Build your Escape Plan this summer
Something a bit different this week.
When I was at bp, I spent the first few days of my holidays winding down and the last few days psyching myself to go back. Not exactly dreading it. Not nauseous. But just unhappy about going back. I’d invariably struck up some madcap idea that was going to help me exit my career and do something more interesting, more purposeful, more challenging.
Then I’d get back to work, get busy and wait for the next holiday.
I wasn’t ready to move, I wasn’t prepared.
But if I’d had some help I might have left earlier.
So I’m going to try to help other people.
For every day in August, I’m going to post a tip, a bit of advice, a point of view on Instagram – something I’ve learned myself or by talking to people who’ve already left their corporate careers. Along with some thought-provoking questions. I’ve made a template to jot down answers or thoughts.
My idea is that after 31 days working through these posts someone who wants to leave corporate life might have the bare bones of their Escape Plan.
I might even turn it into an online training course and see if anyone buys it – as validation of a market for my book, WDYT?
And because you’re all my favourite people and I thought some of you might really need this over the summer holidays – something to help you make progress, to get your thinking straight and to help you exit with a soft landing and with as little risk as possible.
The template is here. Save a copy and you can write directly into the pdf or print it out.
And here’s my Instagram if you want to follow me there and see each one appear each day.
Have a great summer!
And thanks for supporting and encouraging me. Your comments and messages spur me on! If you think this can help someone you know please share it.
31 Days to build your Escape Plan
Day 1: Could you be institutionalised?
If someone becomes institutionalised, they gradually become less able to think and act independently, because they’ve lived for a long time under the rules of an institution.
Like a corporate.
It happens to us all. And there are advantages of course – things are a lot easier if you know the rules and how things work.
But that security can become a comfort zone, preventing us from developing, preventing us from becoming our full potential.
Think over this summer break, are you feeling a little too institutionalised, a little too comfortable, a little too trapped? Write down some words that describe how you’re feeling about your job and you in it.
Day 2: Avoid creeping mediocrity
Over time, most people find their energy to challenge others and their appetite for risk declines - you don’t notice at first. But gradually, we start accepting things that are good enough because we don’t want the fight.
This creeping mediocrity is insidious and can also impact your confidence.
It’s not how we started our careers. And if we jumped to another corporate right now, we’d probably have to up our game fast, but if we stay put, it’s likely we’ve let some average work cross our desk – we might even be responsible for some.
My creeping mediocrity was about slipping delivery of projects a quarter or few. Not my fault, other peoples’ decisions, but it let me off the hook – I rarely fought to change their minds if it bought me more time.
Think over this summer break, have you let things slip? Do you want to get back on your game and thrive? Write down an example or two where you’ve not performed to your best, where you’ve settled or let others settle and turned a blind eye.
Day 3: Is your space shrinking?
How’s your autonomy? How much space and authority do you really have at work?
Most people see their space shrink as they become more senior, more functionalised, less part of the action, more managing others deliver. With a diary packed full of meetings, giving you no time to use your brain, to be creative or to innovate.
How much space and control of your life do you really feel you have now – can you define how it’s changed over time? Has it grown or shrunk? Is that what you would have expected.
Day 4: Get clear on your reasons for leaving
Unless we’re very clear what we’re escaping from we’re unlikely to find fulfilment elsewhere. Or we’ll just stay put. Getting specific about your push factors – the things that really make you unhappy today, your own pain points of the job. The reasons you’re dreading going back to work.
Think over the summer about the things that make your blood boil at work, the things that make you sad, the things that make you feel bad about at yourself. Write them down – are they enough to make you leave?
Day 5: Acknowledge what you're leaving behind
The grass can be greener, but there’s a whole load of things you may lose when you leave your corporate job: stability, regular income, identity, status etc. None are permanent losses, but require different approaches to rebuild. Being honest with yourself about what you’re leaving behind and testing if you really can manage without them is critical.
Think over the summer about the things you enjoy or benefit from about your corporate job – write them down. Look deeply for some of the things that you take for granted that you might have to replace in a different way. Does it scare you or embolden you?
Day 6: You're an expert
One of the things corporate people have is experience – we know things, we’re experts at many things. Sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously. But those things are valuable to other people and organisations – and they’ll pay for them.
Think over the summer about where your expertise lies. It may be in something very tangible tied up with the outcomes of your job, or less directly linked and more about how you work, how you get the best out of people, how you connect things, how you solve problems. Write them down.
Day 7: Trust yourself
I am always really saddened when I see corporate people’s confidence knocked by time served – there seems to be a direct relationship, mainly I think because of the shrinking space and self-belief that our expertise is as valued outside the corporate as inside.
Leaving a corporate job takes preparation but it also takes courage and both depend on trusting yourself that you’re doing the right thing and you have value and worth. And also, to trust that you’ll land safely on the other side.
Think over the summer about whether you really trust yourself. Write down three statements that begin “I trust myself to…”
Day 8: Leave behind limiting beliefs
Confidence is eroded by a series of limiting beliefs that keep us in our comfort zone – and a comfort zone that shrinks over time. These limiting beliefs become bad habits and behaviours that we aren’t always conscious of – but that can rule our lives and stop us going for things we want. Like “Anyone can do what I do”, “I’m lucky to have this job”, “I’m not brave enough to leave”.
Think over the summer about the stories you tell yourself that keep you locked to your corporate job, that stop you demanding more of yourself and your work. Write them down and ask yourself if they have any truth. They may have some truth, but are not the full truth.
Day 9: Understand your financial situation
There are times we all want to walk out but fortunately the hard reality of financial dependence kicks in. The impact on your income is likely to be the biggest factor in not exiting your corporate job. But it shouldn’t make you a prisoner to it. You need to understand what you need to afford the life you want and how you could earn an income to enable that. Budgets and buffers are essential to build confidence that you can do this. Be responsible, but also don’t be trapped by cash in a life you’re not enjoying.
Use the summer to look at how your income is used to afford your outgoings and where there are opportunities to trim or run things differently. Then look creatively at what you could earn – maybe as a contractor or consultant, maybe doing some interim work, maybe your side-hustle could build you a buffer until you can leap.
Day 10: Embrace vulnerability
Many of us wear a mask at work to protects us from exposing our vulnerabilities. It’s often a strategy for survival. But the life you build outside creates an opportunity to drop the mask and be you. And sell the real you, enabling you to choose what you do and how you do it. So, even if you keep the mask on at work, think now about the kind of person you want to be outside – more authentic, more honest, and more vulnerable yes – but also more attractive to the kinds of people you want to work with.
Think over the summer about some of those times you wear a mask at work and how that makes you feel. What would it be like to drop that mask and just be you – would that real you find people who would buy you and your services?
Day 11: Set boundaries & protect your values
For many people leaving the (theoretical) security of a corporate job they fear they’ll end up having to work all hours to pay the bills, take on work they don’t enjoy, work with people they don’t like. Setting boundaries and understanding your values are key to defining lines you won’t cross. Doing this before you leave is part of your preparation to test whether those lines will affect your financial viability or indeed are part of what will make you different and appealing to others.
Think over the summer about some of those times when your values were challenged at work or when lines were crossed that made you feel unhappy. Write them down as they are important to take forward into your new life outside.
Day 12: Self-awareness is a superpower for growth
If corporates like one thing it’s navel-gazing at themselves and at their people. Many of us have spent hours doing individual or team profiles – Myers Briggs, Colour Insights, Firo-B. They teach us things we kind of know about ourselves but often never appreciated. They promote self-awareness which in periods of change can be superpowers in accelerating our growth, so we make considered moves that align with our real selves, not an imagined or desired selves.
Over the summer look back at some of those personality profiles – what are the common themes and threads. How can you learn from them what will set you up for success, as well as perhaps why you’re feeling unfulfilled today?
Day 13: Find multiple income streams
One of the opportunities on offer by exiting corporate life is to do multiple things, each with their own revenues – not only does this play to variety (which has been a major driver for me), but it also diversifies risk. And what you charge one client might be different from what you charge another – enabling you to do some pro bono or low fee work for clients you care about.
Over the summer think through the kind of work you would like to do and the clients you would like to support – can you identify at least three types to diversify risk? What other goals or needs do they also help you meet?
Day 14: Leverage your strengths, forget your weaknesses
It was more than a decade into my corporate career that I stumbled across the book StrengthsFinder. I was a bit meh about the strengths but my big takeaway was I had been spending all my time addressing my weaknesses, when all that would make me was average at lots of things. And crucially, missing the time and effort I could devote to building up my differentiated strengths.
Over the summer write down your strengths, skills too – the difference is strengths are natural to you (that you’ve enhanced) whereas skills are learned. Strengths and skills are the foundation of your offer and credibility with what you choose to do next.
Day 15: Break free from habits that hold you back.
It’s human to habit but it can be our undoing unless the habit is a positive one. Unfortunately, many of our habits tend to be bad, limiting ones that shrink our self-belief and potential. We often know the worst ones because we wield them defensively to justify why we didn’t take bolder action. The meetings or people we avoid, the monthly task we dread, the words and phrases we use, the excuses. Youn don’t want to take these with them – leave them behind.
Over the summer identify some of the habits that hold you back – they might be bad thinking, or things you tell yourself or even act out.
Day 16: Focus on progress and the life you want.
I used to dream a lot of leaving my corporate job, long before I did – and I think taking time to visualise what it looks and feels like is really worthwhile. It’s a way of working out what’s important, setting goals and (after you’ve exited) knowing when you’ve got there. This idea of ‘progress’ comes from Jobs to be done theory and helping a customer shift to a better version of themselves (once they have a solution) – this is the version of you post-corporate. What is that for you?
Use the summer to think about what progress means for you – what does your idea look like? Is it more time - for yourself or your family? Do you want to retrain in a new field? Do you want to help someone? How does it feel to be more control of your future?
Day 17: Your knowledge is transferable
Another Bad Thinking Behaviour is to believe that the thing we do for a corporate is all we can do – that it’s unique or specialised and won’t be valued outside. We have dozens, if not hundreds, of skills, experiences and things we know that are eminently transferable to other situations to help other people or businesses. This kind of bad thinking keeps us imprisoned, doing things we don’t want or need to do – and it often gives us a distorted view of gratitude for the company for whom we work.
Use the summer to think how some of your skills, experience and knowhow could be transferable – often it’s how we get things done, as much as about the outcome itself. Are you good with people, can you create order out of chaos, are you a strategic thinking, do you problem solve well? A good tip here is to think about a recent challenge you helped your business overcome – under pressure what did you do and how could it help others?
Day 18: Don't let your job title define your potential.
The number of times you introduce yourself as your job title, the way you’re described on LinkedIn, the badge you wear at a conference – after it starts to stick. And then what you can actually do, your full potential starts to blur around the edges. You obviously are more than your job title and even your CV. The task though is for you to describe this, to be able to articulate and position this so others see a bigger you.
Use the summer to start to build a new future identity that’s broader than the one you have today within your corporate role. Write a single paragraph and then try to crunch it down to three or four lines lines and then into a punchy line or two. And test it with a few people.
Day 19: Step outside what makes you comfortable
I started working for another big corporate recently – a competitor of the one I left a few years back. It was like putting on some comfy slippers. Very appealing. But worryingly so. Because quite quickly we stop growing. And then our confidence falls. And we stay where we shouldn’t. Push yourself outside your comfort zone, challenge your self, fulfil you full potential.
Use the summer to notice where you have got too comfortable. Where you have taken easy options or a safe path. Where you missed an opportunity for growth because of a bit of fear you might fail or feel exposed.
Day 20: Generalists bring horsepower
I’m a classic generalist. A T-shaped marketer. For a long time I was out of sync with a functional organisation. But I added a lot of value because I could do more than one thing really well. And doubtless you can too. Generalists make things happen, they stitch things and people together and they tend to be very efficient. So they’re immensely valuable to other organisations. Know that.
Use the summer to define your T-shape – where are you key strengths and what you’re known for (the vertical of the T). And what are the other areas where you’re more than good enough to help others – what’s on your horizontal bar of the T?
Day 21: Work through rejection
If you’re made redundant rejection is unavoidable – whether voluntary or not. If you resign, it’s still there – because your employer accepted your resignation and didn’t fight to keep you. Just accept it, work through and for goodness sake don’t let it show (beyond your close circle). Rejection stops you making progress, it keeps you in the past and it erodes your confidence (sometimes at high speed). Acknowledge it, but don’t let it define you.
Use the summer to think through how you’ll feel about no longer being part of your organisation. What is the advice you’ll give to your future self so you can accelerate through any pain and move towards progress? Write it down.
Day 22: Use the stability of your job to experiment
Before you leap to a new future, what could you do to test out that new future? Could you run a side-hustle to see if you get customers, refine your offer, build a financial buffer? Could you build a wait-list of clients who are ready to buy when you’re ready to sell?
Set up a couple of experiments over the summer to test out your ideas – define what success would look like for you before you run the experiments and then get learning!
Day 23: Start growing your network
Your network is one of the things that will change the most as you exit your corporate job – so you can de-risk your new future substantially by building your network before you depart. Not only can you engage potential clients, you can also build a support network who can help you through the transition. Many of the people I met in the months I left my job were also experiencing redundancy and so we could support and counsel one another.
Over the summer look at your network on LinkedIn or Instagram and define how it needs to change to be more valuable to you once you’ve left. What can you do today to start pivoting it to where you need it to be? Then start making contact with people who you think you can help, people who can help you and people who are interesting you can learn from – just a few week can start snowballing.
Day 24: Embrace #GiveFirst
#GiveFirst is the startup mantra – you see it all over the place. Unconditional help and support. It’s not always present in corporate culture, so you might need to learn to get comfortable with it – but I can be supremely helpful in getting going and building the network. A half an hour phone call with someone you meet on LinkedIn can really help someone get unstuck or feel supported and is low effort for you. And what goes around comes around.
Think over the summer about ways you could help others – people going through the same thing, people with a problem on LinkedIn, people in your community, charitable groups or social enterprises who would bite your hand off for some free advice.
Day 25: Manage expectations of family members
Your family is likely to be your biggest stakeholder group. You need to very consciously bring them along with you in preparing and executing your departure from corporate life. Some members will love the change and your renewed sense of purpose and direction, others will find it threatening and destabilising. Understanding all these dynamics will help you ease the transition and build cheerleaders for when things don’t go so well.
Use your corporate skills to build a simple stakeholder map over the summer to understand the different opportunities and threats that your family members see and feel because of your planned move. Involve them, listen to how they feel and use your discussions to identify gaps or weaknesses in your rationale.
Day 26: Prototype your career change
Once you’ve completed a series of simple experiments to test out your ideas, could you build a prototype of the life you want to leave before you exit? Could you set up a space at home where you work as you plan to? Build a website, run a training course, start email marketing. A side-hustle where you act as if it’s the real thing?
Use your summer to plan out how you’re going to prototype your move before you leave, so you iron out the issues, spot weaknesses and see how you feel about your new lifestyle. Set yourself a date when you’ll start to hold yourself accountable.
Day 27: Seek out serendipity
Not to get too woo-woo and law of attraction but the more things you do the more you create options for things to just happen. You can think of this as the universe having a plan or just simply increasing the odds of favourable opportunities versus vegging out in front of Netflix (of the corporate equivalent i.e. vegging out in a career). Get out, givefirst, meet people, be clear about what you can offer and what you want. Things will happen. Also people like helping people.
Use your summer to try some things that you wouldn’t normally do – reach out to a people who you wouldn’t normally connect with, go to an event that’s outside your industry or field, reply to other people’s blogs or social media posts. Increase your surface area to the world.
Day 28: Prepare for the wobbles
Leaving a corporate career isn’t always smooth sailing. Maybe it never is. There are times when things go wrong. When it feels a lot harder work than just having a job. Mainly it’s because we tend to nostalgically look back with rose-tinted glasses forgetting all the bad things. And because you’re more vulnerable now without all that perceived security and support – so accept the wobbles, they’re inevitable. Just work through them – they don’t last. And they will probably get less frequent as your new life becomes just your life.
Over the summer try to think about the things you imagine will cause wobbles of the future; the things you’re likely to focus on when you’re feeling tired and a bit hopeless. Is it cash, is it your capability, is it your network, is it not knowing what you’re doing, is it dealing with rejection – or silence? What can you do now to plan for these wobbles, so when they hit, you’re primed and can bat them away?
Day 29: Embrace messiness
Corporate life can be pretty boring: the routines, the culture, the rules, the processes, the annual cycles. Life outside can be the opposite: chaotic, ambiguous, volatile. Too much of either is not good for us, but living in the outside gives you more opportunity to really live and experience more challenges and succeed more. Personally succeed too, not just succeed as a team or company. It’s messy (especially in the early days), but it’s more fun and it can be exhilarating – never boring.
There are things you can plan this summer to reduce the messiness – if this is a worry for you. You can outsource the things that can’t be messy e.g. book-keeping, tax and legal stuff. And for the rest, identify where being messy (for a while) opens up opportunities and ideas, allows you to enjoy the change and contrast, enables you to be more creative and take more risks.
Day 30: Be patient & persistent
Success doesn’t happen overnight – if it does, it can’t have been that much a challenge. Failures and wobbles are common. You spent a decade or more building your corporate career, learning what worked and what didn’t. Give yourself time to adjust to this way of working. Be kind to yourself and patient.
This summer write down three statements to future yourself that you hope will calm yourself when you feel stressed, will encourage you when hope feels lost and push you forward when you feel like jacking it all in and looking on LinkedIn for a full-time job.
Day 31: Your Escape Plan
Now you just need to put everything you’ve learnt about yourself, your state of readiness, your goals and expectations, your offer, your experiments and how you’ll handle things when they don’t go well. These are all the inputs you need for your Escape Plan.
Your last task is now to pull together your Escape Plan. The good news is that you have done a lot of the hard work if you’ve jotted down your responses to the tasks over the last 30 days. It might not be perfect but it’s a start – and you’re further now that you were at the end of July. You might even be ready.
If you want to share your Escape Plan with me, I’d be happy to have a free call with you to give you some feedback on it or share some ideas about what you can do next.
Thank you Adam for sharing so much wisdom here and for giving so many practical tips away (for free!). I am absolutely going to try this template. Very inspiring - and love your Substack!
Hi Adam, the template is very thought provoking. I was able to answer most questions quickly and some had me truly searching for my answer. I look forward to the next 30 days.