If there’s one phrase I’ve embraced since leaving my corporate job it’s “Backing Myself”.
In two words it captures the biggest change I’ve undergone.
Partly that’s because now there’s no one else: I am fully responsible for making money, and also for making sure I enjoy what I do.
I’m no longer locked-in because of golden handcuffs or a final salary pension. Or a predictable monthly income (shame).
But also I’m no longer locked-in because that job or company is all I feel I can do. Or be. Or that I’m lucky and should feel grateful.
It’s of course scary to be so self-reliant. I can’t hide as I once did. I can’t be too complacent either and hope someone else will bring in the business or create opportunities for me.
When I look back I realise I had very little ownership of what was going on. If things were going well it felt like the market or the cycle, or some big leader, had done something good. And if things weren’t going well, that wasn’t much to do with me either.
All the time I was shielded. In comfy slippers.
Safe, but dependent.
By backing myself, everything feels stripped back – and raw.
So when the market is tough, and I’m having to fight for opportunities, it feels hard-going and draining.
Yet, the good times aren’t that long ago, when I was rich in opportunities, with lovely emails recommending me to others.
In both situations it’s the same feeling: I am responsible.
And that feels good.
I’m so evangelical about this in my coaching because I believe that sense of responsibility is the most important benefit of working for ourselves.
Once we start working in big teams, for big companies, we can forget how good we are and how valuable. We can feel like a cog, like we can’t really influence anything, as if there’d be no difference if we weren’t there.
To begin with we may fight that inertia. Some spend their whole careers fighting it. Others give up when they stop feeling valued.
How many of us challenged or proposed a different approach or tried to innovate and were blocked (no matter how politely)?
How many of us just gave up trying? Easier to play the game, keep shtum.
But if we don’t back ourselves, then no-one does.
Escaping is like ridding ourselves of shackles and of that version of ourselves that wearily nodded to everything, who didn’t rock the boat, who stopped using their creativity or their foresight or their empathy.
But when we work without these shackles all of a sudden we realise we’re actually rather good. We have valuable opinions, our ideas matter, we see things other people miss – and then guess what?
Other people notice. And unlike in the workplace, they don’t have to – they choose to.
And that’s the best feeling ever – where someone else chooses to back you because you’re brilliant – and they need your brilliance.
They need YOU.
Backing yourself feeds itself and all of a sudden you’re being asked to do things you never expected to do.
Like next month I’ve been asked to give a lecture at Imperial College London for a Masters course. Even my 18 year old daughter was surprised. It just wasn’t on the cards for Adam Forbes the corporate employee.
It’s the result of five years learning to back myself.
If 2026 is the year you’re going to back yourself, let’s work together. Either one-on-one, or in a small group: Escapology Live is now open for bookings – five weeks, starting March 24th 7-8pm GMT, so US friends can join too. Each week we will take a different stage of the Escape Method of my best-selling and 5 star reviewed book Corporate Escapology. The feedback has been very good, so I hope it can really help you if you’re feeling trapped or need inspiration, ideas and empathy.