I spent too many years swinging at shadows in the middle-management jungle. Anger, sarcasm, stubbornness. These were my old travelling companions, and they won me a handful of mediocre appraisals and a queue of closed doors. The hard truth finally arrived: the problem wasn’t “them.” It was me. My reach kept exceeding my grasp, and my days in the corporate pile were numbered. What saved me wasn’t a sudden miracle; it was a quiet decision to plan an exit and carry myself with humility while I built it.

Build your exit ramp before you need it

My way out began on the margins of meeting notes: doodles became outlines; outlines became chapters; chapters became a publishing plan. While the room droned on, I pencilled in deadlines and found a printer. It wasn’t defiance, rather it was preparation. I did my job, but I used the spare edges of each day to lay planks for the next life.

• One small brick a day: 30 minutes on your project, every day, no drama.
• Ship something: a draft, a prototype, a phone call, momentum beats perfection.

Choose humility over combat

Office politics can cut deep. I’ve known the sting of betrayal and the thud of retrenchment. I wanted to fight, I needed to prove people wrong, name names. Humility offered a better route: do the work in front of you, accept the feedback you can use, let the rest pass. Churchill said even fools are right sometimes; I learned to listen for the grain of truth, swallow my pride, and take the next step.

Humility turns self-pity into motion. It frees your hands to build.

Redemption looks like ordinary presence

Thirty-plus years later, as a writer-publisher, I’m not the richest man in the room, but I’ve had a life I recognise: more time with my children, miles with friends at dawn, work that fits my hands. Leaving the jungle didn’t make me a hero; it just made me available, to my family, to my community, to the work that mattered.

If your work life feels dreary, you don’t need a dramatic exit. You need a plan, a practice, and enough humility to keep showing up while you build the bridge to somewhere truer.

Reflection: What is one small plank you can lay today for your exit ramp—and what pride would you need to set down to start?