I saved $20,000 fast to walk away from a toxic job thanks to some sage advice my dad gave me as a kid

His exact comment was, "Figure out what kind of lifestyle you want, then work backwards from there." For my dad, as a fourth-generation rancher, that meant doing whatever he needed to do to keep the family ranch operational and providing for the family, including working outside seven days a week, sun up to sun down most days. While it was hard work, to him it didn't really feel like work, because it was the lifestyle he wanted to live. In my mind, this vision aligned with my dad's advice: define your ideal lifestyle and work backwards. Years ago, in my mid-20s, I was working what I thought was my ideal job. I was wrong, but of course I didn't know it yet.Things turned sour when some egos at work clashed, and before I knew it, the multimillion-dollar contracts we'd negotiated for months — some, years — were cancelled. The kind of lifestyle I'd been living no longer seemed ideal: It involved really long days, feeling tethered nonstop to my iPhone, working through vacations, and when traveling (something I'd loved to do before), I only ever saw the inside of airplanes, cars, hotels, and meeting rooms.From that moment, I saved every penny possible so I could work towards a different ideal lifestyle — one that included more time with my family — and walk away from my job. This sounds a little counter-productive when trying to save money, but by buying Walgreens-brand diapers when they were on sale and combining with a coupon, I could get $9 packs of diapers for $2.50 each.