For 17 years, I wore my corporate identity like a well-tailored suit. It fit. It was comfortable. It signaled success. After earning my MBA from Symbiosis, Pune, I stepped onto the ladder and started climbing. I enjoyed the problem-solving, the camaraderie, the sense of purpose. I was good at my job, and my job was good to me—it provided a life, a status, a predictable future.
And then, in April 2023, I took off the suit and walked away for good. I called it early retirement.
Today, two years into this new existence, I can look back with a clarity that was impossible from inside the glass-walled conference rooms. And my biggest, most profound realization is one I didn’t see coming:
I regret not quitting sooner.
Those 17 years weren’t a waste in the traditional sense. I learned, I earned, I built a career. But they were a monumental miscalculation in the economy of life. I dedicated the prime years of my vitality, my curiosity, and my energy to a singular entity: the corporation. I traded sunrises for status reports and potential adventures for performance reviews.
We are sold a powerful narrative: work hard, climb higher, save more, and then, one day, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. We postpone joy, delay dreams, and shelve passions for a distant, golden “someday.” We treat life like a project with a phased release plan.
But life isn’t a project. It’s happening right now. And it is breathtakingly, heart-breakingly short.
The two years since I left have been the richest of my adult life. Not in monetary terms, but in the currency that actually matters: experience. I’ve felt the awe of watching a sunrise over a misty mountain range without checking my watch. I’ve had long, meandering conversations that weren’t squeezed into a 30-minute lunch break. I’ve rediscovered the simple pleasure of reading a book for hours, simply because I wanted to.
This freedom has cast those 17 years in a new, and sometimes harsh, light. I see now that I was living a life of unnecessary excess—chasing bonuses to buy things I didn’t need to impress people I didn’t particularly like, all to compensate for the soul-sucking nature of a 9-to-6 routine. It was a beautifully gilded cage.
I’m not here to vilify hard work or ambition. They have their place. But I am here to question the allocation of our most finite resource: time. Why do we so willingly hand over our best decades, our sharpest minds, and our most resilient bodies to a system that will replace us within weeks of our departure?
If I could send a letter back in time to my younger self, fresh out of Symbiosis, here’s what I would say:
- Life is Not a 9-to-6 Job. Your job is a means to an end, not the end itself. It should fund your life, not become it. Define yourself by who you are, not what you do for a paycheck.
- Travel is the Only Thing You Buy That Makes You Richer. The world is a vast, stunning, and humbling classroom. The perspectives you gain from seeing new places and meeting new people are worth more than any professional certification. Prioritize it, budget for it, and do it now, not later.
- Embrace Minimalism. Cut the unnecessary expenses—the frivolous subscriptions, the fast fashion, the third takeout coffee of the day. Every rupee you don’t spend on something meaningless is a rupee that buys you more freedom later. Savings aren’t just for retirement; they are your escape fund, your freedom fund.
- Enjoyment is Not a Weekend Activity. “Someday” is a dangerous illusion. Find joy in the everyday, now. Have that mid-week dinner with friends. Take that morning walk. Pursue that silly hobby. Don’t relegate happiness to Saturdays.
- Your Time is Your Life. When you give your time to something, you are giving a piece of your life that you will never get back. Be ferociously protective of it.
I enjoyed my career. But dedicating 17 uninterrupted years to it was my greatest mistake. I believe you can have a successful career and a rich life, but it requires intentionality. It requires rejecting the dogma that says you must grind yourself into dust for decades to earn your peace.
I’m two years late to this party, but I’m here now. And the view is spectacular. Don’t wait as long as I did. Start designing a life you don’t feel the need to retire from, today.