Practical advice is out there in spades. Want to do a similar thing, but just need a change of scene? Update your CV and LinkedIn profiles and get networking.

Want to quit the corporation altogether for something more entrepreneurial? Figure how to monetize your big idea, create a business plan, set up a limited company or partnership, hand in your notice and set to work.

And sure, I might talk about some of this as we go here. But, we’re smart people, and it’s not quite as simple as that, is it?

First, there’s a ton of practical stuff to get your head round. How do you make a switch and make sure the bills gets paid? How do you find or create whatever’s next and keep the current show on the road?

All of the great advice assumes you’re clear about quitting and what to do next. But what if you’re not?

Which only touches the iceberg of the emotional stuff that goes on for you. The doubt. The confusion. The uncertainty.

Who are you to be so bold as you imagine?

What if it all goes wrong?

What might people think of you?

How do you begin to untangle yourself from the web of activities and expectations you’re locked into right now? Should you risk the sliver of worklife balance you have in the hope of something more? Especially when you don’t just want a work that sets you on fire, you want a life too and all that comes with it:

Health, wellbeing, fun, friends, relationships, family…

One of the big dilemmas of our time is how to do great work, be paid well, and have the freedom that all our efforts are meant to buy us. Not at some point in some paid-off future. But now.

As it turns out, most of the answer is about getting our heads in the right place before we even do anything at all. In fact, with our heads in a great place, we may even see our current gig through transformed eyes and realize that quitting was never an option.

I’m going to be writing about all these things and more here in the days and weeks ahead.

Join me for the conversation!