Many of you guys are too young to actually have one so don't feel awkward if you can't respond off the gun. Everyone else?
What do you think was your life defining moment and why?
I decided to write about mine in response to the thread about doing two years of time as that was obviously the writer's defining moment.
Mine was moving across the country (to Chicago's Southside) with $300 and no place to live (I don't have any close family aside from a grandmother) at 17 years old just to escape an abusive household in Florida. I ended up working my ass off hand to mouth for three years until I made enough to pay all of my bills on time.
The gravity of everything hit me when I was walking alone through the snow one night in what used to be Meigs Field (It used to be an airport off of downtown, but at the time was abandoned by the city and just a HUGE, dark field of snow)[see pic].
I had about $500 saved up and was already tired of selling financial products and couldn't see myself doing it for another 40 years. I was just trudging through the snow talking to myself (it was the only way to stay sane) when I looked at the city [see view]
and realized that I wanted "THAT" (being the sense of wonder, grandeur, immense wealth) more than anything in the world. I then walked back home (about two hours in the snow), ate my angel hair & tilapia (it's all I ate back then), played chess the whole night while listening to the same Crossfade song [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZRLFpH1v6Y"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame] on repeat. I hopped in the shower around 6, caught the bus downtown to work (at a bank where I was the personal banker--pretty good for 18 years old), signed in on the computer, and then left the branch and walked to Starbucks on the corner.
By then it was 9-10am and Starbucks had died down as most of the commuters were already at work. I ordered a Vanilla Latte (the only thing I ever ordered) and didn't touch it since I always burned myself--instead I sat there for about 50 minutes with my head down thinking about how I planned on spending the next 40 or so years in "banking".
I remembered a mortgage broker I met who had over 100K in his bank account and thought about how happy he was...
I remembered all of the people that were business bankers and branch managers (the next logical step in my career's progression) and how I knew I was exponentially smarter than them and couldn't see myself peaking where they were.
Then I lifted my head up, chugged the latte and walked back to the branch. I walked over to the branch's acting supervisor (who didn't actually have any jurisdiction over me, so we used to shoot the shit when it was quiet) and said "you know what I'm going probably quit this job and start a business". Joel, who USED to actually be my boss (I was promoted for selling a lot of accounts in my first 30 days), looked at me and was like "haha, no you're not! Just get back to cold calling."
That's was my life defining moment.
I looked at him and said "fuck you, I'll do it."
Right in front of him I called my boss and quit. She asked me to sign my weekly time card and fax it in stating that I'm leaving early and I responded "you don't get it, the first part of quitting means that I stopped working before I quit". I got my things and walked out. That was January 14, 2006 and I haven't received a "paycheck" since.
BTW, I ended up starting a web design biz that turned into a mortgage lead business and did quite well by my third year. I moved to the wealthiest neighborhood in Chicago (it's called the gold coast) [see pics & wiki]
Near North Side, Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and have to mention that one day while shopping with my then fiancee I ran into Joel, he was working in a supermarket banking center behind bullet proof glass about two blocks from my condo [see pic of my then home office]
(pretty good for a self-made 20 year old who lived in a studio condo that went for about 300K back then).
I was wearing my then usual handmade suit while he was wearing the same old threads he wore when I used to work with him.
It was then I realized I made the right decision back on that day in Meigs Field.
I hope all of you guys can find your personal Meigs Field and never look back.
So again... What was YOUR life defining moment?
What do you think was your life defining moment and why?
I decided to write about mine in response to the thread about doing two years of time as that was obviously the writer's defining moment.
Mine was moving across the country (to Chicago's Southside) with $300 and no place to live (I don't have any close family aside from a grandmother) at 17 years old just to escape an abusive household in Florida. I ended up working my ass off hand to mouth for three years until I made enough to pay all of my bills on time.
The gravity of everything hit me when I was walking alone through the snow one night in what used to be Meigs Field (It used to be an airport off of downtown, but at the time was abandoned by the city and just a HUGE, dark field of snow)[see pic].
I had about $500 saved up and was already tired of selling financial products and couldn't see myself doing it for another 40 years. I was just trudging through the snow talking to myself (it was the only way to stay sane) when I looked at the city [see view]
and realized that I wanted "THAT" (being the sense of wonder, grandeur, immense wealth) more than anything in the world. I then walked back home (about two hours in the snow), ate my angel hair & tilapia (it's all I ate back then), played chess the whole night while listening to the same Crossfade song [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZRLFpH1v6Y"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame] on repeat. I hopped in the shower around 6, caught the bus downtown to work (at a bank where I was the personal banker--pretty good for 18 years old), signed in on the computer, and then left the branch and walked to Starbucks on the corner.
By then it was 9-10am and Starbucks had died down as most of the commuters were already at work. I ordered a Vanilla Latte (the only thing I ever ordered) and didn't touch it since I always burned myself--instead I sat there for about 50 minutes with my head down thinking about how I planned on spending the next 40 or so years in "banking".
I remembered a mortgage broker I met who had over 100K in his bank account and thought about how happy he was...
I remembered all of the people that were business bankers and branch managers (the next logical step in my career's progression) and how I knew I was exponentially smarter than them and couldn't see myself peaking where they were.
Then I lifted my head up, chugged the latte and walked back to the branch. I walked over to the branch's acting supervisor (who didn't actually have any jurisdiction over me, so we used to shoot the shit when it was quiet) and said "you know what I'm going probably quit this job and start a business". Joel, who USED to actually be my boss (I was promoted for selling a lot of accounts in my first 30 days), looked at me and was like "haha, no you're not! Just get back to cold calling."
That's was my life defining moment.
I looked at him and said "fuck you, I'll do it."
Right in front of him I called my boss and quit. She asked me to sign my weekly time card and fax it in stating that I'm leaving early and I responded "you don't get it, the first part of quitting means that I stopped working before I quit". I got my things and walked out. That was January 14, 2006 and I haven't received a "paycheck" since.
BTW, I ended up starting a web design biz that turned into a mortgage lead business and did quite well by my third year. I moved to the wealthiest neighborhood in Chicago (it's called the gold coast) [see pics & wiki]
Near North Side, Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and have to mention that one day while shopping with my then fiancee I ran into Joel, he was working in a supermarket banking center behind bullet proof glass about two blocks from my condo [see pic of my then home office]
(pretty good for a self-made 20 year old who lived in a studio condo that went for about 300K back then).
I was wearing my then usual handmade suit while he was wearing the same old threads he wore when I used to work with him.
It was then I realized I made the right decision back on that day in Meigs Field.
I hope all of you guys can find your personal Meigs Field and never look back.
So again... What was YOUR life defining moment?
