Factory Reset

It has been one month since I quit my job.

I have come to think of this moment in my life as a factory reset. Everything once considered essential has either fallen away or surrendered to inertia:

1. I am unemployed.
2. I am homeless.¹
3. I am single.

The system’s been stripped down to its bare essentials, just core functionality.

Reset

By conventional standards, I was doing fine:

• A job that paid well
• No debt
• A stable life in a major city

I know that reads like a good situation. On paper, it was. But something deeper was off.

What am I doing?

That question didn’t blow everything up overnight. But it lingered. There was tension between what I had and who I am. My lower body started hurting for no clear reason. Eventually, things started falling away. None of it was easy, but none of it felt wrong either. If life’s short, I’d rather not spend it misaligned.

I was here. I changed.

Realignment

The question now arises what to do next. It's daunting but in an exhilarating way.

I don’t have a five-year plan. I don’t even have a six-month plan. But I have room to ask better questions.

What does refactoring life look like from first principles?

Per Richard Hamming:

It is well known the drunken sailor who staggers to the left or right with n independent random steps will, on the average, end up about √n steps from the origin. But if there is a pretty girl in one direction, then his steps will tend to go in that direction and he will go a distance proportional to n. In a lifetime of many, many independent choices, small and large, a career with a vision will get you a distance proportional to n, while no vision will get you only the distance √n. In a sense, the main difference between those who go far and those who do not is some people have a vision and the others do not and therefore can only react to the current events as they happen.

My stagger is no longer aimless. For the first time, I can say with confidence: I’m moving with intention however imperfectly.

I know I am an engineer. I know I am born for this shit.

Why did I write this? It is mostly a reminder to myself to avoid the mimetic tracks laid out by others.

Take the road less traveled. Never sell out. Win.