You will spend 90,000 hours of your lifetime at work. Are you happy?
1/3 of your life will be spent at work.
That’s 90,000 hours over the course of a lifetime.
The average American spends over 100 hours commuting.
By the age of 30, most people will have had 7 or 8 jobs.
80% of workers hate their jobs.
Oh and couples where one partner spends 10+ hours more than usual at work divorce at twice the average rate (we’re already above the 50% divorce rate).
Can you see where this is going?
And here’s the real question:
Are you happy at the one place you are spending most of your life?
For most people, the answer is No.
So here’s the next question:
Why are so many people choosing to live like this?
Because they don’t believe they have the capacity, ability and time to do something else.
Sad, huh?
And absolutely untrue.
So let’s drop that limiting belief like it’s hot right here, right now in 10 simple, challenging and doable steps:
1 Take ownership for where you are.
If your life is at the mercy of everyone and everything else, you have no power. If where you are is because of other people (parents, friends, your boss), then where you’re going to be must also be because of other people. Blame equals powerlessness and you will not move from a job you hate to a life you love riding on the shoulders of blame. Nope…
It’s time to own where you are. Every decision you ever made, everything you ever allowed, every reaction and perception you have about every experience of your life has been and is completely and totally YOU…
Until you own EVERYTHING, nothing will change.
2 Decide where you’d rather be.
Unless you have a super clear vision of where you want to be, you will feel no serious momentum to do the work of getting to that place. People perish for a lack of vision. You need a strong, clear, compelling vision for where you want your professional life to go. Pull out a sheet of paper and answer the following questions:
1 In five years, what do Iwant to be doing for work?
2 How much money would I like to earn every year? Do I want to have income from one source or many? If so, what does that look like?
3 What does mytypical work day look like? What do I do every hour of my work day? Where do I do that? Who am I working with? What do I accomplish?
3 Get an ounce of courage and believe in yourself COMPLETELY.
There comes a moment when you have to decide to believe in yourself- without proof, without evidence, without needing to have a number of certifications, degrees, and experiences under your belt. At some point, you’ve got to take a leap of faith and DECIDE to fully, completely believe in you… and not turn back.
4 Create the one page plan to get to your destination.
Now you need a plan… Do not spend weeks, months or years developing this plan. I’m talking about a you-and-you-sit-down on a Saturday lasting two hours maximum. Go the old-fashioned way: pen and paper.
What are the steps that you have to take to get to where you want to go? If you don’t know every step, Google it. Write a one page plan (and keep it to one page- keep it simple) and photocopy that plan and post at least three copies in different locations in your home. You need to see what you’re committing to constantly!
5 Take immediate action.
The moment after you’ve put up the plan everywhere, take one big, massive next step. Immediate action as in right now, this moment, take the action no matter what you’ve committed to do at this moment. The immediate action matters and it has to be immediate.
6 Quit EVERY excuse.
For this plan to get achieved, EVERY excuse has to go, including:
I don’t have enough time.
I don’t have enough money.
Nobody supports me.
My health is shot and I don’t have the energy to do this.
I don’t believe in myself.
I need more confidence.
I have to stay where I’m at to provide for my family.
If I do this, I’m going to kill myself doing it.
EVERY EXCUSE IS NOW GONE… #byebye
7 Shut out the haters, the Jones and the unsolicited advisers.
Making this leap in your life is going to require a safe zone and haters, the Jealous Jones and the unsolicited advisers cannot live in that zone with you. Don’t tell anyone what your plans are. Make your moves in silence. Stop seeking advice from people who aren’t where you’re trying to go. And, for goodness’ sake, do not even entertain keeping up with the Joneses. You don’t have time for the drama. Get to work…
8 Work your ass off UNTIL you get to where you want to go.
If you are questioning whether you’re doing enough (and you have to time to ask that), chances are, you’re not doing enough. But just in case, like me, you want to track your level of investment, sign up for a free account at www.toggl.com and start to track all the hours you’re spending each week working on your dream.
9 Be ready for the end at any moment it comes.
At any moment, your job can go away. Don’t pretend or avoid the reality of that possibility… and don’t live in fear of it. The greatest talent you have is resourcefulness. Find ways to access, activate, and build your level of resourcefulness every day. You don’t need your job to end today (or to quit your job). However, be ready for whatever comes and KNOW (here’s where the believing in yourself becomes important) that you can handle whatever comes. Practice resourcefulness. It is the one answer to any obstacle or setback that will ever occur in any area of your life.
10 NEVER AGAIN put your future in the hands of ONE person who can ruin your life.
Any time the bulk of your income comes from one source, you are putting your future in the hands of ONE person who has the power to ruin your life (layoffs, downsizing, firing just to name a few). Don’t do it.
These steps are doable. You were born to do them. You were built to surpass them. And if, by some chance, somewhere someone along the way told you that you weren’t good enough or worthy enough or strong enough, tell them to stick their commentary where the sun doesn’t shine and disown their negative garbage.
It’s time you stood up and lived your life… I mean REALLY lived your life and you won’t do that spending 1/3 of your life at a job you hate.
Want to escape the corporate rat race and create your own lane?
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