It’s been a long time since I last brought you up to speed on my goings-on.
Why? Because for the past several months, I don’t really feel like I’ve had anything to say! Not a lot has been going on from a business perspective, and I’ve hardly felt like the best possible example of the hard work and sacrifice it takes to leave work behind, nor the level of motivation that is required.
But now I want to take this opportunity to bring you up to speed. The past few months have been eventful in their own way, and I now find myself in a place of relative calm from which I can reflect upon 2014 and consider what I may choose to do in 2015 – both professionally and personally.
Low
I consider myself a pretty chirpy guy most of the time. I tend to have a positive outlook on things.
However, it wasn’t long ago that I found myself down in the dumps. While my personal life was going great, my professional life was really dragging me down. I had no real desire or motivation to do any work, and I couldn’t figure out what it was that was sapping me of my vigor.
My income was suffering as a result. I was in a real rut; my earnings hadn’t really grown in around a year. In fact, I wasn’t even tracking my earnings – such was my indifference – but I knew that my income wasn’t anything to write home about relative to my past accomplishments.
It was a catch-22 situation for me. I had no desire to work on my business (quite the opposite), and thus my business wouldn’t grow.
I was going around in circles trying to answer the questions that I felt needed answering. Why aren’t I motivated? What can I do to boost my motivation? Am I doing the right work? Am I in the right environment? Should I try something new? And so on.
2014 could be defined as a year of ideas for me, and I think that was part of the problem. I was distracted by 101 ideas – from a fast food restaurant, to a month-long busking experiment, to a home bakery, to a podcast called “Die Trying”, to a wholesale cheese business…I could go on and on. I saw so many possibilities, but I was agonizing over the direction in which I thought was best to go.
The Solution
Eventually I discovered how to get out of my slump, which ultimately lay in the abandonment of Western commercial values.
Put simply, in order to be more happy, I needed to “work” less and do more stuff.
Is that an elusive enough explanation for you? Don’t worry; I won’t leave you hanging.
Let’s talk about work.
It is so ingrained in us to work a 9-5 day that the idea of working half of that time (or even less) may not even occur to us as an option. But, fortunately for me, it was (and is) an option. And actually, I believe it is an option for many more of us than we think. Sure – we might need to work 8+ hour days to sustain our ways of living, but what if we are prepared to live differently? What if we are prepared to sacrifice material wants and exchange them for more time?
I stopped focusing all of my questions on my business and instead asked questions about my life as a whole. What do I like to do? What do I find rewarding? What environment do I want to operate in? I took a holistic approach to managing my life, and it made a world of difference. Perhaps most curiously, I discovered that pretty much all of the things I wanted to do were the simplest (and cheapest) things one could imagine.
And the funniest thing is that my new approach to living has actually benefitted my professional life too. Perhaps not in the way most people would measure it (i.e. financially), but certainly in terms of my attitude towards my work, and how it can benefit others.
A Day in the Life
Fast-forward to present day, and I’m in a position where I’m excited to get out of bed in the morning. This has never really happened to me before – at least, not for an extended period of time.
At the moment I tend to get up at around 7-8am on weekdays. This isn’t typical, but my girlfriend is having to leave the house around that time to get to work this month. I’m actually really liking getting up at this time; rather than laying in for far too long and crawling out of bed between 9-10am as both my girlfriend and I normally do (the advantage/dangerous temptation of us both largely working from home).
I’ll have a shower and get dressed, then sit down at my laptop in my study and get started on some Anki flashcards. In case you don’t know, Anki is spaced repetition software. Spaced repetition learning is the most awesome thing I have discovered in the past year or so. If you want to learn anything, use spaced repetition.
I’ve recently been using Anki to learn the capital cities of the world (seriously, try me ;-)), American Presidents and British Prime Ministers. Why? Well I recently read The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs, and it has seriously rekindled my thirst for knowledge.
More recently, I’ve started to learn French using the All Japanese All The Time methodology. Incidentally, AJATT is one of the best blogs I have ever come across, despite having what many would consider an awful design. Let that be a lesson to all of us! (It aint really about the design folks.)
I’ve always wanted to learn a foreign language, and right now I’m further down the road than I’ve ever been before. I’m loving it. I’m watching Friends in French and listening to French music and everything. I’m not actually understanding the vast majority of it, but still.
At about 10am I’ll pack up my laptop and walk down to Moseley Exchange – my local coworking space. At the moment I tend to work from around 10:30am to 1:30pm; three hours per day, with lunch time being the clear cut off point (i.e. I don’t work after lunch). Because of the limited time I have available to work, I tend to get a lot done in that time. This a phenomenon I am familiar with: the greater your time constraint, the more efficient you become with your time.
Once I’m finished with work I’ll head home for lunch. I’ll typically spend the afternoon working on Anki, reading and baking. Yep – baking. I make a mean sandwich loaf these days, and I’m working on expanding my repertoire in the near future.
Evenings tend to be taken up with social engagements (don’t I sound grown up ;-)) or just lounging at home and taking it easy. I’m typically in bed before 10:30pm, and I’m sleeping as well as I ever have (despite a history of insomnia-related sleep issues).
How My Earnings Have Been Affected
It’s all well and good that I’m living the dream, but I still need to support myself, right? We all do.
Well, at the moment things are going well by my standards.
My whole approach to finances (both personal and professional) has become ultra simple, and involves three simple questions asked on a weekly and/or monthly basis:
- How much am I spending?
- How much am I earning (and is it more than what I spend)?
- Do I have more money in the bank than I did last time I checked?
That’s is the extent of my business “growth” plan and personal financial planning.
I have a personal budget in a Google spreadsheet that contains an estimate of my monthly expenditure. I add up my actual expenditure at the end of every month and compare it against the personal budget to check that my estimate is relatively accurate (within reason). That takes about 15 minutes.
I have an earnings estimate that I update every week based upon product sales in the previous week and freelance earnings projections. It takes a couple of minutes to update.
Finally, I add up all the money I have in my bank accounts once per month and check that I have more than I did in the previous month after tax. This takes about five minutes.
If my projected earnings go below about 15% more than my projected outgoings, I’ll have to get my thinking cap on about where my business is going and/or what I’m spending. That’s not in danger of happening at the moment, so I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing.
You know what’s so exciting about that approach? It means that my business can be based entirely on what I love doing: helping people. If I can help people and make money doing it, I’m a very happy guy. And once I stopped trying to help people and make more money at the same time, it made a world of difference to how I feel about my work.
At the moment everything is going in the right direction. While I couldn’t tell you my exact earnings (I’m just not interested in precise numbers, so long as my income is comfortably higher than my expenditure), I can give you the estimates I keep track of:
- Paid to Blog Jobs: ~$2,000
- Paid to Blog: ~$1,000
- Bluehost affiliate sales: ~$700
- Writing income (net): ~$3,500
- Outgoings: ~$500
- Net income (before tax): ~$6,700 per month
If my outgoings drop below $6,000 I’ll have to think more ‘commercially’ about my business. Until then, I can just carry on doing what I’m doing.
The most absurd thing is that I would have considered $6,700 income a ‘failure’ a month or two ago. After all, my old income reports summary show that my highest earning month – way back in June 2013 – was just a notch or two under $9,000. How can I be happy when I’ve gone backwards?
Well, the devil’s in the details. First of all, I’m earning less but working far less – just three or so hours per day. Second of all, I’m as happy as I’ve ever been. Finally, I have a far healthier perspective – I simply don’t care that I’m earning less. I don’t need that extra money. I certainly don’t need to deal with what I’d have to trade for it in terms of time and effort.
So What’s Changed?
I could point to many things that have changed over the past couple of months that could account for my drastically increased happiness, but what’s really made the difference is my mindset.
I’ve completely re-framed in my mind what life should be about (at least for the time being). I’ve switched from a mindset of “How can I earn more?” to a mindset of “How can I be more happy?” And boy is it liberating. I’m spending far less on material things and feeling better for it. If my earnings do get closer to that $6,000 mark, I will probably look at where I can spend less before figuring out how to earn more.
However, I’m sure I won’t be able to ride this wave forever. Life has a way of making sure we experience our fair share of ups and downs. But I feel better equipped to deal with what’s to come than ever. Bring it on.
Photo Credit: Damian Gadal
Tom,
The way you think amazes me! Your thoughts, though weird to most people, are just true. I agree with you that happiness is more important than making more money than one needs or stacking up material possessions.
Keep up the good work. You’re awesome!
Thanks Abass! You’re awesome too 🙂
To put it simply…
Nice one, Tom.
Cheers Kaya! Hope you’re well 🙂
Good to see an old fashioned LWB post 🙂
You;re still doing great. In fact, much better than before if you’re feeling good about it.
Thanks Jawad! I did feel like it was time for an “old fashioned” post 😉
Love it! Thanks for sharing. I agree completely! As I leave work behind this week, one of my biggest concerns is that I’ll feel like I have to work all of the time, as that’s what I’ve been doing all year growing my side hustle in addition to my full-time job.
I’m going to put a schedule in place and be more efficient with my time, as you talked about. Spending more time with my family is WHY I started out on this path, now I need to “put my money where my mouth is!”
Great idea Gina. When I quit my job I was working ridiculous hours and eventually burned out. There has to be balance…
That’s excellent news Tom.
Loved how you switched your mindset to how you can be happier.
Definitely seems more sustainable.
Cheers Hassan!
Dude, you just wrote the post that I’ve needed to read for the past 6 months. I’m in the exact same situation, and been figuring out the whole “working more” thing is not only not the answer, but it’s the thing holding me back.
Like you, I’m not focused on the income part as much as the income per amount of work, and wow, it’s blowing me away.
Here’s to your continued success, and thanks for sharing. It’s crazy the parallel paths people from different sides of the world and in different niches can be one.
Now, I’ve got man up and start catching you in a language (but no way I’m watching Friends!).
Cheers,
Trav
Trav, my man! Great to hear from you. What language are you going to go for?
Great post Tom! I appreciate your honesty. Not everybody talks about the “ugly” part: loosing interest, unhappiness, lack of motivation.
Having a 9-5 mindset also brings some sort of guilt for not working more hours. Which is stupid, because it´s about the results you obtain, not the number of hours you put in.
I have almost 3 weeks since I quit my day job to be a full-time freelancer writer and blogger and, from time to time, I still got remorse for not putting in more hours.
The thing is I don´t need to! But I am learning to enjoy this new found freedom (which is what I wanted when I decided to take this path).
“It’s about the results you obtain, not the number of hours you put in.”
Bang on Corina.
I enjoyed the transition from material to what makes you happy. Money can’t buy everything. The acceptance of riding the waves of life is great. A traditional priest talked to me about this 20 yrs. ago. I didn’t click in me until 14 yrs ago.
We often have to figure things out for ourselves, don’t we Akosua?
The last few months, I have been slightly in the same position with respect to “motivation.” I would sit all day “working” at the computer and actually do nothing.
Like a lot of people, I have been looking for the “magic” button and have spent a fortune on all sorts of courses. These take time to at least read through and so – nothing got done.
I was also at a loss as to my direction. I don’t mind putting in the hours as this is just a way of life for me. But as I am the carer for an elderly Mum with the on signs of dementia, I also have to deal with sometimes constant interruptions when working.
Literally 3 weeks ago I made a decision. I decided to concentrate on one thing only within one general niche. Freelance writing is the general niche and instead of servicing all within that niche, I have selected one and will stick with that until I master it.
Yes, business is slow but a) I now look forward to starting in the morning; b) I am not trying to meet targets for a number of people but only deal with a smaller number whilst I develop within the detailed niche; c) income may be below the past but because I now deliver quality stuff, on time (for a change), word is starting to get around. However in future, my rates will increase and I will stick to a limited number of top paying customers.
All benefit and I am more happy. My income will increase over time and I have time to meet all commitments.
Fantastic approach John. Sounds like you could have written this post yourself 🙂
A happy, fulfilling lifestyle equals a high earning one anytime.
Or exceeds!
Hi Tom,
A couple of months ago I achieved my goal of fully outsourcing my website. As a result, it makes a smaller profit – but I literally only have to work for a few hours a week, and we have more than enough to live on. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.
Take it from me – as someone who is very unlikely to live to a “normal” life expectancy – time is our most precious commodity by far. You are absolutely doing the right thing.
I still can’t understand why more people don’t come to this conclusion. I’m surrounded by intelligent people who work crazy hours (9-5 would be a huge improvement for them), for no good reason that I can see. What use is a slightly bigger house or a faster car, if you have to exchange years of your life for it? Crazy.
Congratulations on your success this month, and thanks for sharing such a positive message with us. I was beginning to worry a few months back that you were heading in a money-chasing direction that didn’t really fit with your past goals, but this seems much more in keeping with the original LWB philosophy that sucked me into being a long-term reader.
Nick
“What use is a slightly bigger house or a faster car, if you have to exchange years of your life for it? Crazy.” Love this quote. Reminds me of a post…this may take some digging…here it is: http://leavingworkbehind.com/wasting-your-time/.
You know what’s funny about it? I temporarily fell for all the stuff was talking about. I even bought that Jaguar XKR that I mention – my “dream car”. It’s one thing to understand something, it’s another to act upon it…
LOVE THIS! I am in a similar position and have felt like I’m floundering. Money isn’t as much as an issue so the motivation is gone and I’m not sure what to do with myself. I think I’ll take a page from your book and just enjoy it. Like you, I don’t think it’ll last forever but may as well take advantage now, right? Thanks for the honesty!
Always a pleasure Beth!
Bon mettre à jour ! Bien fait ! Bon travail ! Bonne continuation !
Or, as I like to say, “Way to go! Keep going!” And, with that, I’m off to check out “spaced repetition” and AJATT.
Je vous remercie beaucoup pour les recommandations ! 🙂
De rien Debi 🙂
This to me seems like a better version of freedom. I love the way you think, it’s fitting for where I want to work toward. the only reason I find myself caught up is because I want to get out of the 9-5 but it seems necessary to stay with a consistent income while I tried to blast through my large debt I have acquired. Really hoping I can blast onto the freelance spectrum like you do. The desk job thing stunts my happiness majorly!
You’ve got the same path to follow Jacquelyn; all the debt means is that it might take you a bit longer to get to where you want to be. It’s only a matter of time if you have the right attitude!
It’s something I’ve been experimenting with as well. I decided to forget fussing about income, as I earn more than my expenses. So now I have signed up for a coding class and a math class. I could not be happier. I feel alive. Your plan is an excellent one. We have to stop consuming so mindlessly and start enjoying ourselves more without slipping into hedonism.
Right on Saleem 🙂
Great way to approach things Tom! Glad things are looking up for you 🙂
Thank you Mariana 🙂
Thanks, how can i get in contact with you, i live in , kobe, japan.
Click on the Contact link at the top of the page 🙂
And there it is. You get far, far more with less. So happy to read this. 🙂
So happy to have written it 🙂
This post is a breath of fresh air. Merci!
I’m glad you’ve found the happy balance between working and living.
Merci beaucoup Bonita!
Hi Tom:
I’m happy that you found your positive side again. Prioritizing what really matters is a good thing. I am wondering as I read your blog and the responses to it, is the freelance writing business slow right now? Is it the season to be slow or something? Or are there so many people applying for the freelance blogging jobs that those posting the ads have too many applications to respond to all of them?
I am not even getting as much as a “go away” when I send out application letters. Only one I applied with had responded saying that they had already hired someone, but would keep my information for future openings. He knows how to be a professional. I thanked him for his quick and professional response. (I’m getting discouraged.) Thanks for LWB and the ability to get answers from your excellent writings, though.
Hi Ruth,
In terms of the number of jobs available, it isn’t slow at the moment. It was over Thanksgiving, and it will be again over Christmas and New Years. It’ll probably pick up rather quickly come the New Year though.
My advice would be to consider what you can change. Is your website as good as it could be? Do you have good samples and testimonials? Are you targeting the right kinds of jobs? Etc.
Cheers,
Tom
Hi and thank you for this wonderful post.
I am happy for you especially to read that you discovered that happiness and helping others are more important than money.
I am not in that place yet but am struggling to get there. I feel I have helped people all my life (through nursing) and have been what they wanted me to be so now I try to find myself through freelance writing.
By the way, you were one of the names which inspired my decision to quit my stressful job and focus on writing. Thanks!
You’re welcome Marlena – thanks for dropping by and commenting!
Tom, can I just share this post with like, thousands of freelancers I know?
As soon as I started freelancing, I was of the same mindset you were a few months ago, that you “had” to earn more month after month or you were a failure. I’m currently laughing at myself now, but I’m also sad because I think too many people believe that idea.
Feel free to share far and wide Bree 😉
This post so hits home. I am going through the same shiny object syndrome and, as a result, spending most of my awake time staring at the computer screen – looking busy but doing nothing. Multi-tasking kills – and I have learned this the hard way.
Thank your for being another reminder that one can not be a master of all so it is better to be master of one skill rather than a jack of all.
Keep up the good work.
I’ll do my best Kashif; thanks!
Hey Tom,
The more I read your blog the more I see the changes you’re going through and this might be a pivotal moment. The moment you change your priorities, everything changes.
I’ve always put experiences at the top of my list and for a long time worked in hospitality exactly because of the flexible hours, which I kept very low to have more time for myself. But now, being a freelancer I have even more flexibility.
As I live in a very minimalist way, I don’t need a lot of money, therefore I don’t need to work a lot. I used to live in Derby (close to Rugby right!?) and sometimes 15 hours a week was more than enough.
I’m now in Brazil and will be going to Bolivia, Peru, back to Brazil and then to England temporarily before I set out again. I’m travelling with around 6 kilos (including the laptop) and it is very liberating; I did India with the same amount and at the time I thought it was too much!
Anyway, I’m not sure how much you like travelling (long term) but I feel it’s the natural step for you! Considering you earn in dollars or pounds, I reckon you could work less if you wanted to (not saying you don’t have to work, but you can spend even more time doing other things, as you’re doing now).
Keep helping people and keep enjoying life!
Cheers
Hey Guilherme,
I’ve thought about long-term traveling a lot, but I’m very settled where I am. I think I’m more of a “settle down and become part of a community” type of person than “wandering nomad” 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
If you’re always being pulled this way and that with different ideas, you might be have a Scanner personality. Check out a book called Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher to see if it sounds like you.
I was ‘diagnosed’ by a Career Coach friend as a Scanner a couple of years ago and it changed the way I look at what I do for a living forever.
Loving your posts and blog as always Tom. It’s a pleasure going on this journey with you.
Thanks for the tip Joanne, I’ll check it out!
That sounds like the perfect balance.
Are you still using ghost writers for your freelance writing blog posts? Or are you writing them yourself again?
I’d love to get down to just working a few hours a day and making enough money to cover the bills.
Happy New Year.
Joe
I’m still using ghost writers Joe. Happy New Year!
Tom,
This is outstanding post; I laud your quality of sharing things honestly. And yes, being happy is the ultimate goal for all of us, isn’t it !
Thank you Naveen!
Congrats, Tom! That’s a very healthy mindset indeed 🙂
Thanks Tim!
You can find talented writers online. Business nowadays prefer hiring people from different parts of the world and saving funds from their business while getting same results. Your article is very definitive. Congrats!
Tom,
You have just an awesome outlook on life ! ( and sorry for the somewhat adolescence use of that word
‘awesome’ lol)
Seriously, it is great to hear other people not stressing out about running their own business.
It is a far cry from the people saying that they work 18 hours a day to make it happen with their business.
That’s just crazy. Thanks again for this refreshing post 🙂
You’re welcome Robert!
Tom,
It’s so similar like my story….
Time is priceless and we should start to treat it like that.
Money is not just a number, it’s a tools to make our life better. Buy groceries and pay the bill. That’s it.
Love the story, finally i know I’m not the only one who feel it. ^_^
I’ve found something similar. The more I concentrate on happy things, the happier I feel. And I know that the things I’m doing will (should) eventually turn into money so I’m not worried too much about my current situation. Do fun and meaningful things, don’t do flippant things.