However, my day job is draining all my energy in a way that I am grumpy from Sunday night to Saturday morning. I wake up at 6:20, commute 45 minutes, work 8h, commute 45 minutes, arrive home at 18:00 and then I try to squeeze time for my side project, going to the gym, making groceries, hang out with my gf, etc. I probably push around 10h/week to the project. The worst part of it is getting home exhausted in a way that it's impossible for me to do any work done. It makes me feel miserable, depressed, and tied. I could create more value just by myself. During my office hours, my energy levels are, and the atmosphere at work is pleasant. Also, my salary is above the Spanish average, but nothing special, my uni friends are also making similar numbers.
My gut is telling me to quit my job and work for my products. I have enough savings to survive for five years. I don't think about going nomad or any of these hippie trends. I'm focused on building a business and feel accomplished by something I've done with my hands.
My biggest fears are: - To not stick to a schedule/routine once I am solo. - People's and family opinion. - Failing and losing motivation.
Should I quit my job and work on my stuff or search for another position that would give more motivation?
Figure out which mistake would be less crushing, and do that one. If it happens to actually work out, great. If not, at least you won't be spending the rest of your life regretting.
By the way, for reasons I won't speculate on, this method (assume failure, which would you pick) turns out to be a pretty good way of picking the option more likely to succeed, actually. But assume you won't succeed no matter what, and use that scenario to decide which way to go.
That kind of thinking has kind of put a very big truck into my thought train in a lot of situations. Not doing things suddenly seems a lot more appealing.
And don't get me wrong. I'm an operator with legal and other non-functional requirements at heart. But there's still many things to ignore as much as possible.
There's no way you can imagine yourself in an unknown future. You can not estimate how much you will regret one thing or the other, because you don't know the situation you will be in. All the variables affecting you (economy, health, family situation) are constantly changing. You're not going to picture yourself as a homeless alcoholic who somehow is still really glad he built that app once and would do all it all over again.
The first bad thing that'll probably happen after he quits his job is that his girlfriend will leave him. Not necessarily immediately, but it'll be a strain on the relationship. Even though she will not admit it (perhaps because she isn't even aware of it), she is probably dating him because he is a guy that has a decent job, not some dreamer with a wacky business idea (unless maybe that's how she got to know him). Breakups can be really tough on men, why can negatively affect work and motivation. Not being the guy with the decent job, it will be tougher to find a new partner as well.
The second bad thing that will happen is the realization that "being your own boss" and "working on the stuff that is important to you" versus "showing up" and "collecting a paycheck" always sounds better when you're doing the latter. Doing the former is actually a lot of stressful work and you can not tell how it works on you until you have done it.
Lastly, living with regrets is not such a big deal. Who doesn't live with regrets? Whatever you do, you can rely on your brain coming up with rationalizations on why this-and-that just wasn't meant to be.
Having said all that, with "five years of savings" (more like two years, am I right?), doing a sabbatical just to try it out should be in the cards. There may not be a need to quit the job, many companies offer this. If after six months to a year you aren't on the right track, it probably isn't working out, but you will have learned a lot about yourself.
Breakups suck, but sometimes it is a way to find out if you are with the right person (not that this is why you should do it of course).
Think through the choices in front of you, which of them do you think you would regret more when you are on your death bed.
I will note, there is a risk to this approach I didn’t fully appreciate while younger: you don’t always know what in the future you will regret.
However, at least in my life, I have very few genuine regrets by following this advice.
This question seems to be the right question to ask, but whether it is or isn't, thanks for reminding me.
> By the way, for reasons I won't speculate on, this method (assume failure, which would you pick) turns out to be a pretty good way of picking the option more likely to succeed, actually.
I'm going to try to keep this one in mind for big decisions.
But, I wonder if it would still work well if, in the back of your mind, you were thinking "but it won't really fail, it always succeeds". You really do need to take seriously the idea that it will not work out, and only do it when you would still rather try it.
But it completely sidesteps your inbuilt missile guidance system. A human being with a goal is a powerful thing. Just seeking to avoid the worst of 2 scenarios is a little sad.
Unless your goal is just to seek comfort, which is fine, but then be up front about that choice.
Realise that 100$ / month of nothing. It's the income of a small blog and even my small side project earns me 500-600€/month consistently.
Then again, do what you will regret the least.
The best advice I ever got from my mentor: "Listen to your gut!" Passing it on...
I have enough savings to survive for five years.
What?!? Are you fucking crazy?!? What are you waiting for?!?
My biggest fears are: - To not stick to a schedule/routine once I am solo.
How will you know until you try? More to the point: how will you know how important "sticking to a schedule/routine" is until you try? (Probably not nearly as much as you think.)
- People's and family opinion.
Fuck. That. Shit. The first thing anyone must do when embarking on a new journey is to focus on the issues and ignore the pointless details. I can't imagine anything more pointless than "people's and family opinion".
- Failing and losing motivation. Why lump these 2 together? In my experience, failing is the best way to learn and learning is the best way to get more motivation.
Should I quit my job and work on my stuff or search for another position that would give more motivation?
YES! YES! YES! Do something, anything different! The worst thing you can do at this point in you life is stay the course. You'll just get older and more bitter. And posting the same thing on hacker news 2 years from now.
You can recapture money. You can recapture relationships. You can recapture your health. You can recapture almost anything, except for time.
Please don't make the same mistake I made by getting started in your 40's. Because you were too timid and pissed away too much of your life on what you know is the wrong thing.
I've responded to many similar questions over the years here on hn, but yours may be the clearest of them all: You already know what you must do but came here for confirmation. Now you have it. Take the next right step for yourself and please, keep us posted.
Best wishes and respect!
One, I realized that I was drinking a ton of caffeine (coffee, soda, etc), and that maybe that was the reason I was high-strung and irritable all the time. I cut out caffeine on March 3, 2019, and within 1 week I felt calmer and more relaxed. I was less irritable, and I found myself listening more calmly to the people that irritated me.
Second, I started running every day for at least 1 mile. I've been a runner for years, but I've gotten out of the habit. A coworker challenged me to run at least 1 mile per day (~10 minutes -- totally doable!) and I'm currently on Day 58. When I wake up in the morning, I immediately go for a run. This has three side effects: 1) it's a great way to WAKE UP, 2) it gives me a kick of endorphins that keeps me happy and upbeat for at least the next several hours, 3) it kickstarts the metabolism and I've lost a few pounds since I started and clearly built up some muscle as well.
Third, and probably most importantly, I went to see a doctor about my mood swings. She prescribed a mood stabilizer which took a month to kick in, but I definitely feel better. I haven't been grumpy in months, and I'm generally happier and more productive than I was before.
I don't necessarily recommend that you do the above things, but it sounds like a change in your daily routine, plus maybe some professional help (there's nothing to be ashamed of!) might be a good way to get through your current slump.
Changing a job is one way to do this, but it's worth taking a deep introspective look to see if it's the job that's making you miserable. Who's to say that the next job won't _also_ make you miserable? So my advice would be to see if you can determine what you _can_ control that might help you feel better.
Hope that helps.
This kind of social conditioning from the school system / society combined with never letting people do what they really want because they have "responsibilities" from the age of 5 is what keeps everyone in check... Go to uni ( no you can't take a year off ), go to work ( why take a year off? You are a slacker... ) etc. ( not to mention that you have no other option than to endure school until you're 18 with no saying what you want to do, and making it almost impossible to do shortcuts in that, even if you're capable ).
My opinion: people are usually want to do things. The school system makes you believe that the only reason people work on things is because they are forced to do is pure bull. People who still have these creative feelings at 29, after going trough all of these things are hyper self-motivated individuals, who don't need any external force to do things ( usually, of course there might be exceptions ).
Yes, after you quit your job you might slack off for a while, and you won't be productive. That might be because your mind needs it, or you might have thoughts in your mind ( because of the fears you've listed ), that block your creative process.
I had similar issues, but I've told myself that I'm not going to do anything but play video games for two weeks. After day 3 I didn't do any playing, and went trough 3 weeks of robotics lessons in two days without forcing myself.
The question of routine: I know this is not a popular opinion, but I think you don't necessarily need a routine, you will just do it, because you want it. Believe in yourself, what I mean is believe what you think of yourself, and try not to let these pressures in, which makes you believe that the slacker is in you. It is not in you.
You have 5 years of savings. Try it for a year! I mean, maybe you become homeless when you're 60 because of this decision ( worst case ). What do you want to be, a 60 year old homeless who made a gut decision, and it didn't work out, or a 60 year old man who never followed his heart?
I _really_ wish you the best!
What I mean is not that school makes slackers, but school makes people believe that they are slackers, because they never had the chance to experience that they can perform without external pressure. Some people do need pressure to do things, but many people don't. I don't. I mean even if I feel pressure, that's coming from within, and not because my parents/peers would disapprove if I get a C.
But I generally agree with you, school makes people accept that they can't change their life, they need to be slaves/pressured into working ( otherwise they would slack off ).
Also, I would not say that accepting what is forced upon you is discipline. The most disciplined people I know discipline themselves without being force, and that's not something that you can learn in school.
My life is different now. There is much less stability, constant fear of not making enough money to pay for my expenses, my retirement, etc... also, I’ve never been so tired in my whole life.
Having said that, I feel _happier_ than when I had stability in my previous draining day job. I also don’t have a single drop of regret.
If you have something work wise that you love, just make the jump. You’ll survive and learn a lot.
That's textbook survivorship bias right there.
Personally, I'd try to continue building savings while waiting either until the world gets through the current tensions relatively unscathed, of until the recovery starts if they lead to a serious economic downturn.
The current tensions are more political than financial, it seems, so maybe if things turn bad because of them it won't have as big an effect on business. I'm just saying it is something that OP should think about before doing something that will severely deplete their savings.
5 years is plenty of time to get something off the ground and up to the same level if not more income than you already earn today.
If I was in your shoes I would do it 100%
1. Every time when I delayed making a significant decision in my life related to big changes, I regretted only the delay. I was always happy with the outcome, but always wished I had made the decision sooner. I now take this into account and decide faster. Life isn't that long.
2. Starting something on your own takes years. Unless you are very lucky, building your own business will take at least two years until you can live off it. In SaaS that's because how it works, in consulting it's because you usually need to find clients and work your way up via referrals. The only exception is if you can get consulting work from companies you already know (such as your former employer). So don't quit your job without a very good idea of what you will do next and plan to live on savings for two years.
3. There might be other jobs that will leave more time for side projects, so changing your job first and then starting something as a side project first might be a safer path.
Just to provide a counterweight to this, I've never regretted taking my time to consider things well.
Plenty of people would have married their spouse a little bit earlier. But plenty of people would have done well to wait another six months to get to know each other a bit better.
It’s been 2 months and I have zero regrets. In that time I started and finished a video project I had put off for 8 months, started playing drums, and just finished a month of traveling the US and Europe. I still don’t know what I want to do long term, but I’ve never felt more empowered to figure it out. Do it!
* Disclaimer: I have an open offer from my old company to come back any time (same role same compensation), so that took a lot of the pressure off of the decision. You should see if you can negotiate something similar with your job.
Quitting my job to pursue my own project, with a few years of runway, massively accelerated the development of my project, accelerated my rate of learning - ideal for staying employable, while basically subconsciously removing "lifestyle" distractions that come with making > 200k/year.
So yeah, chalk it up to personality type, but if you're serious about building your own business, the best advice, since you have the runway, might be to quit your job as soon as you can.
Interesting. Why kind of personality type do you have?
As long as you are strict with yourself in only giving it 6 months, it should be fine. Tell everyone you know that this is your plan. If you don't get any traction within six months it's very unlikely that it makes sense to drag it out longer. Just cut your losses and move on.
On the other hand, I watched a colleague leave a stable job to start a project from scratch. He had a good reserve, but he burned through it and the project didn’t make any money. Last I heard, he got a new job.
There’s probably not a right answer to your question, but my advice is this: if you’re not happy with that you’re currently doing, it’s probably time to move on one way or another.
This, for me, leads directly to the correct answer to OP's question.
Worst case scenario, you get another job. Of course you quit and give it a go. What have you got to lose? Your savings & potential earnings are likely not that much, and you don't have to burn through all of it anyway.
Do it.
I say this too because you're only spending 10 hours a week on your side project. If you really enjoyed it, you'd blow off spending time with you GF to do your thing... I know I did.
I'm not saying you should be a plumber or an electrician; You can be an entrepreneur, but it doesn't necessarily have to be in the tech field--at least not solely, rather use what you know to compliment your new venture.
I think you should talk to HR and see if you can get a 3 month leave of absence (even if you have to BS them for a reason), and take a step back to decide how you want to spend the next 35 years of your life.
Good luck.
You know that you can like more than a thing in your life right? And that you may like one more than the others, all while still enjoying the others one enough to make it a career, right?
You seems to have a really unhealthy relationship with your passion, you may want to check that up before it become an issue.
You could instead try and move to a consulting role with the company where you can control your hours and do more off-site. Seeing as you said a German auto, that may not be so easy to do. The other option is stay in your day job temporarily while you find a couple of consulting gigs (even PM type work or whatever you can) where you can basically have part time work and you know you'll have money coming through the door, but that will enforce some discipline on your days. Then use the time you have to build out your own products and get it moving. Also, the part time work lets you interact with other professionals and keeps you a little more engaged then you might otherwise get if you just solo out immediately, which is helpful.
My 2 cents, if you have any concerns about whether you can stay disciplined to make it work, don't just jump and start living off savings. Do one step towards being 100% on your own, but do it with some part time work which forces some structure. This will help you transition and let you figure out how you work best, and how to motivate yourself. I have seen this is where a lot of super capable people make their mistake initially. Having a little extra structure at first where you must deliver something for someone every week etc will help you. Also, the income you are taking in is a way to help offset just living off your savings since that can also be a scary thing to do, even if you have many years saved up already. When you only see your account getting smaller it is hard not to panic a little.
Also don't forget that physical and mental health are closely interlinked such that if you aren't doing well physically, then your mental health will suffer and vice-versa.
>It makes me feel miserable, depressed, and tied.
And this;
>I have enough savings to survive for five years.
I'd say leave immediately.
Once you are financially responsible for other human beings (in part or full), this decision gets more complex. Without adequate planning and savings, leaving your employer may be downright irresponsible. But that's not the case right now it seems - all you'll affect is yourself.
So another angle to consider is that - if you're 5-10 years in the future and have all these responsibilities, which path would you have rather taken?
I took 3 months off work once to pursue something when I was at a similar stage in life as you, with the view that I'd delay the decision to come back if I made good progress. Keeping to a schedule was something I didn't do - and if I could go back that's the main thing I'd enforce (and probably allow a little more time, and quit instead of take extended leave). Unfortunately it didn't work out for reasons of progress and other responsibilities I still had at the time, and I just went back to work. No regrets, I might try it again in the future and I'd be better placed to do so.
As for managing others' perceptions - framing it as "trying something out before getting another job" is seemingly more socially more acceptable. But just be careful not to let that mindset reduce your valour in the endeavour.
Best of luck whichever path you take!
https://khanism.org/perspective/minimalism/
https://khanism.org/perspective/a-tale-of-two-journeys/
It will set you back a bit. I used up a good amount of savings, but I never had to dip into or borrow against retirement. I probably wouldn't do it again (unless I get accepted into a PhD program; one of my big goals), but I'm really glad I did. I literally traveled around the world and lived in three different countries. How many people can say that?
Working with a therapist or a coach might help you unblock whatever is holding you back and identify how to increase your energy and reduce frustration. That would be a better use of your savings - right now - than quitting your job.
You also don’t say whether you have any experience on the business side of things. A side project supported by a stable job is very different to something being your primary source of income.
I’m not saying don’t take the jump - but get everything lined up and address the disorder first.
Maybe you are just grumpy because you don't respect the privileges in life that you had.
It is entirely YOUR choice if you are happy or not with your life. Maybe you read a lot of entrepreneurial things and let them manipulate you, so you are always frustrated and started looking for another escape.
Just imagine if you where 18, with all your life ahead, with a lot of chaos, whether you will be successful, manage to find a job and find a good gf. You are doing just fine.
There is a lot of people that suggest that you continue with your side project and when it finally reaches to a point that you can live well off it, you dedicate full time.
Sometimes people believe that being able to dedicate more hours to something will amount to more money or productivity, but it's not always the case. Generally, the essential takes 1-2 hours a day to build.
If your project is any good, I can try to help you to develop it. I'm also based in Europe. Feel free to contact me.
If you're unhappy with your situation, you should try to improve it.
Feeling depressed can tell you that it's time to improve your situation, but it can also be a barrier to improving the situation. Immediately, make sure your nutrition, exercise, and sleep are good. If you can get a doctor checkup and blood tests, that can also rule out some possible contributing factors. Also consider talking with a counselor (if that is a thing in your country). In addition to all those, you can experiment with things like getting more daylight, standing and moving more than sitting, etc.
If your situation isn't unbearable, don't quit before you have a plausible plan for what to do instead. Such as a signed offer for a job that you want to do instead. Or a plan for exploring a startup, with conditional plan branches for what to do if it doesn't hit certain milestones within certain timeframes.
If age discrimination is a thing in your field and country, don't predicate your plan on assumptions of how easy it was to get a job 5 years ago. If you do a startup for a few years, then decide to go back, consider how different you might be perceived, trying to go back in your mid-30s. (Many companies like to hire impressionable young employees without much family commitments, and focus their hiring on those. And there's a good chance you'll be interviewed by some 20yos who have interesting theories about already knowing everything of value themselves, and about the sudden onset of severe cognitive decline afflicting anyone on their 30th birthday.) So, if your conditional plan includes possibly going back to this, try to plan for how that can work despite any age discrimination.
However, beyond information people can give you, it still sounds like a very personal decision. For what it's worth, I'd recommend writing about it in a journal/diary. You really have to figure out what you feel about it, and I've found that writing really helps solidify muddled thoughts and feelings. Just get a blank page and write about it for half an hour. Do it on several different days across time and find out how you really feel about it.
wake up at 730-8 and gym. start work by 930-10. pause work at ~5pm to take dog for walk & cook dinner with gf start work again around 8pm to 11-12.
Its been pretty sustainable for me and my gf isnt unhappy. Quit your job and go figure out if this things works or not. Worse case scenario you fail and then you go back to a corporate gig.
The best advice I received was to have evidence that you're not languishing after leaving the job. I am accomplishing this with https://www.100daysofcode.com/ . The work I'm doing is related to my side hustle, and it's keeping me focused on producing progress every day.
Oh, coming from a recently single, kid-less, 29 year old with 18 months of runway, leave the terrible job. The mental health benefits are so difficult to describe without experiencing them. Probably the best one is you'll shed the bad work habits and mentalities you may have had seeping into your life. It's tough to notice these without the time apart from the job. I was bringing my C-game the last six months of my old job; Pursuing your side hustle will force you to being your A-game. You'll have to be a better worker, which then makes you more employable if you get back into the job market.
Idk how the job market is for your region in your line of work. I know I can go back into the job market and compete for jobs that would be a 20-40k raise on my last job, so it's a soft cushion for me to land on if my side hustle goes poorly. I hope you are as fortunate. Best of luck!
Then do it. And do throw your whole self into it. Make at least one attempt, otherwise you'll regret never having tried. You'll generally figure it out as you go along and it's never as bad as you think it's going to be.
PS: Currently doing the same thing (working on a product) and I'm almost out of savings which is very very stressful, would do it again in a heartbeat, only this time with far more conviction.
I understand you very well because in Spain, most people value a lot the stability of a permanent position. And permanent roles are quite rare these days in Spain.
Whenever I face these kind of decisions, I found that fear to the unknown is what hurts me the most. Therefore I try to make a risk assessment, that usually clears my mind.
Firstly, I think that if your side project is already making some money, it is likely that if you put the hours, it will work out and make more money, probably enough for you to live out of it with your current condition.
Regardless, you have savings and there are lots of opportunities if you want to come back to the standard job market, specially for an experienced leader with a competent level of English. So the risk of failing to come back is quite small.
Now, about your discipline and motivation, those are very tricky and I think they are my greatest fears, but anyhow it'd probably be a good opportunity to learn and master those skills.
By the way, I decided that from August, I'll work full time on my project for a few months and see how that goes. Feel free to contact me www.carlosbaraza.com!
All of that is reflected throughout auto companies. Even the latest technology such as telematics for predictive maintenance and electric charging are highly dependent on the market, suppliers, and government forces that drive infrastructure changes.
The IT org and most technical jobs exists to support that slow moving structure. If you are the person who wants to move fast and be entrepreneurial you are probably going to struggle in an auto company. Just something to keep in mind as you decide if you want to stay in a job or start something on your own.
I was pretty much in your situation about 5 years ago while working in finance (I basically had a dead end glorified sales job) and I had the choice to work part-time and I did. A year later I managed to break into my new career path thanks to me having a lot of free time to focus on myself and my career switch.
Best decision ever.
With 5 years to figure it out, at 29, with no kids, with a career in a profitable industry/segment that will employ you again quickly, and in a country with a solid social safety net, you're not really risking anything other than your ego getting bruised.
Source: I did it, in a situation not that different to yours.
In my opinion, if you are losing your motivation, maybe your guts are not the best advice you should follow. I always try to take risky decisions when I feel comfortable with the current situation.
Concerns about others' opinions and about your ability to persevere solo are internal constraints.
To the former, does your employer have a leave of absence policy? Could you take a year leave to try your own thing, with the ability to return if now isn't the time?
To the latter - breaking away from excessive conformity to others' opinions is a good thing, IMHO, and if all you accomplish in this exercise is that, it's net positive.
Sticking to a schedule: find a mentor, advisor, somebody to check in with you weekly and review projected work vs. actual results. This will help you stay on task and find workarounds when you get stuck.
It seems like you're well positioned to strike out on a different path. Best of luck to you.
You write spreadsheets and powerpoint, so is it safe to assume the your work computer is Windows and you are using Office? If so, your computer has PowerShell on it and you can read, write and manipulate Excel and PowerPoint using it. You can use the Task Scheduler to run scripts on a schedule. See if you can automate portions of your workflow and free up your time to automate others (and take on things that can be automated). See if you can predict what others want before they ask for it. Make it a game, if you will. Write about what you are doing, even if you never publish it. Revise what you write. Turn it into documentation that reads like a story.
It can be satisfying even if the job isn't exciting.
That's three to four years more than most people who make the jump.
If you're already making money from your side project, again, you're ahead of most people who make the jump.
Sounds like you should go for it!
The biggest thing to watch out for is getting lonely. When I went off on my own, I had a wife and kids. So I get to see them every day. If you work alone, you may not have any human interaction for a day or two, or longer. Human interaction is important to maintaining sanity. So make sure to make up for it somehow. Go to meetups, join a social club, be proactive about meeting up with friends, something to get you out of the house and interacting with other humans daily. Even if you're in an introvert, you still need human interaction. Find something that works for you.
> To not stick to a schedule/routine once I am solo
A lot of people have that fear, and it's pretty easy to solve. One trick involves starting every day with a walk around the block and ending each "work day" with another walk around the block in the opposite direction. This is your "commute" and puts you in the right mindset. You can do something else if you don't like walking, like make sure you start with a workout or a shower.
> People's and family opinion.
That's a hard one. Every family and culture is different. But in this case profitability solves a lot of problems. If you can respond to the naysayers with "I'm making money not losing" then that's a good way to appease most criticism.
> Failing and losing motivation.
Another hard one, especially if you have a lot of savings. You need someone to hold you accountable, either a cofounder or even an employee. Or depending on your relationship, maybe your girlfriend. As her to check in with you specifically about the business every week. Or if not her, another solo founder somewhere.
But don't just quit your job outright. Find a better job first, then quit your job. You'll look much more "attractive" to a potential employer if you are already employed and successful elsewhere.
1) Will I be more fulfilled if I try it, even if I fail? 2) Will I learn from it and grow as a person?
If I can answer yes to both of those questions, then I do it. I ask myself these questions to almost everything I do.
And yes, sometimes that means not doing what I _want_ to do, if I don't have the time, energy, or the means to do it. For example, I really want to go to Sweden this year, but I have to save for a few other things that are more important to me and my life (business, learning scuba diving, etc).
You'll always regret not doing it when you think/hope you are capable of doing it. Even if you fail, you'll "graduate" with a ton of learning plus you won't face that regret.
I wouldn't recommend you burn all 5 years worth of savings though. Set a year aside, and set some benchmark that you must reach by the end of the year. If you don't reach that benchmark/goal, go find another job that will be more tolerable for you.
Quitting and subsequently going on a 4 month motorcycle trip through Central Asia now feels like one of the best decisions of my life.
You are young, well educated, unhappy and working at the same company since you are 24. If your endeavor does not work out, you have will probably have a good chance of finding a decent new job. I believe that subjecting yourself to a new environment and new challenges from time to time reinvigorates your life and make you a happier person.
edit: also, I can't emphasise enough how much less energy, time and tolerance for risk you have once you are over 30 and have a young family plus mortgage.
Do it while you don't have that.
Take the money and buy an existing business, and have a little left to invest in that business.
Also, in case you're not familiar already, I'd recommend spending some time reading a few posts at https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ - the aesthetic might seem a bit weird, and it's not a "one size fits all" topic, but there's some good food for thought. Maybe read it at work ;).
In the mean time, I believe you need to revamp your diet and keep up with your gym activities. If you eat well and keep working out, you may become strong enough to handle this current workload and still be able to work on your project.
I wish you the best.
But if it was me, I'd stay with the high-paying job and look to make it better for a while. Start jogging or doing low-impact exercises over lunch time. Try to pick up new challenges. Look for ways to make it more interesting. Do this at least a couple of more years if you can, saving as much as you can.
Good luck.
You are young at 29, but for your girlfriend (if she's of the same age) it's time to think about kids, and think quickly.
Could you take a sabbatical from your company? Say a couple of months or a year to work on your project. Then you could always return if things don't work out.
During that break from work you could then work on your side project full time and get a feeling of whether you can stick to the routine once solo.
I’ve done it before and it’s a great experience. 100% worth it. Follow your dreams.
Just don’t delude yourself into thinking you will grow your side project into a full time income. You may. But don’t count on it.
I quit. My first 2 companies failed but I have never felt unmotivated since (13 years later).
Your experiences might wary.
You could just take that five year's worth of savings, invest in real estate or open a Cafe, which could finance you through rent or business.
Then you can focus on whatever you like.
Trade definite boredom for potential adventure & success!
Taking a perspective that stretches further in time, it sounds like you're on your way to reach financial independence fairly soon, assuming you don't quit your job just yet. tldr: if you save enough money and invest it intelligently (basically in the s&p 500 or a total stock market), you should be able to live off the compounding interests of your investments. If you have 5 years of expenses already saved up, you might be a quarter/third of the way to reach your number (the amount invested for which you don't need to work anymore). Finally, having a goal laid as such might make it easier to bear your day job until you can retire in a few years.
For more info, check out the book Financial Freedom. I didn't write it but I'm in the same boat as you, so my goal is now to make and invest as much money as possible through day job and side hustles, to then be able to retire and work because I want to, rather than because I need to.
Good luck!
If your current work is, as they say, "soul crushing"... you should invest some of your personal time to leaving that job. This is an independent decision of what you want to do/should do afterward: yes, you can quit/work on your own stuff.... but there are other possibly good outcomes that include the "quit" part, but something other than bootstrapping a business.
As for starting your own business, I found it hard to bootstrap something meaningful without being full time on it... so that part of what you're talking about does make sense. But you need to be ready to burn cash for an extended period, consider: 1) how long it will take to get your product/service into something making reliable income (meaning enough to cover business expenses, your expenses, as well as enough to bank some cash so that you can ride out the hard times); 2) if things don't work out, you still will need cash to burn while you look for new employment... or more seriously risk having to take the first thing that comes along and being, perhaps, in a worse position than you are now. Not having dependents is helpful, but you have your own needs that, no matter how meager, must be accounted for.
I did the bootstrapping thing myself, but I was lucky in a sense. I had run out of runway cash and had to take a job quick: the job I took saw my bootstrapping effort as a plus, and after I was there for a few years, I was allowed to moonlight on my original business to get it stable... and later when I left that firm, they were a client for while. (my business has been self-sustaining for about 7 years now) Don't count on that kind of luck, though, and to that point. If you don't have the cash (or access to it)... get out of your current job, but almost certainly get another.
As for people's / family's opinion: meh... you need to have sufficient confidence and independence to pull off a bootstrapping project. If you second-hand your self-worth to the opinions of others: then you need to question how successful you are likely to be. Much of being an entrepreneur of any type is being able to see opportunities that others don't. If you rely on the opinion of others... well, you may see a contradiction in goals. None of this isn't to say that well qualified or well reasoned opinions shouldn't be listened to or taken seriously: they can give valuable perspective... but fearing those opinions in determining if your vision is legitimately right or wrong is probably going to put you on the wrong path. The only valid fear that comes to mind is if you intend to use those people/family as a safety net if you fail.... I would suggest planning and preparing so that you don't need to call in help should you fall.
Also, be aware that your business will take a life of its own. I was able to bootstrap and get stable because I did smaller consulting gigs across a lot of long term clients, but ultimately I wanted to build products. Well, great... now I have a good cash flow as my client base come to me with new projects and I have "hard times" buffer, but I have so many client obligations that I have trouble getting to product building part... which really needs to be full time. There are solutions to this, but they are not easy to pull off at my scale... I do well, but not so well as to staff up, for example.
2. Actually, you can not control anything, so just confirm the correct direction and just go on everything you want to do.
3. For the motivation of the stuff, I have an idea to follow what you are interested in. Only those things you spend thousands of time to do, you will really love them and this love and interest will keep you motivated all the time.(my personal experience)
Hope that helps.
