated fairly when decisions are made.

Win-win is ideal, but even the business impact is enough. Data-driven companies do this deliberately because it increases shareholder value and is easy to quantify.

But this approach will not build a better world. If making the world a better place is not the goal of optimization, the results are bound to be poor.

Things lost

I would definitely lose every aspect of my job, from a steady paycheck to material comforts. However, there are many costs involved in enjoying these things, which have contributed to my decision to resign.

A steady paycheck provides the stability we crave and can’t afford. Even having a successful business is by nature unpredictable.

Make a profit this month or lose money next month. You are responsible for the success and failure of your company.

In a traditional job, you wouldn’t be affected like that. While that security may feel comfortable in the short term, in the long run you pay a price for being independent. When you depend on others for a living, you have no control over your own destiny.

Only by making a living in some other way can one be truly free. At that point, work becomes a choice, not a destiny.

Not to mention the other perks, such as delicious, nutritious and free food, a fully equipped gym, lessons from experienced coaches, vibrant office space, regular chats with thought leaders, artists and athletes, and, of course, massages.

Google has a “great perk” : it gives employees a free massage once a year (worth $60) in return for unlimited work stress.

Okay, I’m getting off topic here. Tempting as these perks are, we can’t afford to be penny wise and pound foolish, and no amount of lounges, sushi and celebrity speeches can fill the void left by unfulfilling work.

Next step plan

My idea is to focus on enjoying the journey and let everything else fall into place.

This is in stark contrast to my past life. I used to focus only on results, so I ended up disappointed. I think we should focus on the basics, first ensuring a healthy and happy life, then career.

Lay the foundation

The foundation here refers to healthy habits. Good habits can make us work twice as hard as bad habits can slow us down.

My first priority is to build a strong foundation, because habit change is expensive, but sticking to good habits is really easy. The most effective way to achieve this goal is to focus on developing just a few healthy habits at a time.

  • Basic Habits: Each new habit forms a stable base on which you can easily build other habits, which can eventually lead to a multiplier or domino effect.

  • Keep practicing new Habits: Each new habit is a data point in a feedback loop that helps me develop the skills to build good habits.

Health and Happiness

Instead of trying to identify the “right” habit to start with, I start at a certain point and iterate through a tight feedback loop.

Learning from mistakes is an integral part of the process. Each week I reflect on myself and put what I’ve learned into practice the following week.

Here are some questions that helped me reflect:

  • Current Status: Am I satisfied? Am I sane and focused?

  • Challenge: Am I experiencing negative emotions or low energy? Why is that?

  • Correction: Is there a habit that causes this? If not, what new habits can help me overcome these obstacles?

I’m going to start with a list of habits:

  • Eating a healthy diet contributes to longevity and increased energy levels.

  • Meditation helps you focus and calm your mind. (twice a day)

  • Exercise can prolong life, reduce stress and keep a clear mind. (3 times per week)

  • Quality sleep contributes to longevity and increased energy levels. (8 hours per day)

  • Journaling can help manage emotions and foster positivity. (Once a day)

Some might say, “It doesn’t seem like a big deal. Can’t you develop these habits as you work?”

In theory, yes. But it doesn’t work at all.

It’s not because I haven’t tried. I know these habits aren’t many, but maintaining them takes time and effort.

I tried it for a while, but I hope to be able to stick to these habits steadily for the rest of my life.

Sometimes I have to make a choice: which is more important, my work or my happiness?

The efficiency of

Do the right thing. The most common pattern of failure is not completing any plans or being overwhelmed with work and not being able to make time to do something important.

Doing the right thing requires two things: prioritizing (doing the right thing) and executing (doing it).

  • In order to determine the “right thing to do,” I need to understand all the tasks and the process of prioritizing.

  • In order to “do,” I needed to make time for action and overcome old bad habits: lethargy, procrastination, and distraction.

These words sound a little vague, but that’s because I don’t have a specific solution. I have a problem statement and a set of requirements. My plan is to iterate to find a solution and use these requirements as a standard.

Since you can’t test productivity systems without tasks, I do a few things to test my productivity.

The main goal is to hone skills that increase productivity, because it’s a transferable skill and the one thing that benefits the most. And the success of the event itself is a big benefit. This blog post is a good example.

This is mostly to force me to cultivate my productivity, but it also helps me refine my ideas (another feedback loop) and exercise my creativity.

Similar to previous goals, I accelerate my progress through a tight feedback loop. Here are some questions that help me reflect each week:

  • Current Status: What did I do? What works?

  • Challenge: What tasks have I given the wrong priority to? What are the main obstacles at work?

  • Correction: Is there a habit that causes this? If not, what new habits can help me overcome these obstacles?

Connections, experience, influence

At this stage, most of my energy is devoted to laying a solid foundation. However, I also hope to make the process more enjoyable by doing the following.

Relationships: Every week I actively reach out to some non-local friends. The emphasis on non-local is meant to help me strengthen my connections with people who are not my friends in or near me.

Experience: The self-improvement journey itself was new and exciting. My blog also gained a lot. I had never written before, but it was heartwarming that my blog resonated with so many people and gave me the opportunity to connect with them.

Impact: I hope my blog will make others reflect on their lives.

What’s next

Now, let’s get to the real problem: how to make a living?

I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s a problem for the following reasons:

  • I don’t value success in the traditional sense. Because even though I was perceived as financially and professionally successful, I was unhappy.

  • I have my whole life ahead of me. I have a lot of money saved, and I don’t have a lot of expenses, and I don’t have a mortgage.

  • I’m single, so I don’t have the burden of family. I can take risks while I’m at it. Many older colleagues say this is the biggest regret of their lives, and they wish they had seized the opportunity before starting a family and taking on the stress of a mortgage.

I didn’t know how to make money, but I had some clear ideas about the problem areas I wanted to work on.

In reflecting on my inability to live a meaningful life, I noticed an immediate reason: I had an unhealthy relationship with technology.

From the mental health pitfalls of social media to the ubiquity of smartphones that severely hurt productivity, it’s a pervasive problem that’s holding me back from developing relationships and gaining tech experience.

This is the problem of our generation, and it affects not only us, but our parents, and even our children.

We’re just beginning to wake up to the problem, but no one knows how to fix it.

My plan is to use technology more purposefully for the rest of my life, and I believe my learning can provide value to others. This is an immediate problem, and there is a lot of value to be created and captured.

loss

Quitting Google was an experiment that had many benefits, but also some losses.

My only cost is the opportunity cost, and the reward is an infinitely rich life. I call it an experiment because I admit that maybe I didn’t have it all, that maybe I imagined my future life too well, that maybe I didn’t appreciate the past.

Yet even failure is a small success. If, at the end of the day, I have to go back to work, I’ll be better off going back to work because I have a healthy, happy, productive life.

Furthermore, having experienced both extremes, I was able to balance them better and no longer struggled with “what I can’t get is the best”.

Even if the worst happens, it doesn’t matter because:

Hugo: the so-called living people, is constantly challenging people, constantly climbing the fate of the perilous peak.

Original link: suketk.com/why-i-quit-… Disclaimer: This article is translated by CSDN

If you find it useful, please share it in moments! Finally, I welcome you to follow my wechat official account: Duibainotes, which tracks the forefront of machine learning such as NLP, recommendation system and comparative learning. I also share my entrepreneurial experience and life perception on a daily basis. Students who want to further communicate can also add my wechat account to discuss technical problems with me, thank you!