Check this out! Built the Exit Ready? planner as a website! Fully interactive! https://rorypiontkowski.com/

I need some ideas for videos...might be Insta, maybe YouTube, maybe both. What do you think about ( NOT numbers related) when you think about the day you don't have to work to make money anymore? Imagine you can choose what you do based on how cool, fun, or interesting it is, rather than how much it pays or whether it has health insurance? I will make the video and give you credit.

A few years ago, I sat in a meeting listening to a new leader pitch the exact same "transformation" our old leader had pitched three years before. Pretty much the same initiatives, different name on the title page. And I remember the specific feeling of it; not anger, not even boredom. Nothing. I didn't care. That's when I knew something in me had already left, even though I still had another four years in that seat. So...why do so many people want to leave their corporate jobs? They worked for years to get where they are. It is not easy to become a high earner at a large company. They got the benefits and the money. That gave them many of the things in life they had dreamed about: cars, a house, vacations. Talking about work with their friends makes them feel good. The title sounds impressive, and people say "Wow, nice!" The security that comes with a stable job is not just financial; it becomes part of your identity, even if it is a mirage in this day and age. And for many people, this is enough. Some people thrive in this environment. For others, there comes a day (not always a big one) when they start to question whether they could be doing more, whether what they're doing now fulfills them, or whether the trade-offs are worth the returns. These people begin to realize: They sacrificed personal time with family for superficial relationships with co-workers and clients. The work they are doing has become one cog in a machine that never actually makes anything, except more work for the machine sold to their clients by manufactured demand. The benefits act like handcuffs and earmuffs, expected to buy your silence too. The bulk of what happens inside a large corporation is "cover your ass," instead of supplying a need. And these things start to eat away at them. This creates doubt and insecurity. It causes once proud and confident people to start shedding what makes them great friends, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, sons, or daughters. I'm not saying the answer is always to quit and bet everything on something new.

Something I created as a digital biz card...what do you think? THe QR code goes to the "Exit Ready? planner"

On the hottest day on record in Salt Lake, my wife and I decided to go to the lake to paddleboard. We expected it to be a zoo, but it was absolute bedlam. We decided not to inflate the boards because there were so many people on the water, so we just went down and waded around, enjoying an adult beverage. My wife has been trying to teach our Bernedoodle to swim, and that day he went in up to his chest! Then she said something that landed somewhere I couldn't argue with: “You haven't let go of the things that drove you crazy before you quit." She was right. When I left corporate, my goal was to stop the busyness-chasing, self-doubt, the noise, and 7 months later, it's still running the show sometimes. In reflection, I realized that it took someone I trusted to act as a mirror to me and reflect back what I was feeling, saying out loud that thing that was bugging me. I was not yet allowing myself to appreciate the little things that make up a day or a relationship. I had not yet let go of the judgment and passive-aggressive nature I had adopted to succeed in the corporate world, which drained my true potential. Since then, I have committed to asking myself every day: “What is it that I am still doing on autopilot? What opportunities to be grateful am I missing?” What are your answers today?