What Should I Do Next?

As many of you may know, I recently took the huge leap of leaving my full time engineering job to pursue my dream of true independence.  I honestly can't say that I know exactly what "true independence" means, but at this point I envision it involving the ability to set my own hours, and to "work" in a way that I can earn money doing the things that I already love to do.  Needless to say, my job as an engineer wasn't fulfilling those two requirements.

During my time leading up to this big move, I always knew that there was something a little different about the way I viewed the working world, but I could never quite put my finger on what it was.  I often found myself diving into new interests and hobbies, only to get decently good at them and then abandon them shortly after.  In the last 10-years I have attempted juggling, uni-cycling, lock picking, flying, shooting, starting a cookie business, brewing beer, scuba diving, fantasy sports, and of course poker.  I will fully admit that there were times where I worried that I had lost the ability to motivate myself and to stay committed to whatever I put my mind to, and I honestly think that one of the primary reasons that I finished my part time MBA was to prove to myself that I could finish something that I started.  Over time I was able to convince myself that this way of thinking was nothing to be worried about, and that there was actually plenty of value to be added by people who think this way, and choose broadening horizons over specialization.  It wasn't until I watched this TED talk by Emilie Wapnick that I realized that there was an appropriate word to describe my condition; that I am a Multipotentialite.  I'd go into more detail about what that word means, but I'm lazy and would rather send those of you who are curious to Emilie's TED talk which is far more detailed and eloquent than I could ever attempt to reproduce.

Enough about my past, let's get back to my most recent adventure.  Like I said at the start, I recently left my job in a somewhat surprising move to some.  While I was thoroughly enjoying the perks of free world travel, decent pay and benefits, free education, and the opportunity to see some genuinely cool things; I just couldn't see myself in the same 9 to 5 corporate office type role for much longer.  I craved independence, so naturally my best option was to suddenly quit my job and become a professional poker player.   There, I said it.  I know it sounds crazy to many, but it's surprisingly a much more calculated move than it sounds; I have been thoroughly preparing for it for the past 3ish years.

So where do I go from here?  I'll save the details of how my first couple of months of freedom have been for another post, but for now I'd like to finish up with a few thoughts on why I've decided to write this blog in the first place.  Let's just say that the poker scene isn't exactly the overly social environment that it may appear to be (or not appear to be) in the events you see on TV.  70% of the people I encounter on a daily basis are retired men, 10% are gambling degenerates, 10% are poker professionals, 6% are casino employees, and 4% are women.  Don't get me wrong, I love what every one of them has to offer, but for a mid-20's guy looking to expand his social and "professional" circle, the poker tables are probably not the best place to start.  So with a little bit of encouragement, I've finally decided to branch out, expand on my social networking skills, practice my "personal branding", and hopefully meet some awesome new people along the way.

At the very least, this blog will be a way for my friends and family to keep up with what I'm up to, which is a request that I'm flattered to say I've received way more times than I ever expected.  As with everything else in my life, this blog is a new hobby that could quickly fall off the priority list, so at this point I can't really make any promises as to how often I'll be posting or even what I'll be talking about.  But I do think that it could help benefit me in terms of keeping in touch with the real world, and keeping me accountable with my poker related goals.  I look forward to getting this thing started, and I hope you guys get some enjoyment in reading this going forward.