A little under a year ago, I was stuck in a cubicle, crunching numbers
for a real estate company in Los Angeles. I had spent the previous 4
years at business school in Wisconsin preparing me for this
"career," and I was miserable. I came to the realization that
office life was not for me. My daydreaming inspired me to go for one of
my childhood dreams of cruising the world on a sailboat (which is a bit
strange for a kid growing up landlocked in the midwest.) I made a plan
to restructure my life. I moved to Berkeley and began meeting people in
the sailing industry. After arriving in Berkeley, I quickly acclimated
myself with other members of the sailing community and developed
relationships with boat builders, yacht brokers and sailing instructors.
This new network of friends has helped me find a boat (which I got for
free), improve and fix the boat, as well as taught me to sail. In only
six months, I have gone from sitting in a cubicle with no sailing
experience to living and working on a sailboat while managing one of the
best sailing schools
in the country, where job perks include free sailing lessons and
leading sailing vacations all over the world. In those six months, by
restructuring key relationships, I was able to achieve a once
"far-fetched" goal.
I'm currently working on a project to help my peers escape the cubicle
for life on the high seas. The idea centers around fixing up older boats
and helping to clean up the pacific garbage patch. I would love your
opinion on how a program like this might look. I look forward to hearing
from you.