Are you in a job where you spend all day dreaming about your escape and you know that you are capable of transforming your life rather than spending more than half of your waking hours working on work-related tasks and attending meetings that have no meaning? If your answer is “yes” then this blog post is for YOU!
You might feel like there is no way out and your dream of a new career and life might never become your reality, don’t worry there are strategies and solutions to help you get out of the soul-destroying job and into a fulfilling career or business. People get caught up in a routine as there are bills to pay and a family to support. The programme of society teaches individuals about the need to have a job in structuring a personal and social identity. It is considered the traditional way of making money to pay for goods and services and daily activities. The accepted way is for people to finish school, get a degree, then a job and start trading their time for money for the next 30 or 40 years then retire and hopefully have enough energy left to enjoy life before their journey on this planet ends. This is the story for so many people, but YOUR story can change and it doesn’t have to be this way for you. You CAN start a new career or business and change your life! Your dream life is possible if you set goals, start creating your plan and vision for your future and take action. Persistence and patience are two key ingredients you will need if you want to be successful, and if you have these, keep reading.
YOUR TIME IS VALUABLE
It is never too late to start again and live your dream life, but it requires planning, consistency and time to achieve your goals and dreams. It can be easier to start planning and creating your future when you don’t have a mortgage or family responsibilities. However, I know it IS POSSIBLE to achieve your dreams at any age as do many other people who have changed careers, started their own business working from home to become an online entrepreneur! Nowadays there are a variety of ways to make money and the traditional way of trading your time for money working for a company is no longer popular. One of my favourite books is by Robert Kiyosaki called: RICH DAD POOR DAD. Robert explains that the rich don’t work for money, they make money work for them. As an employee the only thing of value that you have to sell is your TIME. You have to work longer hours to make more money and as humans our earning potential is limited by time and energy. On the other hand, the rich don’t work for a pay check, instead they work for assets which provide passive income while they are sleeping!
I worked in dead-end jobs for many years before I decided to make a plan for my future and start building my dream career. It has been a long process to reach this stage of living the life of my dreams and I am grateful I realised my value and self-worth and I will never again allow others to control my future! I have laid the foundation as I love new challenges and as a lifelong learner the next exciting stage of my journey is just beginning. I am grateful to be sharing my journey and some of the strategies I have learned along the way to building my new life. I hope that you will find these strategies useful to help you on your journey to your dream career and business. Whatever you decide, know that you always have a choice and everything is an experience. If you fail, it is a lesson to do better next time, so keep trying until you succeed. My wish for you is that you don’t wait too long to start creating the circumstances and living your life on your terms every single day.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
martin luther king, Jr
YOU ARE THE BUSINESS
Here are a few ways that I found worked well for me and my own experience when I started planning my dream life:
- If you are working at the moment keep your day job as long as possible to build your experience. The skills you learn can be transferable in your future career or business. For example, teamwork and organisational skills will always be useful in any future career or business. Think of yourself as the business, you are working to invest in yourself, fund your dreams and change your life. When you are at work instead of thinking negative thoughts of all the reasons you don’t want to be there, start thinking positive thoughts about what your future will look like. Write daily motivational reminders to yourself and stick the notes on your computer or desk and look at these reminders regularly or when you feel like running to the nearest exit! Remind yourself that you are working for something better for your future, do your best in your job until you have learned new skills for your new career or developed your part-time business and you are earning enough money to decide the next stage of your plan!
- Decide what you want to do in the future; do you want to be an employee or have your own business? Do you need new skills for your new career or do you want to learn how to start your own business? For example, I started studying for my new career in the evenings whilst working in the day job. Write a list of everything that makes you happy, what lights you up when you think about what you want to do for the rest of your life. Would you work for free in your dream career if money was no object and it makes you happy? These are some questions that you could ask yourself when making a decision.
- Once you have decided what you want to do, on another page write down your goals and how long it will take you to reach them, how much money you will need for new courses, learning new skills and what can you start doing immediately to move forward to reach your goals. If you are going to start a business, read books on starting your own business. Start small and don’t get confused by too much information as this can be overwhelming at first. You don’t need all the answers, start with what you have and you will learn along the way; if you are following your true path, everything will start to align for you. Sometimes not knowing the next step is the most exciting part of the journey!
- Be patient, start saving your money and cut down on unnecessary expenses! Work out how much money you need to live on to pay your bills every month and save at least 10% of your income every month. Yes this is difficult but building anything new in life requires persistence and patience as this is a long term game. Rome wasn’t built in a day, you are creating the masterpiece of your life and you want to make sure you are making good decisions. If you rush you might fall, take one step at a time and trust yourself, the timing is important.
- Avoid negative people, that tell you that you are crazy for wanting to leave a good job to start a new career or business. Personal development is a journey not a destination, you are becoming a valuable person and you won’t need to worry about being able to afford the good things in life. Make sure that you know what makes you happy, create your own happiness and don’t be fooled by the idea that money can buy happiness. However, money can provide a comfortable lifestyle and give you the freedom and options to support the people that you care about most in your life.
- Continue to learn and build your dream career and if you want to start your own business start thinking of ways that you could promote yourself on social media or work for free to collect some reviews for your website. It is not necessary to create an expensive website during the early stages of your business, focus on creating a social media following and write about your services. Your business will just be a dream with a website if you don’t have any customers! Remember that time is the most precious commodity, spend as much time on building your business as possible and get a part time job if necessary to pay your bills. Share your story, be honest as people buy from people that they know, like and trust! Find one social platform that you think will be useful for your new career, learn how to promote yourself and be consistent.
NEVER GIVE UP
I never said this was going to be easy, but if you want your life to change, YOU have to change. I remember someone telling me that our life is like preparing a meal; if you don’t like eating the same meals every day, you need to change the ingredients or try another recipe. There might be tough times ahead and your situation can change along the way. For example, you might lose your job and you will have to find another job and bring your PLAN B into action as you might need to use your savings as a safety net for a while until you get back on track. There are various obstacles that can happen to interrupt your journey to success, but never lose sight of your goals, keep the faith even if you have to try a different route and change direction for a while. Believe that you can overcome all obstacles on your way to living the life of your dreams. Nothing can stop you from living your true purpose and one day the world will know your achievements and how you became successful. The struggles are worth every minute!
“Variety is the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavor.”
william cowper
This process can take many years until you feel ready and prepared to transition to your new career or business. When you are ready to leave your job, you will be prepared as you will have gained enough experience and new skills for your new career or business. If you have started a business whilst working in your day job, you will feel confident that your business will succeed and you no longer need to rely on a job for your salary.
Continue learning, growing and moving forward, this is not about how much money you can make, it’s about your happiness and growth and who you are becoming in the process. Whether you are starting a new career or building a business, you are providing a service and building trust with your clients or colleagues. Everything is an experience and there are no limits once you are on this journey of self improvement and developing your future. If your mindset is on helping people on your journey to success, it can lead you on the path to a rich fulfilling life.
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
JIM ROHN