Mike Lewis quit his finance job to play professional squash and has now turned into an author/entrepreneur. Photo / Instagram
Mike Lewis quit his finance job to play professional squash and has now turned into an author/entrepreneur. Photo / Instagram
Shhhhh, quiet now. Can you hear that little voice inside your head?
Whatever it's telling you, listen up, because it could be your new life calling.
That's the advice from Mike Lewis, a venture capitalist turned pro-squash player, turned author whose self-appointed mission is to get everyone living out their dream.
His latest book, When To Jump: If The Job You Have Isn't The Life You Want, details how he ditched a plum finance job at Bain Capital to couch-surf around the world on a pro-squash tour despite the sport being something most Americans thought was a "vegetable".
Now, the San Francisco native with a sunny disposition is rallying a global community of keyboard warriors to stop ignoring that "little voice" inside and start taking the "10,000 unsexy steps" towards making your dream a reality, news.com.au reports.
"Socially it's also become less scary and more accepted to try and chase your passion and do what you love," Lewis told news.com.au in London at the start of his global book tour.
"This doesn't have to mean changing your life in one fell swoop.
"We're now at a point where we can afford ourselves a minute to step back and say: 'Is this the legacy I want to live?'"
The book outlines Lewis's own experience from an internship at Goldman Sachs to graduate job at Bain where he would stare at a crumpled map on his office wall and dream of chasing a ball around a tiny squash court.
He tells how he took the first painful steps towards admitting his obscure passion, training, drumming up sponsorship and eventually stepped on to a flight to Auckland, New Zealand at the bottom of the world rankings.
For two years Lewis fought his way up the list to number 112, sleeping on couches, meeting new people and letting the idea for his next jump to self-help author percolate in his mind. The result is a manual filled with 44 stories of others who have made a similar leap — from karate school owner to Hollywood screenwriter or commercial banker to brewery owner.
They include the story of Juan Romero, a former National Marine Aquarium curator and BBC field producer who gave it up to sail around the world, and Michael Lewis, who also threw in a finance job to write the stories that inspired hit films Moneyball and The Big Short.
So what does it take to make the jump? Lewis said it's all about plotting the journey from pie in the sky to reality on the "jump curve".
"It's very appealing when you look on Instagram or LinkedIn to believe that chasing your dream is as easy as waking up and moving to Bali," he said. Instead, the book is organised around four phases; Listen to the Little Voice, Make a Plan, Let Yourself be Lucky and Don't Look Back.
He said most people make the mistake of giving up at the third phase, when they have to "actually jump" and give up their job, benefits and social status that come with it.
Mike Lewis is second cousins with Facebook COO and author Sheryl Sandberg, who wrote the introduction to his book and has appeared on his podcast. Photo / Instagram
"A jump is always going to have some element of unknown. As humans we're rational people," Lewis said. "To know what you're giving up when you jump but to not know exactly what you're getting in return often scares a lot of people and promotes this feeling of 'maybe next year' or 'maybe when I'm 100 per cent certain' but unfortunately that's never the case. That's why most people turn back."
He admits he was fortunate to have had a successful career and no children or mortgage before making his move, but said "everyone has the ability to jump, it comes down to when".
"If you're married and just had a child or you have student debts to pay back, right this second is probably not the time to jump. But the way that the jump curve is organised, is that you can start planning your jump at any point," Lewis said.
For those that know they're unhappy but aren't sure what they would rather do, it's best to figure out what you like doing in your free time. And once you've planned enough, he claims a "jump will be something you never regret" regardless of whether it's a success or not.
"If you plan it right and you really sew a safety net with people behind you and supporting you, there's no way it's going to be a bad experience. At the very least it will be maybe an interesting new addition to your CV."
WHEN TO JUMP: MIKE LEWIS' TOP TIPS
Listen to the little voice — Tune in, listen up and embrace the difference between crazy and stupid. Ask others for support, not permission.
Make a plan— Get involved, put in the practice, sew a safety net and commit to what you believe in. It might be scary, but if you've planned enough, you will be surprised at the support you receive.
Let yourself be lucky — Set a date, prepare to get lucky, be yourself and just do it!
Don't look back — Remember you won't lose anything, you will gain something else, develop mental discipline, put in the work and don't be afraid of failing.
