Breaking My Silence: A Life Forged by Change

Embrace, Influence, Master it.

When I was four years old, I woke up in the middle of the night to chaos. My parents had turned on the lights, and I remember seeing things moving on my bed. My dad grabbed me, and we ran fast. What was happening wasn’t metaphorical—it was literal. Rats were swarming the house.

That night, we fled. We moved into my grandfather’s small apartment temporarily before settling into a two-room apartment with no bathroom, no kitchen, no plumbing. A stove and just enough space to get by. A few months later, we boarded a train and moved to Greece, where we spent the next three and a half years living at two different addresses.

I didn’t realize it then, but these were my first lessons in what would become a lifelong theme:

Embracing change.

As adults, we don’t always talk about how closely our identity is tied to what we do. Cultures around the world have literally named families after their professions—Smith, Baker, even Borowski.

In Polish, Borowski is associated with a pine forest. Maybe it represented where my ancestors lived or what they worked with—merchants, woodworkers, or something else entirely. The point is, what we do often becomes who we are.

That connection makes change deeply uncomfortable. So when I lost the job I thought I’d retire from... No, let me put it this way: When a knight is injured or retired, what does he do when the battle is over? How does he find a new purpose?

The love of my life, my wife asked me: What do YOU want to do now?

…and I kept answering like that knight still primed for war.

Over the past five years, I led all the marketing, branding, and business development efforts for a software company. While navigating the challenges of a shifting industry, my duties often called for:

Influencing change.

On that journey, I learned this: Who we are isn’t confined to a single role—it’s rooted in a clear purpose. We are more than our titles or professions. We are people who prefer a clear path, even though that’s not always what life provides.

When people ask what I do, I often say, “a mix of marketing, management, and psychology.” But those are just tools. I’m not a marketer, manager, or psychologist. These are skills I’ve honed over time to fulfill any mission, for anyone.

The beauty of those tools is that they’re transferable. Every lesson I’ve learned—proposing ideas, building teams, solving problems—has prepared me for whatever comes next.

At that software company, some days felt like coasting, like being part of a family working together to explore and grow. Other days felt like hanging on for dear life during a storm, full of pressure and challenges. But through it all, I realized the power of adaptability. Every moment of change is an opportunity to collect new tools and build a stronger foundation.

This is why I’ve decided to share this story—not to dwell on the past but to connect with anyone facing their own moments of change.

Change will test you. It will make you question your identity, your value, and your future. But it also hands you something extraordinary: the chance to rewrite your story.

And when you get good at it, you’ll learn to:

Master change.

The title of this project is a homage to the 3 Percent Rule—a metaphorical, not mathematical, principle used by creative giants like Virgil Abloh, Kanye West’s main creative director. It’s the art of introducing a little new into something familiar to make it brilliant.

Thank you for embarking on this journey with me.

Remember: You are not defined by one job, one title, or one setback. You are the sum of everything you’ve learned and experienced, the tools you’ve gathered, and the resilience you’ve built.

So, here’s my question: When change comes for you, what will you do with it?