The Reality of Breaking Free
Have you ever had a stressful week at work? Of course you have; we all have. Does it seem fair to you that regardless of how hard you work, or how much stress is placed on you, that nothing will change? Sure you will get your annual review, where you can plead your case for why you should get more money, a bonus, or perhaps more time off, but for the other 51 weeks out of the year, what you leave with at the end of the day remains the same. Don’t get me wrong, there are those rare jobs that are fulfilling and encompass exactly what you want to do with your life, but lets be honest, those are rare.
I have nothing against stress. Stress is a necessary ingredient to creating a successful life. However, I would rather be stressed about building MY OWN business or lifestyle, rather than someone else’s. If I am going to take years off my life and turn my hair grey, I better damn well be the one is is benefiting from it in the end.
Breaking free is hard to do. I don’t care who you are, but if you want to leave a steady paycheck and a “traditional” life you better be prepared to work your ass off and face a lot of stress or anxiety. The most difficult part in the process are the months leading up to your “release date” (the term I have coined for when you start living life for yourself). You not only have the responsibilities of your current employment weighing on your mind, but a myriad of other uncertainties to battle with. However, once you reach your release date, half of your worries and concerns will be put to bed. You are no longer burdened with the stress and responsibilities that came with your old life, and you have freed up dozens of hours a week to invest in your personal endeavours. Your stress shifts from bad to good, because you are now the one in control. Don’t get me wrong, things will probably get a lot more difficult before they get better, but you no longer have anyone else to worry about but yourself. I am looking forward to that day.
There are things you can do however, to alleviate the stress you are feeling pending your release date. Here are some of the things I have found beneficial:
-Create a Financial Plan: The more prepared you are financially the easier the transition will go from “wage slave” to self employed. I have just recently paid off ALL of my credit card debt. This is a goal that I have been working towards for two years, and I am very excited to have finally met it. It also makes me feel much better about where I will be financially should I choose to forgo my next paycheck.
Part of your financial plan should include a budget. Know how much you are bringing in, how much you have, and how much you spend. This will make it easier to cut out unnecessary spending, and ultimately save more money. I realize I am spending much more than I should on my car, so it is currently on the market. With any luck it will be sold by the end of the week.
Talk with Like-minded People: Every day I have the opportunity to speak with other people that are doing similar things as I am. Meeting new people has definitely been the best aspect of starting this blog, and I have learned so much from others that are going through the same thing. Many people will probably be against your quest for personal freedom, many just won’t understand it. Surrounding yourself with people that do get it, will give you the confidence you need to continue moving forward.
Set a Series of Smaller Goals: Let’s face it, most of us aren’t going to completely turn our lives upside down in a day. You have to have a plan, and setting a series of smaller goals will allow you to see the progress you are making. Examples of small goals could include paying off a credit card, buying a plane ticket, or reaching a certain number of readers on your blog (I just hit 50 RSS subscribers, so THANK YOU to all of you who are reading). Each minor accomplishment adds up, and will give you the encouragement you need to succeed.
I will leave you with one final thought. The other day I was over at JD’s site Wage Slave Rebel, and plastered across the top is one of my favorite quotes from Tim Ferris:
“Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty”.
This statement really rings true with me. I know I don’t want to be one of those people, and I urge you to take action to prevent yourself from becoming one as well.
Once you get past the fear of uncertainty, the rest is just an adventure.
Do your bosses read your blog?
“If I am going to take years off my life and turn my hair grey, I better damn well be the one who is benefiting from it in the end.”
This pretty much sums up the way I feel about having a “real” job. I have had a total of two “real” jobs in my entire life, both in 2007. I worked as a janitor at a hospital and a barista at Starbucks… At the same time. From 6:30am to 3:00pm I’d be at the hospital and from 3:30pm to 10:00pm I’d be at Starbucks. Not to mention the hospital schedule changed daily, making things even harder to plan. It sucked.
I might have put up with it, too, had it not been for the constant visits by the Starbucks manager who always wore a suit, always sounded happy and seeing the hospital CEO in the halls, knowing he made over half a million each year.
They walked around freely and thought everything within their respective businesses were great because they didn’t have to deal with disgruntled coffee nerds or bloody needles and bags of placenta. I was one of many getting the brunt of the work while they got the profit.
I quit my job without any planning whatsoever. I had a huge “fuck it” epiphany and just dropped out of life. I don’t regret it at all, but I’m sure financial planning would have helped. I’m still bad about budgets and cash flow.
Congratulations on paying off the credit card debt and thanks for the shout out!
Great going Sean.
I agree totally with you, Plan, budget, and have intermediary goals to keep you on track.
Can’t wait for the day when I will get to read that you have made the leap to freedom.
Rasheed
I’m currently workin on getting out of the office and into the world. Thankfully it will be sooner rather than later since I can take my office job wherever there is internet. That said it’s still a 9-5 job and not ideal in the end. Small steps.
I love the phrase “release date.” Mine is February 1, 2010, and some work days, the anticipation is all that keeps me going.
If only the financial planning wasn’t so daunting…
@JD I have total respect for you for recognizing you were unhappy and just taking action. Sure planning can help the situation, but in the end, all the planning in the world won’t help you if you can’t make the leap. Thats what I am most afraid of. My whole education and career revolves around finances, so I can’t not be considerate of it. But at the same time, I still have doubts about my ability to put the plan into action. Just gotta keep things in perspective. Thanks for the comment, and I am looking forward to working with you in the near future!
@Rasheed I can’t wait to write about that day! Hopefully I will have built up enough support on here to keep me from having a total breakdown haha. But I really do appreciate the constant support, its people that keep the motivation going!
@Ross It may not be ideal, but in my world that would be a big step. Just to be able to get out of the office for more time each week would be a step in the right direction. But you are right, its all about small steps, and as long as you keep setting smaller goals on your journey you will get there! Thanks for stopping by!
@Liz I totally know how you feel about the anticipation. Its almost like looking forward to a big upcoming vacation, except you know there is even more work where you are going! I am considering creating a program/ebook about how to help you build a location independent business plan, that would include budgeting tools and ideas for how to cope with your new life and ideas for income. So far I can only write about half of it since I have yet to go location independent, but if you would have an interest definitely let me know…I am in the beginning stages of seeing if there is a market. Congrats on your plans, and keep us posted about what happens!
I can’t tell you how much I’m exactly where you are, almost down to the word. Credit cards, “release date”, I bet we’re reading the same books and blogs as well. I encourage you and would love to talk!
I’m positioning myself in all the major areas…and recording it too on a project blog site. The most difficult divide I’m starting to see are those lifestyle designers that create income by developing products on how they broke free, which essentially is to them “creating products on how they broke free” unless I’m mistaking their products. I get caught in that circular thought and I’m still looking to chat with those putting the products out to get clear on it. The other group are those developing niche products/companies/ideas/reselling, on a topic thats not self perpetuating. If people put out products on how to be a lifestyle designer, to me they are slowly killing their own freedom. If people put out products on how to garden on the moon. They buy it, use it, love it, and tell their friends about it. Anyway, I’d love to chat and see what you think…someone who is still new but a few steps more along than I. Thanks!
I’m saving up enough money to last me a year without any income and then using that time to set up my own businesses.
@J.D. Bentley, Have you read the book ‘f**k it’, it’s all about doing that to a bunch of things in your life.
@Rob, That’s what I want to avoid as well. Although I will have a blog showing how I execute my lifestyle design, I don’t want it to be my primary income source. It’s like those people that make money from internet marketing by telling other people how to do internet marketing.
Leave your response!
Twitter
Error: Unable to access Twitter at URL (http://www.twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/seanogle.json?count=5). Verify service status. (HTTP code 401.)
Connect!
Unconventional Guides
Ready For a Change?
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Recent Comments
Most Commented