What is the biggest action that got you to where you are now?
This isn't some achievement but I'd say my action was to move out of Lithuania. I was bedridden due to pollen, so sensitive that I spent the summers on a ventilator because of it. Me and my parents moved out to Norway, and the pollen allergies subsided.
Saying yes when my neighbor asked me if I wanted to go out to party with him and the girl next to him I hadn’t seen before.
Because of her I said yes (although I wasn’t in the mood to go out at that moment), and now she’s my wife, we have kids, I moved to where she lived, became self-employed, and we bought a house together.
Just because of that yes. Try to say yes to invites, people.
Believing in myself. When I was in high school, I decided that I wanted to go to an Ivy League college. I figured I was just as capable as anyone else that went to those schools, I just needed to get there. But my guidance counselor refused to write the recommendation letter bc nobody at my school had ever gone to an out-of-state college before. I had to have a parent-teacher conference to get the letter approved. Fast forward to now, I’ve since finished college at an Ivy and now ~5% of each graduating class from my high school attends and Ivy for college. Turns out we were more than capable of doing it; someone just had to do it first.
When I was in the first grade I was bullied for being weird. As a "fuck you" to my bullies, I embraced it and leaned into my natural weirdness. It took the sting out of their words. Eventually I started telling them "It's better than being plain, boring, and normal".
This mindset is 100% responsible for where I've ended up. I stopped thinking being weird is superior a long time ago, but I still have an enjoyment of my own oddities as pretentious as that sounds. I think this path I've taken is a very good one.
You know, your question got me thinking, and it honestly feels like I’m pretty much nowhere at this point. I wonder what this kind of biggest action thing it is going to be for me.
Washing dishes during a Friday night rush at the world's shittiest Little Caesar's pizza.
I was tanking my grades in my freshman year of college out of... Lack of focus? I dunno. But I realized this was going to be my life if I didn't get it together. I lost my full ride scholarship that semester, but, I recovered, even excelled and graduated, and had a career.
During my first internship in my second year of studies, I decided to stick with the company and move to part time studying.
I essentially got a devops education in parallel with my software engineering education, which I feel has set me up for life for employment. Also helps that I really enjoy the work I do.