(CNN) -- Choosing to step down from a top job can be an extraordinary decision, whether the person is a pontiff or a politician. But George Pataki, former governor of New York, says making the switch from public figure to John Q. Public wasn't difficult for him. 

"I made up my mind that I was never going to let my public title become my personal identity," he says. He embraced what he calls a sense of normalcy after he left office, going to movies and basketball games. 

A year or two after he left office, Pataki went to Madison Square Garden with a group of friends to see the Knicks play. And he wanted to stand in line to get himself a hot dog -- something elected officials tend not to do. 

"I loved it," he says. Even though fellow fans recognized him and offered to let him jump the queue, Pataki waited in line for his hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut. "I felt really good about the fact that it was just comfortable for me to be on line with the rest," he says. 

Pataki decided in the middle of his third term in office that he would not seek a fourth term. He left office in 2006, after 12 years as governor. 

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"I had no doubts that this was the right decision for me, for my family, for the team that had worked so hard with me, and for the state," he says. 
What position did he have?
governor of New York