Man, let me tell you about September 2015. I was stuck. Not just a little stuck, but full-on cement shoes stuck. I had been clocking in at the same place for seven years. Good people, decent pay, but zero challenge. Every day I walked in, I felt like I was shrinking. I was starting to believe that comfort was the same thing as success, and that’s a dangerous lie.
The Day I Read the Stars and Decided to Act
I wasn’t a huge astrology guy, never really have been, but my spouse had pulled up the monthly predictions. It was a slow Friday afternoon. I was just scrolling through headlines, trying to look busy, when I saw it: “Virgo Monthly Horoscope 2015 September.” I clicked it just for a laugh, honestly.
I remember skimming the finance and health sections—nothing noteworthy. Then I hit the career prediction. It didn’t just say “things look good.” It screamed: “Major Career Moves Ahead!”
I read that line three times. Usually, those things are vague fluff, but this felt aggressive. It felt like a direct order. A major move. I had been thinking about leaving for two years, but fear kept chaining me to the desk. This stupid little online reading suddenly became the permission slip I needed.
The practice started right then. I didn’t wait for Monday. I didn’t wait for the stars to align again. I had the prediction, and I decided to execute it. I used the next four hours of supposed working time to:
- Wipe out my old, dusty resume.
- Start sketching out what a “Major Career Move” actually meant. It couldn’t just be a lateral hop. I needed a significant title bump or a complete industry pivot.
- Download and install the LinkedIn app on my phone, which I had deliberately avoided until that moment.
That night, I sat down at the kitchen table and told my spouse: “This month, I am changing everything.” She was skeptical, naturally. But I had the evidence, however flimsy, printed out on the back of a grocery list. I pointed at the bold text: “Major Career Moves Ahead.”
The Grinding Practice: Turning Prediction into Reality
The next few weeks were a blur of practical execution. I treated the horoscope like a project charter. My timeline was September. No excuses.
I committed to submitting at least five applications every single night, after the kids were in bed. I didn’t just apply to the easy stuff, either. I targeted companies way above my current pay grade and experience level. I studied up on the new industry jargon—I was trying to shift from logistics into big data project management, which was terrifying.
My entire routine shifted. I woke up an hour earlier to read industry news. I spent my lunch breaks on phone screenings in my car, pretending I was taking important calls about inventory. I leveraged every contact I had ever made in the last decade, sending awkward emails asking for “a quick chat.” I drank down so much coffee those weeks that I’m pretty sure my blood turned into espresso.
There was a solid week where I got nothing but automated rejections. It was demoralizing. I looked back at the printout, and for a moment, I thought, “Maybe the stars were wrong. Maybe I just ruined my comfort zone for nothing.”
But the pressure of that specific prediction kept me pushing. It was like I had been issued a deadline by the universe. I had to fulfill the prophecy, not just sit around waiting for the move to happen magically.
The Climax: Execution and Validation
Mid-September, things started clicking. I had three interviews lined up in three days. They were intense. I fumbled through one, felt great about the second, and absolutely crushed the third one—a startup that needed someone to just jump in and start organizing chaos.
I remember sitting in the parking lot after that final interview, utterly exhausted, just breathing. I hadn’t felt that alive in years. That same week, they called. They offered me the Senior Project Lead role. A massive jump in title, a massive jump in pay, and the industry pivot I had defined as the “Major Move.”
I accepted immediately. I drafted my resignation letter that afternoon. Walking into my boss’s office and handing over that envelope was the hardest and easiest thing I’ve ever done. He was surprised, but supportive.
My last day at the old company was September 30th, 2015. The entire transition, from reading that one line in the horoscope to signing the final papers, was contained exactly within the window dictated by that monthly reading.
I logged all the rejection emails, all the contact notes, and all the final offer details in a physical notebook. I didn’t do it to prove the horoscope was true. I documented it to prove that sometimes, all you need is a ridiculously specific piece of non-scientific information to give you the guts to actually get up and start practicing change. I acted, I failed, I adjusted, and I executed the plan. The career move was major, alright. And it all started because a website told a Virgo to get off his butt.
