I quit my job. Today is Day #2.

Find a way to do what you love.

Quitting has been on my mind for awhile. I tend to start my day with a look at Hacker News and I’m always excited for people who are making a go at their own startups. I find that inwardly I’m cheering for them.

I used to feel that way about work. I was learning new things and working in exciting technologies. They made me a team lead and I started helping with interviews. I was excited for the future of the company and shared their vision. Somewhere along the way though that started to dissipate. Things were as optimistic as ever for the company, but inwardly I was dying.

Without the passion, my work suffered. I still tried to be a good employee, but that’s all I saw myself as, an employee. In contrast, an iOS app that I was spending my evenings and weekends working on was starting to make $10.50 a day. That’s not even a tenth of what I made at work in a day, but the joy I felt was an hundred-fold.

The small success of the app bolstered my confidence and I decided to pursue another idea I had to help freelancers. Slowly that too started to take shape and I knew that it was inevitable. If I was going to be honest with myself and my employer, I had to quit. My last day was 9 days ago.

I took a week-long break to spend time with my family that lives a few hours away, but last Friday was my first real day of work. The contrast was amazing. I woke up feeling ecstatic, my mind energized and the 9 hours went far too quickly. One of the biggest difference was that it was so easy to be happy. I’m not the kind of person to brood about things, and I attempt to choose to be happy, but on Friday, it was hardly a choice. I was happy by default.

It also showed in the amount of work I was able to get done. I knew that working for myself would require a lot of discipline, so before I began anything, I outlined my goals for the day in Trello. I tried to break everything down into 45-60 minute chunks and as I started tasks and completed them, I moved them along my boards in Trello.

This isn’t a post about quitting your job and doing it startup nor is it a plug for reckless abandon. Instead it’s a post about finding a way to do what you are passionate about. For some, that will be staying right where they are. For others it might be taking evening classes to pursue new careers. Whatever it is, take steps to move towards it because it’s worth it.

So here’s to you and me—and doing what we love.