A message to the COO – Ten months after my resignation

Today is exactly ten months since my last work day as Country Manager in the sports sponsoring industry. A few weeks before, I had told the COO that I resigned because I was frustrated, I wasn’t using my talents, I felt that I was not performing at 100% and that I started to hate Mondays.  

He was surprised, but understanding and supportive and asked me what I was going to do. My honest answer was that I was tired and that I needed time to figure it out. “That’s good”, he replied. But he also warned me: “I am in my sixties and I still haven’t figured out what I want”. He gave me some final “fatherly advice” and wished me lots of luck with my “endeavors”.

My colleagues, clients, friends and family were asking about my ‘new job’. Recruiters were calling me in the first week after I had left. I told everyone I had a plan to start a new business, but in fact I had no clue - just a few ‘blurry ideas’. The only plan I had was to never sit in an office again, leave the city and move to a quiet place in the countryside where I could find new inspiration and work on my ideas.

Shortly after the move to our new place in the countryside in October, I experienced a great undying flow, meeting with lots of inspiring people including resilience trainer for the U.S. Military, Colleen Mizuki. We met only once in person in California, but our connection and belief in research-based mental and physical resilience training was so strong that for the past seven months we have been working on our business every day (including the weekends). My time out, followed by hard work (driven by purpose) paid off and today I am launching my start-up: Strong Mind Training Institute.  

We help people to create the ideal conditions to do what they do best, every day. So COO, if you ever need help figuring out what you want, you are always welcome to get back in touch!

Thank you for your toughness –all these moments were part of my own resilience ‘training’- and your support!