Editor’s Note: Nothing in this piece is written to give myself any sympathy, pats on the backs, attaboys, kudos, acclaim or any undue attention. My job as a writer is to take my perspective and present it to you as a mirror to see yourself or not.

Writer’s Note: I’m my own editor, editor’s note just sounded fancy.

In the past 12 years I’ve moved more than any of my friends. I’ve lived in multiple states and multiple cities within those multiple states. I’ve gone to college and moved multiple times, owned apartments, borrowed a room in a friend’s apartment (shout out to Gertrude), slept on couches, rented hotel rooms, all in the name of progress. Moving out to move up.

I am a firm believer that people who want to grow and become the best versions of themselves must leave their comfort zone to do so. Moving not only separates you from your safety net, it also forces you to learn more about yourself and who you truly want to be.

I went to college in NYC, (Go Red Storm) and around my friends we drank and hung out almost every weekend. I moved away to Baltimore and now Philly, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve desired to go drinking outside of my friends. It helped me realize that I really only ever drank to fit in with my friends, its not something I inherently enjoy or I’d seek out ways to do it myself.

That’s a pretty tangible example, but think a bit deeper. What about the places you go, the ideas you discuss, the books you read. Is your day really yours? More likely if you haven’t taken the time to learn yourself your day consists of a web of tiny sacrifices, designed to make your day as easy as possible.

So move! Shake things up; add some unexpectedness to your day, month, year, and your life. Find out what it’s like to have a flat tire and need to be at work in 15 minutes and not have any family within 5 hours of you. Go to a new city and walk around, find the hidden spots and discover if there are people just as weird as you. (Fuck Tinder, Go Outside plug) Also, the fastest way to ascend career-wise is to move jobs, whether you move within industry or you switch it up. Taking your skills to a new company and proving yourself is it’s own reward. Like Hov said, “Put me anywhere on God’s green Earth and I’ll triple my worth.”

That all sounds good but how do you do it? Let’s make it something you can actually act on. For me I used LinkedIn Job search heavily, I found 5 cities that I would want to live in based off of weather, avg. income for my profession, nightlife, and proximity to other cities. From there I set up alerts on LinkedIn Jobs for my desired job title and city. I spent 45 minutes a day applying to jobs and an hour on the weekend. I started that process in June in Baltimore and in November I had relocated to a new job with 30% pay increase.

Move out and Move up. Break the zone of what you know to be true for what you could be. When you’re 30+ and someone’s parent it only gets harder.

Twitter: @_ThreeStacks

Instagram: @WillBradley3rd