How To Quit

Working

A Simple Plan to Leave Your Job for a Life of Freedom.

Jeff Steinmann

Towerview Press, Copyright 2013-2014, All Rights Reserved

How to Quit Working, Jeff Steinmann

Copyright © 2013-2014 by Jeff Steinmann All Rights Reserved

Copyeditor: Elise Fee

Cover Design: Zizi Iryaspraha Subiyarta

Interior Layout: Khalid Essam

All rights reserved. This book is published by Towerview Press. No

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Published in the United States by Towerview Press

ISBN: 978-1482577600

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Version: 2.0.1

Chapter 9

How to Get Whatever

You Want

“If you're not actively involved in getting what you want, you don't really want it.” - Peter McWilliams

y now you are familiar with the guts of the How to Quit Working System. Most of the How to Quit Working System is not sexy. It's not exciting. It's not going to make

you rich over night. But it works. As you've seen in the stories throughout the book, it works every single time. What makes it work so well and so reliably is consistency. Consistency is not exciting. Consistency is all the little things you do over and over, like publishing blog posts, doing speaking engagements, posting on social media and creating videos. They work together over time to build bigger results.

B

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You've also seen the mistakes that delayed these successes. You won't make them because by following the How to Quit Working System step-by-step, you'll avoid them. You have every single thing you need to quit your job and create a life of freedom and it's not hard. The more times you repeat the steps of the How to Quit Working System, the more opportunity you will see. The longer you do it, the more money you will get. The longer you do it, the more freedom you will get. The longer you do it, the more impact you will have on the world.

What's Stopping You?

At this point, you have the smartest, most effective and proven system at your fingertips. The only reason it won't work is if you don't do it. To make sure that you do it, you have know how humans get stuff done and what motivates them to put one foot in front of another and make things happen each and every day – even when it's not fun, exciting or new. That's the hard part. Not the system, not the business, not the marketing, not the products and programs. There is a huge and very problematic misconception that almost all beginning entrepreneurs have. They think their problem is lack of skills and information. They think the reason they aren't making progress is because they don't have the right skills and information.

“I don't know how to use social media.”

“I don't understand business.”

“I don't know anything about marketing.”

“I can't sell.” They are wrong. The problem has nothing to do with skills and ability. You don't need to be a business and marketing savant. You just need to know a little bit about how the human mind works and what makes successful people successful. You just need a few simple habits, attitudes and tools. You need the habits, attitudes and tools that the most successful people in the world use to Get Whatever They Want. This chapter is going to give you all those habits, attitudes and tools.

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Don't get me wrong, you should definitely seek out new skills and information! If you already had all the skills and information you need to create a successful business, you wouldn't be reading this book! Just understand that it's not the actual thing stopping you. Think of it this way. Are you planning to have a big holiday meal this year? Maybe it's Thanksgiving, Hanukah or Christmas? Let's assume you are and lets assume that meal is 6 months away. Are you pretty certain that meal is going to happen? Probably so. You probably celebrate that holiday and have that meal with family every year and there is no reason to believe you won't this year. But, at six months out, the food is not yet bought, it's not cooked and the details, like the time and who's house it will be at have not yet been set. But, there's no doubt it's going to happen. When the time gets closer, you or another family member will buy the food, cook the food, clean the house, and set the details. It will happen. Think of your business like that dinner. It's going to happen. When events in the lifecycle of your business come along that require certain skills or information, you will obtain the skills and information necessary to make them happen. Don't buy the Thanksgiving turkey in July; it will be rotted by November. Don't delay your holiday dinner indefinitely because you are shopping endlessly for the perfect toothpicks. When you get the habits, attitudes and tools, all that stuff falls into place.

The Power You Are Going to Unleash

We're about to let a bull out of the pen. Putting this framework into practice is absolutely critical to starting your own business, but there is another great thing about it. You can use it to Get Whatever You Want. It's that powerful. This framework is derived from the very basic concepts that the most successful athletes, celebrities, world leaders and entrepreneurs use every day to accomplish the biggest and most awe-inspiring things in the world. Ready? Let's go.

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How to Get Whatever You Want

There are three steps. Just three steps! And they're very simple. Not necessarily easy, but they are simple. The steps are:

1. Find Peace 2. Become Devoted 3. Take Responsibility

The order is important. It fact it's critical.

Find Peace

We are not a peaceful bunch of people on this planet right now. I'm not talking about wars or political stuff; I'm talking about each and every person's attitude. We are seeking happiness in all the wrong places. We are looking to Facebook, texting, Twitter, the Internet, TV and News to stimulate us and (we hope) make us happy. It's not working. It's making us a bunch of disconnected, disengaged nincompoops (that is a word that does not get used nearly enough anymore). Not only that, we have a notion that happiness comes from things that are outside us. And that's not true. Happiness comes from inside and until you recognize that, you cannot be happy.

Detach Happiness From Outcomes

Humans must be moving forward in order to thrive, so we must keep moving, but the problem comes in when we attach happiness to a specific outcome. We expect specific outcomes to make us happy. We expect that when our business reaches a certain revenue level, we will be happy. We expect that when we accomplish certain goals or our personal situation is in a certain state, we will be happy. This doesn't work. The outcome that most people believe will make them happy is money. And it never does. If you want to experience the happiest life possible, get comfortable with the idea that you could (if necessary) be very happy if only your basic needs (food, water, shelter, clothing) were met. Think of the power that would give you. You no longer have to worry about money because you don't depend on it for happiness! Here's the really cool thing. Since you detached your happiness from that single outcome, now it's much

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more likely to become true. The first step to having this attitude is coming to the realization that money does not make you happy. For proof, there are several studies cited at: howtoquitworking.com/money-happiness Seeking happiness from external things, like fame, money, relationships, or accomplishments doesn't work. When you seek happiness through those things, you guarantee yourself that you will not be happy. When you seek happiness though some external means (like success in a business) you are destined to fail – fail to become happy, that is. You may succeed at the business, but if being happy was your ultimate goal, you will definitely fail at that. It never works. Finding peace means no longer attaching your happiness to external outcomes. When you've disconnected your happiness from external outcomes, several really cool things happen that help you Get Whatever You Want. Here is what happens when you stop relying on the external outcomes.

You Lose Your Ego

Everyone has an ego and it's a huge problem. Most negative feelings come from ego. For example, when someone challenges what we say or expresses a different opinion than ours (particularly in an area where we take pride in our knowledge), and we get that uneasy feeling, that's ego. Our ego is threatened. Ego is who we define ourself as. Any time that definition of who we are is threatened, our ego is threatened and that makes us uneasy. Sometimes that means anger, hurt feelings, or distain for the person or entity that threatened our ego. None of those things are productive nor do they contribute to happiness or progress. That's why you must lose any shred of ego you have. Having absolutely no ego means no resistance to anything external. That's a destination you may never reach, but it's a great goal to have.

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You Have No More Fear

Fear is the number one thing that prevents people from getting what they want. When you are at peace, fear goes away. When you are completely relaxed and not hanging your ability to be happy on any certain outcome, everything changes. That's the key – your happiness is no longer hung on any certain outcome, like money or business goals. That doesn't mean you don't have goals and you don't work hard to achieve them (we're getting to that part), rather it means you are not dependent on any specific outcome for happiness. The dependency on a specific outcome to be happy is what creates unhealthy obsessions and prevents you from really doing what matters. Since you have decided that happiness does not come from external things, you no longer rely on it to be happy. Now fear takes on a whole new face. Fear of being broke? Not really a problem. Fear of not becoming a millionnaire? Fear of not meeting business goals? Not a problem either. Fear goes away. Then you can accept risk. You can look at risk and say, “Well, yeah, that negative thing might happen, but I'm more devoted to making the positive things happen than worrying about the negative thing that might happen.” The negative thing won't kill you. You are no longer worried about your ego being threatened, so there's nothing to worry about there.

You Don't Regret Anything

Never regard anything as a mistake. There are no mistakes, no failures, only lessons. Regard everything that happens as a step on your journey. Remember, you are not attached to any certain outcome, so it's just another step. Whether you apply a label of good or bad to it, either way it is a step on your journey, taking you to the next place in your life. It is teaching you a lesson, altering your path, or helping you better understand your destination. When you no longer have fear and no longer regard anything as a mistake, you have no regrets. Every week, I talk to another amazing person on the How to Quit Working show and the one question I always ask is, “What is the biggest mistake you have made?” Without fail, they respond by saying that they don't regard

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anything as a mistake. The response is always the same. The successful people I interview simply refuse to view anything as a mistake. They only view it as a lesson, opportunity, or just another step on their journey. When things don't go as you hope, it is an opportunity. It's feedback that will let you do that thing better next time. The most successful people are the ones who have failed the most. Since they regard mistakes as lessons, they became successful because they have learned more lessons than anyone else.

You Are Honest

When you are at peace and your ego is gone, you have no reason to lie, manipulate or even bend the truth. You are free to relax and tell it just like it is. You have nothing to hide! Generally when we are not being honest it's because we are avoiding something. We are avoiding something that we are afraid of. Maybe that's something we are ashamed of, some inadequacy we believe we have or some outcome that we are really dreading. All of those basically go back to fear and ego. If you have no fear and you have lost your ego, what is there to lie or mislead about? This builds trust, which is a huge step toward getting what you want.

You Listen

It's one thing to stop texting (or stop doing whatever) and look into a person's eyes while they are talking. That's very important. But it's not enough. It's only the prerequisite to actual listening. Listening is much more than not being distracted by outside things. It's opening your mind to what you are hearing. It's taking in everything the other person says and processing it with complete openness. You don't have to agree with what you are hearing. But you do have to listen. What usually happens in our brain while someone is talking is that we are thinking about something completely different and just patronizing them with eye contact, nods and “uh huhs.” That's easy to stop doing. The big problem is that our ego is standing at the door of our mind like an armed guard. It's standing there, arms crossed and in a wide stance with a very clear mission – to make

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sure this person doesn't ever say anything to harm what the guard is there to protect – our ego. We listen through a filter of ego. Never wanting to be wrong, constantly thinking about what we hear and working very hard to discredit anything that threatens the sacred ego. Anything they say that threatens our ego is shot down and we close our mind to new information and viewpoints. But not you, because you gave up your ego several paragraphs ago. Let's keep moving along.

You Be Yourself

People really are awesome. Most people are interesting, dynamic, intelligent beings with a lot of really great ideas. But most don't appear that way because they aren't being themselves. They aren't being themselves because they are afraid that other people won't like them. Which is – you guessed it – ego! Wait, we got rid of ego and fear, so we should basically be cool here right? That's the great thing about this; they get easier and easier as you do more of them! They build on each other! People don't like fakeness. Even if it's just slight guardedness, people see through it and don't like it as much as they would like the real interesting, dynamic, intelligent person who is behind that false persona. Relax and be yourself. You have nothing to lose except your ego – which is a good thing to lose!

There Is More Than Just Happiness

Most people say all they want in life is to be happy. They say that because they've never experienced true happiness. Once you experience it, it's more wonderful that you imagined. There are no true destinations in life because once you reach a destination, you are able to see the next milestone. The next milestone which you could not see from where you were before. When you become happy, you realize that it's great, but there is much more. Most people have not reached true happiness, therefore they can't see what comes after it. What comes after it is thriving. Imagine living a happy and thriving life! You can't thrive if you aren't happy. That's what this first step

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gets you. Happiness. Then you move on to thriving. Happiness is always available to you – all the time, regardless of your external circumstances. You have happiness right now. All you have to do is stop tying it to outcomes, stop letting your ego control your thoughts, and simply feel it. It's right there. If everything you ever wanted is happiness, you already have it. It's right there, right now. Just grab a hold of it. Now that you have that you can move on to thriving. Thriving is the next step beyond happiness. Thriving is what it's all about. In order to thrive, you absolutely must be happy. Being happy means not having an ego and not depending on external outcomes. You can't thrive if you are not happy. If you just want to be happy, no problem. Stop here. Just be happy. Right now, as you are. It's right there.

Become Devoted

Search the Internet for “find your passion” and you'll find a ton of websites, speakers, coaches and resources for helping people “find” their passion. The problem with these resources is that they assume that your passion is lying around somewhere. They make us believe that our passion is behind something in the garage, or between the sofa cushions. But it's not. Passion isn't lying around anywhere. You need purpose. Humans need purpose in order to thrive. Purpose comes from caring about something – a lot. When you care about something very much, it becomes your purpose. But just caring about something a lot isn't enough. There is one more thing required to make it all work – Devotion. When you care about something and you become devoted to that thing – boom, you have purpose. Then you are on your way to thriving. You might wonder what to do if there isn't anything you care about that much. Man has been searching for the meaning of life since the dawn of time. Nobody has found it. Maybe someday someone will. But until then, each of us must simply decide what our purpose is. Just make a decision. That's pretty cool, huh? You don't have go searching under the car seat or in the basement for

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purpose. You just decide. And you decide on something you care about. Now we're getting somewhere. In order for this Devotion to mean anything, it has to be fierce. Become Fiercely Devoted. Not a little bit devoted – fiercely devoted. Devotion then causes a several things to happen.

Your Path Is Clear

When you are devoted, suddenly things become much more clear. It becomes clear what action will help you Get Whatever You Want. The path becomes evident. It's like someone turned on the lights! You can see where you are going and now you know how to get there – at least the next few steps. You'll never be able to see the entire path from where you are to where you want to go. There is no MapQuest for a living thriving life! But the path does not become clear until you become devoted.

You Are Courageous

This is huge. Too many people don't think they have the guts to make the move to quit their job or pursue what they want. But they do. They do have the courage. Because when you become devoted to what you want, you begin to fear not having it more than you fear the possible negative consequences of going after it. In other words, you get more afraid of missing out on what you really want out of life than you are of the potential negative consequences, or the “what if's” that come up. When you hesitate to do something, maybe it's making a phone call, sending an email, or having a difficult conversation, stop and ask yourself why you are hesitating. It's usually fear. Remind yourself that what you want to accomplish requires courage. Remind yourself that you are at peace with whatever the outcome will be, so why should you be fearful? Courage is required to get Whatever You Want, so be courageous.

You Give Stuff Up

The fear of loss is a big obstacle to getting what you want. We frequently fear losing the comforts we are used to. We fear losing

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luxuries, security and things (good and bad) that are familiar to us. Happiness does not lie in comfort. When we become stagnant, we become comfortable. Comfort becomes an addiction. We don't want to give it up. We want to keep having the regular paycheck. We want to buy clothes, go on vacations, have a nice car, or whatever. That's the addiction to comfort. You can still have all those things, but in the short-term, there are sacrifices. When you are fiercely devoted to Getting Whatever You Want, you no longer depend on those comforts because you are after something bigger and better – something you care about more. Now, when you are faced with the decision of whether to watch TV or take action to Get Whatever You Want, you will have more perspective. You'll have perspective on something bigger than CSI; something bigger than American Idol.

You Focus On What Matters

You are clear about what you want and what it will take to get there, so only focus on what will help you get there and forget about the rest. We spend too much time on unimportant things and being concerned about perfection. We are concerned with having the cleanest house, most organized garage, nicest clothes...or whatever. All things that don't matter. When you become devoted, watch your interest in those things slowly go away. Maybe even quickly! Eliminate the things that don't matter. Eliminate distractions like social media, email and mindless web surfing. Before you open the email, get on Facebook, or whatever you do, ask yourself this: Why? Are you going into the email for a good, productive reason, or are you going in there because you want a break from what you are doing. Because you want a quick hit of instant gratification? Don't do it. Before you go into these black holes of unproductiveness, ask yourself why you are going in there. Set specific times each day to do email and social media. Then you will get on Facebook because it's time, not because you want a quick fix, are bored or worse of all, to avoid doing work that will get you what you want.

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Take Responsibility

Disconnect your results from everything except yourself. Never make any connection between your results and anything or anyone except your actions. Connecting your results to anything or anyone else is the most dangerous and foolish thing you can do. When you believe your results have anything whatsoever to do with anyone or anything else besides YOU, you've given away power. You've given up your own life to that other thing or person you've connected your results to. Maybe it's your spouse, maybe it's the government, maybe it's your business partner, maybe its the economy. Regardless, it's not YOU. YOU are no longer in charge. There's nothing worse you can do to yourself. This is huge. It's absolutely critical. It means deciding – yes deciding that YOU are the one who is in control. Not someone else. This shifts everything – not a little bit. It creates a huge shift in how you think about your role in your life. It is indeed your life, so your role ought to be a really major one – don't you think? This changes everything all by itself. If you just adopt the attitude that YOU are the one who is in charge and it is YOUR actions that dictate your results, there is no stopping you. When you add Responsibility on top of Peace and Devotion, you can truly Get Whatever You Want. Now let's talk about what taking responsibility gets you.

You Never Blame Anyone Else, Ever

The best way to never get anything you want is to blame others; giving away your power and control. This doesn't mean other people might not be jerks, lie or just do something wrong to you. It means that you have to look at the situation from the standpoint of your actions and how you can affect it or could have handled it differently. If your business partner, Jimmy, ran off to Mexico with all your money, you have two choices. You can say, “That jerk just ruined my business and my life!” or you can get really analytical about it. What is it about your relationship with Jimmy that you could have structured or handled differently to make sure that didn't happen? Could you have established limits on what each

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partner can do with money in the bank account? Could you have had better ways to track finances? Could you have done a better job of getting to know Jimmy before getting involved in a business relationship with him? Perhaps you could have done a better job of judging his character? Get really analytical about yourself and how you do things, think about things, and make decisions. Become obsessed with getting better at making decisions, judging character, and evaluating opportunity. That's how you give yourself the maximum amount of control. Don't get me wrong, it's totally OK to be pissed off in certain situations! Just keep it to a minimum and focus on what you could have done differently and how to handle the situation differently in the future. There will be times when you look at a situation and see that you did everything right and it still didn’t go the way you hoped. That's OK because you found Peace. You are unattached to any specific outcome and you realize that things aren't always going to go the way you want them, so you're cool with it. But you are still Devoted to what you want, and Responsible for making it happen, so you charge forward.

You Set Goals

Getting whatever you want doesn't happen overnight. It happens with a series of steps, or goals. You must have goals. Goals give you intermediate milestones to shoot for on your way to whatever you want. Sometimes it takes a long time to get whatever you want, so you need smaller steps to keep you motivated and moving forward. Set goals for the next 3, 6 and 12 months. Review them every week. Set goals that are reasonable, but still challenge you. Create a simple document that lists out each goal and the intermediate steps required to get to that goal. These goals should be the exact things that will move you closer to whatever you want. The intermediate steps to accomplish those goals get transferred directly to your to-do list. Now what you do day in and day out is

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tied to your goal, which is tied to Getting Whatever You Want, to which you are devoted. Wow. See how powerful you are becoming? For example, if you want to be an international best selling author, but you haven't begun writing a book yet, then creating an outline might be a great goal to start with. You might also have a goal to research how to get a book published – another great goal. You get the idea. Your goals are like rungs on a ladder that leads to whatever you want. Think of them like they are that important – they are. Don't think of goal setting as some little exercise or idea you do because you read about in some book. Goals are what allow you to Get Whatever You Want. Don't take goals lightly.

You Make Real Decisions

There are decisions and then there are real Decisions. Real decisions are ones you are fiercely committed to. You make decisions every day. Some are petty like what restaurant to eat lunch at. Some are bigger decisions like how to treat people or what action to take to Get Whatever You Want. Unfortunately, we also make uncommitted decisions too frequently. These are the things we say to ourselves, or even to other people that are phrased like decisions but we're not serious about them. They are just statements that we don't really mean. We might say, “I'm going to start eating better after the holidays.” Or we might say, “I'm going to get really serious about this business next week.” But we don't really mean it. They are just impulses in a moment of inspiration that we aren't really committed to; they aren't really decisions. If you think these are just arbitrary things you say that don't matter, be careful. Making these small meaningless, uncommitted statements disguised as decisions becomes a habit. We say them and consciously we may really mean what we say. But subconsciously, we know we're not really going to do it. The issue is that this becomes a habit. We just make these uncommitted decisions compulsively to make ourselves feel better about where we are or what we are doing, but have no intention of actually doing them. It's a terrible trap to fall into.

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You don't have to stay in that trap. You can get out of it and that means when you make a decision it has to be a real decision. Make fewer decisions and mean the ones you make. Any time you make a decision that requires significant effort, make it a goal so you can track it's progress and identify the intermediate steps to make it happen. No more impulsive uncommitted decisions. Only real decisions.

You Develop Yourself

Constantly develop yourself. Keep learning and developing yourself, not only because your brain needs to remain challenged, but also because you have to be able to rise to the new challenges you are faced with. The path to whatever you want is a long one and right now, you are not ready or able to deal with the challenges you will face in one year, six months or even three weeks from now. That's why you always have to be getting ready for those next challenges. Prepare yourself with education, training, coaching and consulting, but most importantly by surrounding yourself with awesome people who have similar goals and preferably have made more progress than you have. Make sure you have people around you from whom you can learn, and also have people around you who you can teach. Being around people more successful than you and teaching things to others are two extremely effective ways to develop yourself. View learning as a vital step to get whatever you want. Don't look at it in isolation. In other words, don't think of it as something you “do first.” You can't learn all about something and then go do it. Nobody learns that way. We learn by jumping into a situation and figuring out what we need to know, then going out and getting that knowledge. Learning everything and becoming expert on something too far in advance wastes too much valuable time and is not effective. You're busy working to Get Whatever You Want.

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Go Get Whatever You Want

You are on a journey to being the best person you can possibly be. You can read these words over and over and completely understand the concepts, but you won't totally get it until you have completely lived it. You have likely learned and integrated at least a few, if not many of the ideas into your life already. So, you probably know how powerful they are. But that's just the start. It's one thing to integrate one or five or ten of these things, but what is so powerful is how they work together. The concepts get great results by themselves, but when you string them together – Wow. That's when it gets crazy.

Conclusion

I can tell you from experience that when you truly live with all these ideas fully implemented, it's practically impossible to get upset, depressed, or angry for any sustained period of time. Sure, you will get angry, upset and disappointed at times and that is normal. But it will happen less often. Things that would have sent you into a three-day drinking, eating or crying binge (or whatever you do) will roll right off you like they were nothing. Some things will still get to you and that's ok, because you are still human! But the great thing is that you'll bounce back very fast. You will be a little bit upset or depressed for a while, but this new way of thinking kicks in and kicks you back to being happy, excited and motivated to Get Whatever You Want.

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Think Of It Like This: Peacefulness means deriving your happiness from inside

yourself; never looking to external outcomes to make you happy.

Devotion is what makes you get up and go do something every day. To thrive you must be devoted.

Everything that happens, good or bad, is a result of your actions. Nobody else can affect the outcomes you get.

Do It Like This:

Never rely on anything outside yourself (external outcomes) for happiness. Gain peace by becoming happy just as you are.

Decide what you care about more than anything and become devoted to it. Make the decision that you are 100% devoted to the thing you care about.

Take complete responsibility for everything that happens in your life. Always do everything in your power to make outcomes what you want them to be.

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How Sheri Fink Quit Working

Do Something that Totally Scares You – Today! Sheri Fink grew up just above the poverty level. Her family always had food and the basic necessities, but that was about it. There was no money for extras. She decided very early in her life that she would not live with that struggle. Determined to create a better life for herself, Sheri was the first in her family to get a college degree – a masters degree, and she worked all through school.

Upon finishing, she started a career doing online marketing for large companies. Because of her intelligence, determination and hard work, she moved up the ranks quickly and was rewarded with raises, promotions, job titles and perks. These external things became her measure of success. But there was always a little voice inside her that said, “I don’t know about this.” For a long time, she ignored that voice, telling herself, “When I get to the next company, it will be different. When I get the next job level, that will be different. The next promotion. And so on.” She worked her way up to a very high-level position in an organization she really liked, but still did not feel fulfilled. Determined to make a better life for herself, she set a goal of leaving that company in one year. Her plan was to find another job or maybe do some consulting. As the year deadline got closer and closer, she still had no plan. Even at two weeks away from the deadline – still no plan. But she acted anyway. Sheri took what she describes as “bold action” and turned in her resignation. Everyone thought she was nuts. She was jumping off a cliff.

She spent some time decompressing from the corporate life, but quickly after her resignation, she published a few copies of a self-help book she'd written. A reader of that book pulled her aside and said something to Sheri that launched her into another stratosphere, “You have more.” Sheri reluctantly told her an idea she had for a children's book. It was about a little rose that grew up among weeds and thought that she was the weed. The reader replied enthusiastically, “You must publish that because my grandkids

Sheri Fink

Photo by: Kimberly

Genevieve

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need that message!” That's all Sheri needed. She was on fire. Six months later, The Little Rose was not only published; it was a number one best seller. A few months later Sheri appeared on the cover of a magazine, which she had visualized earlier. It wasn't easy. Aside from all the hard work, Sheri had to get past her own mental barriers. She believes that the reason more people don't pursue what they want in life is because society has conditioned us to play to avoid losing, instead of playing to win. "The problem is that you settle for mediocrity for yourself, for your life, for what you can contribute to the world. But for me and a lot of people, we want to have a deeper meaning, a bigger impact in the world. And a lot of times, we haven’t gotten in touch with the reason why or the fuel behind that fire. And then once you do, it’s like -- wow! Why wouldn’t I choose to try this new thing? Why wouldn’t I do whatever it took?" Sheri's advice for anyone who wants to experience the life of success that she has is to figure out what big dream you have that really scares you and go for it. Don't waste your precious time on anything less. For more about Sheri, visit howtoquitworking.com/sheri

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How Alex Genadinik Quit Working

Turn Failure into Success Alex Genadinik finished high school in 1998. He lived in the middle of Silicon Valley during the tech boom of the late 1990's. He was interested in getting into technology and perfectly positioned to do it. Why would anyone in that situation go to college when you can get a good paying tech job right in your back yard? He did just that. Alex got a great job working for a software company in Silicon Valley; he even had stock options. Everything was great until that company was sold – for a very large sum. Alex got the golden boot, but found out his stock options were worth very little. Most importantly, Alex had an epiphany. He realized he was on the wrong side of the business. He saw how little payoff there was for an employee of a successful company and he saw how dispensable his job was. Alex then set out to become an entrepreneur and get in on the more lucrative side of business. He was very motivated and tried a lot of things. He created a website to help people plan their hiking trips. He created another site that aggregated information about plants and animals. Neither of those ideas made him much money. But, along the way, he started learning about mobile apps. Then things started to turn. Alex created an app for aspiring entrepreneurs to discuss their business ideas and brainstorm with each other. This app didn't work out as he had hoped, but there was a really cool side effect to that failure (if you can even call it a failure). The app had a feature that allowed users to ask him questions. He answered them. Everything shifted because he saw a pattern in the questions that people asked. There were four main questions people asked him about starting a business. So he created four apps; one that addressed each issue. While his original app didn't work out as he had hoped, it was the most important one because it helped him figure out what would work. Alex like apps because they are easier for people to find than just searching for something on Google. He cautions about relying on traffic from Google and offers an alternative, “Focus on large platforms that have search functionality. Platforms like Apple's App Store, Android's Play Store, Quora, or YouTube. YouTube is great actually, far easier to get placement than Google. For local businesses, use Yelp or Angie’s list or something like that. It still gives you a lot of traffic from large sites, but it’s infinitely easier than getting search traffic from Google.”

Alex Genadinik

How to Quit Working

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Alex offered this piece of advice to anyone who wants to start a business, “Pursue your passion. I don’t want to sound cheesy, but that's important. For me, I was pursuing my curiosity and that fueled all that effort because it took a lot of effort to get this far. And without being naturally curious of what’s going to happen if I do this or if I do that, it would have been much harder to innovate and try stuff. ” For more about Alex, visit howtoquitworking.com/alex

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Steinmann is the founder of the boutique lifestyle consulting company, Braveau Experts and author of How to Quit Working, A Simple Plan to Leave Your Job for a Life of Freedom. He is a speaker and hosts a weekly show called “The How to Quit Working Show” that features Lifestyle Fanatics who have rejected the idea of having a JOB and chosen to put what they want in life first. Jeff founded a real estate investing company, holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Business Administration and is a Certified High Performance Coach™. Jeff worked as a Vice President for major financial institutions for over 10 years, managing large technology programs, including website conversions for the largest bank mergers in the U.S. His extensive knowledge of marketing, sales, business strategy and technology, combined with his experience building expert businesses for clients and himself have made him a sought after consultant to experts and gurus at all levels of their businesses worldwide. Most of all, Jeff is a Lifestyle Fanatic, fiercely devoted to finding better ways to “do life”.