📘 Big changes usually work out better than expected

Overweighing the cons and confusing boredom with stress

Previously on “The Dad Story”:

1. I am a validation-starved nerd who loves comedy and those things tend to be helpful for social media content creation.

2. In 2013 I started a secret Twitter account called The Glad Stork so I could post my embarrassingly bad jokes.

3. The Dad’s goals were entertainment and community. We created The Dad Gaming for community.

4. An existential crisis is the mother of a dramatic career change. The Dad wouldn’t exist without General Electric.

5. I grew The Glad Stork to 10k followers, and got the attention of Scary Mommy Founder Jill Smokler.

Are you weighing a big life change? Do you have a pro con list in your head, or even, gasp, actually written down on paper?

If you’re like me, I bet you’re giving the cons more weight than they deserve. It’s the fear of the unknown.

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In my 10th year at GE, a friend of mine (hi Rachel!) referred me for an undefined position at a new company in downtown Cincinnati. The company was called 84.51°. Named that because that’s the longitude of the company’s headquarters. And because they do longitudinal data analyses, apparently. But I suspect mostly because it sounds cool and the domain 8451.com was available. (84.51° is the portion of DunnHumby that Kroger acquired in early 2015. It’s the data science and analytics subsidiary of Kroger.)

Nothing to lose, I went in for an interview. I talked with a panel of leaders and interviewed for a job that didn’t even exist yet. It was more of a conversation. If they liked me and had a fit, we’d take it from there. That’s how new they were.

I’ve never seen a workspace like 84.51’s. It was amazing. Lots of concrete, metal, and glass. Huge open air spaces. Splashes of vibrant color.

All the standard progressive open office amenities: pool table, cafeteria, gym with showers, nap room, massage room, etc. Wait… massage room? Yeah you could book a masseuse.

I later learned the structure was designed like an 8 floor parking garage, hollowed out and used for office space.

I was intrigued. And I was ready for a change.

So my thoughts on interviewing at a new company after spending basically my entire professional career at GE were: why not?

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My wife Laura is in HR. She’s a people person. Once at a GE friend’s party, she asked people there (mostly GE people) if they liked their jobs. The response was “meh” topped with a healthy amount of 😬.

Her follow up HR question: “Oh so are you looking for anything else?” And the answer was ALWAYS: “No.” Every time.

People didn’t really leave GE. That wasn’t a consideration.

I was ready in 2015. I was anxious about quitting. I expected that I’d get paid less somewhere else. I was also certain that my GE managers would be angry and shun me for life. I figured they’d even make me get my GE tattoo laser removed.

6+ months after my first interview at 84.51’s futuristic parking garage workspace, I got an offer. It was significantly higher than my GE salary, with a bonus. WHAT! I told my GE manager I was moving on. She was very nice and understanding. And I was told to come back any time. WHAT WHAT!

My last week at GE I had strategic leadership training scheduled in Austin Texas. I told my boss I assumed she didn’t want me to go? She said it was up to me and I could go if I wanted.

I’d never been to Austin so I was in. We ate breakfast burritos and Austin barbecue. We saw the Austin bridge bats and drank beers on 6th street. Oh and we talked about strategic leadership crap, or whatever, I guess.

I took one week off between jobs. During that week I illustrated a children’s book I wrote for my daughter, and I did standup for the first time.

The next Monday, I woke up excited to go to work for the first time in a long time.

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I’ve only recently realized this, like in the past few years, but all of my life I have often confused “boredom” with “stress.” If I get sick of the same old thing, I feel overwhelmed and anxious. I feel like I have WAY TOO MUCH to do and it’s so difficult and I can’t do it all and blah blah blah. When in reality, the work I’m doing is no longer fulfilling and exciting. I don’t really want to do it. It doesn’t fire me up anymore, and so…. I feel stressed even though I’m really bored.

Maybe you relate.

What does all of this have to do with The Dad Story?

Judging from some of your emails and messages, some of you are reading this because you’re contemplating similar big career changes.

Disclaimer: The tone of all of this feels out of place for me. I’m pretending to be some sage wise person bestowing career advice to people? I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I feel lost like 90% of the time. I have no idea how life works.

But in my experience, big changes work out WAYYYY better than expected.

Turns out my concerns with leaving GE were unfounded. An even bigger change, leaving corporate America to start a dad brand, exceeded all of my wildest expectations.

If you’re feeling stressed with your situation, perhaps you’re bored and need a change?

If you’re evaluating a change, are you giving too much weight to the cons?

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I never expected to have any substack readers. This is just a personal journal posted publicly. Everything else is bonus.

I’m happy you’re here. And I looooove comments, messages, emails.

Here’s my favorite message so far. Received two weeks ago from an old friend…

“I’ve been following your career journey and adventures thru social media. They are very inspiring, and I love your substack. I’ve reached my ‘staring at a graveyard’ moment; I feel stuck, burnt out, uninspired, and like a hamster on a wheel. Anyway, I’m taking the leap… Who knows where this will go, but I do know I won’t be staring at a graveyard anymore, at least for now 🤣 Keep doing what you’re doing, we need more folks like you in the world to inspire others and promote the real thoughts/dialogue in life.“