I had spent 21 years of my life in shirt-and-tie Corporate America, atop high-risers spanning New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and a few other stops along the way. Looking back, if someone asked me to describe those 21 years I would’ve responded with an unpleasant adjective like “bland”, “robotic” or “dull”. Day in and day out, it was the same story: wake up in the morning, have some coffee, get to the another nameless corporate building, go up the elevator, get some work done, take the same elevator down and leave the same nameless building.

One day a few years ago I decided I had enough. I was becoming sick of the same day replaying itself and I made the decision to go for something better. This is not a sob story to reach for your sympathy, it is a story that I hope will uplift, and open your eyes to a better way. Something happened that day and it changed the way I’ve lived my life forever. I decided from that day forward that my life motto would be “don’t settle“. Don’t settle for less, don’t settle for worse, don’t settle for second-best; no matter what it is I take on, make sure I don’t settle.

That day really put things into perspective for me. I decided I needed to change my life, have a new beginning of sorts. That’s when I moved to London (a place I had been quite familiar with before), and, after a few months, a friend of mine told me about a new way to enjoy life while still allowing me to run my beloved business. It was a new and innovative concept, and one that ended up changing my life forever. He had found out about a ship that rents out open spaces that can be used for almost any business or event purposes. I thought he was kidding at first but seeing the passion for it in his eyes, I knew I couldn’t take his suggestion as some mere joke, and had to investigate further. I decided for one of the first times in my life to take a step out of the box and give it a shot.

Sitting here today (on a ship) I can proudly say this is quite possibly the best business move I have ever made. Instead of the dark, gloomy, repetitive days of showing up to static and lifeless buildings, I am now in a place that allows me to open up my mind in a way I never have before. I’ve found a level of creativity and comfort I never envisioned was possible before I got here. The soothing and relaxing feeling of a ship cradling me for 8 hours a day is something that doesn’t just put me in a constant state of happiness while working, but also breeds a certain level of excitement every morning when I wake up to go to work. It’s really an indescribable experience, one that I can not even begin to portray in my words, and one that I feel that every businessperson, writer, or entertainer must try at some point of their lives.

The reason I’ve decided to tell my story is to open the eyes of everyone out there who’s not happy with where they’re at or what they’re doing. My message remains – don’t settle. There’s a whole world of opportunities out there for you to grasp and many different ways for you to do so. This is just one of them.

Hopefully it won’t take you 21 years.