A successful CEO says the best career move he's ever made was taking a year-long road trip and hitting maximum boredom
But before that, when Vogel was 32, he left the work force for a year. He bought a Ford Bronco for $3,000 on eBay, took the roof off, and went on a road trip.
His ultimate goal: reach maximum boredom. Then figure out what to do with the rest of his life.
Vogel had been one of the first ten employees at a successful dotcom startup, Alloy Media and Marketing. He was single, didn't own an apartment, and had no real responsibilities.
"My father gave me great advice," Vogel told Business Insider in a podcast episode of "Success! How I Did It." He said, "Look, you're in a position where you don't have kids, you don't have anything. Go get yourself bored and figure out what you want to do."
By not thinking about much of anything for a long period of time, Vogel says he was able to gain clarity.
"For a couple of months I was trying really hard to think about [my life] and figure it out," Vogel said. "Then I decided to not think about anything. Then everything became clear. It's an amazing feeling to have no responsibilities. Just, 'What am I going to do? Oh, I'm going to drive here and visit my friend.' Or, 'I'm going to get on a plane, go to Europe, and hang out.' It was amazing."
"I was at the beach with some friends before Labor Day weekend in 2004," he recalled. "I hadn't done anything for the whole summer. I wasn't even checking email. I panicked because I had hit maximum boredom. I got in this truck and I drove back to Manhattan. When everybody was going out to go the beach and have fun, I got on a plane, flew to LA to where my business partner was, and we wrote a business plan. That became the business that was the Webby Awards and Recognition Media."
Vogel realizes most people don't have the financial means to take a year off work. "Believe me, I know it's an incredible luxury to be able to do that," he said.
But if you can swing it, Vogel swears the experience is a game-changer: "I tell people it was the best thing I've ever done in my whole life."
Check out Vogel's career (and road trip!) story below, in this episode of "Success! How I Did It," a podcast about the career paths of today's most inspiring people:
Subscribe to "Success! How I Did It" on Acast, Overcast or iTunes. Check out previous episodes with:
- theSkimm founders Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg
- Tinder founder Sean Rad
- Bleacher Report and Bustle founder Bryan Goldberg
- Early Uber and Pinterest investor Scott Belsky
- The co-CEOs of Warby Parker, Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa