There's a third option nobody tells you about when you quit your job
I met Mikie Krisztal at an art show last year. I wasn't the one exhibiting, I was there supporting a friend from the artist incubator, but Mikie was running a cool community painting project that afternoon, and we ended up talking for a while. He invited me onto his podcast, The School of Imperfection, to talk about leaving Google.
I told him the version I don't usually put in a bio. That I stayed at Google for years past the point I knew something was off, because I felt like I needed the next step figured out before I could leave. I tried going part time. I tried teaching yoga and guiding sound healing on the side, hoping that would be enough. It wasn't. What actually worked was giving up on having a plan at all. My partner and I set off for a year of travel through Southeast Asia with nothing lined up after, and ended up staying much longer than planned on one small island. I'd always wanted to try watercolor and never made the time. On the island, I finally did. I started sketching diving gear left on the sand, palm trees outside our window, whatever was in front of me.
Mikie and I also got into why I've stayed away from the kind of marketing that reminds you of a problem so it can sell you the fix. I don't want to build Swil Arts on convincing you something's missing. I'd rather make something that reminds you what's already good.
And since we're doing full disclosure, the name Swil isn't a clever brand play. It's what Google called me because my last name, Wilczynska, defeated everyone who tried to say it. It just stuck.
Listen to the full episode here:
If you've ever found your own version of that middle path, send me a message and tell me what it looked like.