Time Billionaires: Mindset and Time Management for Work & Life26 Nov 2025

How to Know When It's Time to Make Career Changes with Michael Barber — Part 2

In Part 2 of this Time Billionaires episode, Rebecca continues her conversation with Michael Barber, Chief Marketing Officer at StarTech, diving deeper into career decision-making and the courage required for growth. Michael introduces his powerful "mirror test" for decision-making, asking yourself whether your current choices reflect what you want to see in the mirror, both literally and metaphorically.

This framework helps him evaluate everything from daily priorities to major life decisions, ensuring his actions align with his desired outcomes. The conversation explores Michael's unconventional career path of spending only 2-4 years at each position, a strategy that was unusual before 2010 but has accelerated his growth through diverse experiences across different industries and teams.

He emphasizes that discomfort is the price of growth and encourages embracing uncomfortable decisions rather than avoiding them. Michael shares his personal framework for knowing when it's time to make a career change: when he stops sleeping well. He explains how physical and behavioral indicators can signal when you're not doing what you want to do or feel you're running out of time for what matters most.

Timestamps:

- The mirror test: Aligning decisions with desired outcomes – 0:35

- Opportunity costs in personal life and micro-moment decisions – 1:45

- Michael's unconventional career strategy of short sprints – 3:59

- Why being uncomfortable accelerates growth opportunities – 5:30

- How to know when it's time for a career change – 6:29

- Using sleep as a gut-check indicator for life decisions – 7:15

- The "best version of yourself" framework for relationships and jobs – 8:05

Connect with Michael Barber:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljamesbarber/

For more insights on turning hidden minutes into your greatest asset, connect with Rebecca and follow the podcast on LinkedIn!

Time Billionaires on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-billionaires-pod

Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccashaddix/

And if you love the show, subscribe to follow the show!

Shout-out to Graham Duncan from East Rock Capital for the "Time Billionaires" concept that inspired our show name - originally shared on The Tim Ferriss Show.

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Time Billionaires: How to Prioritize Your Life
(00:03:39) - What Do You Wish You Knew About Time Management?

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