Imagine being 31 years old, working from home and making $120,000 a year, not being happy with your job and where you are in life, and deciding to quit and go back to school full time and live off student loans. From the outside looking in, that sounds like a bad idea, with tremendous opportunity cost. Why would someone do that?

Well, I’ll tell you. That was me six years ago.

Yes, even looking back now, that was ambitious. But I had a GOAL and a plan to reach that GOAL. Not a dream, but a GOAL.

I was working in the private education industry for 10 years and making my way up the corporate ladder. In my last two years of working, I made it to regional director in charge of operations in four states. Those two years were very lucrative financially but came with a lot of travel and stress to meet operational goals. Being honest, looking back, I was not enjoying work anymore and wanted a change.

During those last two years, that’s when I decided a change was needed. I had wanted to pursue a field in medicine for a while, and I was thinking about my options. My best friend, also an engineer, made the transition to a chiropractor, and we had discussed me making a similar move and us opening a joint practice one day. I even thought of Physician Assistant (PA), Nurse Practitioner (NP), as well as Pharmacy programs. I did not think of medical school due to the cost, the length of training, and my age.

While shadowing (specifically observing physician-patient interactions), I had many conversations with PA’s, NP’s, and hospital Pharmacists about my plans and wanting to change my career path. To my surprise, albeit a small sample size, many of those conversations ended up with, “why not go to med school?” The PA’s and NP’s I spoke to worked just as many hours as the physician’s that supervised them, yet for less pay. At that point, my best friend was working as a chiropractor, and he did not recommend going that route, as he felt his scope of practice was very limited.

What I learned during those couple of months of shadowing was very valuable.

One of my main takeaways is that you have to do your due diligence and do your research. Not only talking to people, both in-person and online, but going in the field to see what the day to day is really like. For me, this was crucial in making a final decision to pursue medical school. Knowing my personality, I would probably have had a hard time settling for PA or NP and would probably have pursued a Ph.D.

Making that kind of life-altering decision was difficult in that it not only affected me, but my wife as well. Telling your wife you are quitting your six-figure job and she will be the sole breadwinner for a while is not a fun conversation.

Call it a pseudo-mid-life crisis, but I never wanted to look back and say ’what if?’…, and lucky for me my wife has been there to support me in this process the whole way, while bearing our two young kids.

You don’t have to go at it alone….

When you share your goals, you will be surprised how many people are willing to support you. Look no further than crowd source funding sites like Kickstarter. It does not have to be financial support, but emotional support goes a long way as well. It is important to have mentors and people that you can reach out to when you are not sure if you are making the right decisions or when you hit a snag in the road in reaching your goal.

Pursuing your goals is all about taking action.

Whether your goal is to lose weight, save money, get out of debt, or pursue a different career, you need to take action.

1.     Set your goal (long vs. short)

2.     Set objectives to meet that goal

This can be confusing for some. Goals and Objectives are two different things.

Goals are general guidelines that explain what you want to achieve. They are usually long-term.

Objectives define strategies or implementation steps to attain the identified goals. Unlike goals, objectives are specific, measurable, and have a defined completion date. They are more specific and outline the “who, what, when, where, and how” of reaching the goals.

For me, I did not just quit my job and start med school the next day.

• Goal: Become a licensed physician
• Objective 1: Complete prerequisite coursework required for medical school                                   
• Objective 2: Shadow physicians to get experience and recommendation letters
• Objective 3: Apply to medical school
• Objective 4: Graduate from medical school
• Objective 5: Complete residency, i.e., postgraduate training required for state medical licensure
• Goal complete

I’m currently working on objective 5 of my goal. Getting to this point has not been smooth sailing. While on this journey, I’ve hit some rocky waves. I had two kids. I had to take a semester off medical school. That semester cost me to graduate a year late. 

I’ve had difficulty paying for school, but with each turn, I stayed on the path and continued working on the objectives with my end goal in mind.

Whatever your goal is, set your objectives and continue working on them. Don’t let setbacks and predetermined beliefs stop you from attaining your goal.