I remember pulling up that old Virgo career prediction for November 2017. I was stressed out of my mind, drowning in a project that just wouldn’t click. Every morning, I was searching for some sign, some cosmic nudge, to tell me it was going to work out. I mean, you look at those things when you’re desperate, right? I needed a lifeline, and the internet offered me a vague promise.
The prediction was the usual B.S., something about “a challenging period yielding unforeseen rewards,” and “a breakthrough is imminent if you maintain focus.” I’ve always been a skeptical guy, but man, I clutched onto that word, breakthrough. I needed a promotion, I needed a salary bump, and I was convinced November 2017 was my time to finally nail it.
The Practice: November 2017, The Grind
I decided to treat that horoscope like a binding contract. My practice that month was pure, unadulterated work. I committed to proving the stars right, or at least, proving my own effort was worth something.
- I woke up at 5:00 AM every single day. I skipped the gym, even though I knew I shouldn’t.
- I drank terrible instant coffee and dove straight into the code. I was working on this massive database migration project, trying to untangle years of spaghetti architecture.
- I logged a minimum of 14 hours a day. I ignored calls from my buddy asking me to grab a beer. I ate sad, microwave dinners at my desk.
- I faced three major system crashes and spent 48 straight hours just trying to patch things up. I was practically sleeping under the desk for a week.
The supposed “breakthrough” never materialized. The month was a disaster. I was exhausted, my work quality was slipping, and that “reward” the horoscope promised? It was nowhere to be found. The project deadlines were pushed back. My boss pulled me aside and told me I looked like a zombie and needed to take a break, which felt more like a demotion than a reward. I finished November 2017 feeling like I had burned myself out for absolutely nothing. I checked the calendar on the 30th and thought, “Well, the stars lied.”
The Real Breakthrough: The Unforeseen Reward
I was done. I was completely and utterly fried. That moment of realization, the one that the horoscope should have predicted, hit me not during a project success, but while I was staring at the ceiling at 3 AM on December 1st. I realized I had chased a vague, external validation—a promotion, a horoscope, a title—instead of doing what truly mattered.
I walked into the office the next week and did something I had been putting off for two years. I quit.
It sounds dramatic, but sticking with that terrible project for November 2017, just because a piece of cosmic fluff told me a reward was coming, was the biggest mistake. But it was also my practice. It showed me how far I was willing to push myself for the wrong reasons. That failure, that exhaustion, that was the real “challenging period.”
So, here’s what I did next. It was messy, but it was mine.
- I took two weeks off and actually slept.
- I stopped looking at any horoscopes, seriously. I deleted the apps.
- I started writing down the issues I saw in the industry, the stuff that was stressing everyone out.
- I created a simple website—the very first version of this blog. I started sharing my notes on that messy database migration, what went wrong, and the five things I learned not to do.
That was the breakthrough. November 2017 wasn’t a good month for my job, but it was the month that absolutely shattered my old path and forced me onto a new one. The “unforeseen reward” wasn’t a promotion; it was the freedom to build something that mattered to me. I went from a stressed-out code monkey to someone who finally owned their experience and decided to share it. I created my own damn reward. The lesson I preached to myself back then, and still preach today, is that your career horoscope isn’t written in the stars; it’s written in the actions you take when everything else falls apart. And for me, that all started when I threw out that November 2017 “Virgo career horoscope” nonsense.
