How can I give up my job? Countdown to freedom

Do you often wonder to yourself “How can I give up my job?”

I do, and I have put into action a project to do just that. Project 365 has begun. The countdown to freedom has started. 365 days to go!

#Project365

Good riddance to 2020

Happy New Year! Happy New You!

Most people, myself included, are happy to see the back of 2020. It was a year of disbelief, tragedy, and gradual acceptance of a new normality.

We look forward to a new year as a time of new beginnings, when we traditionally make resolutions to improve our lives, and we start January with plenty of hope. This year our hopes are very different to normal.

We hope that we will be able to see our loved ones in person again, without endangering their health or overwhelming the health service.

In time, we hope that our social routines can return to normal again, without the restrictions that have become so commonplace.

We hope we can once again enjoy holidays, events and celebrations, live music and festivals.

Freedom

Yet some of us secretly admit that we have enjoyed the freedom we gained in 2020 to work from home, to explore new ways of managing our lives. Do you often wonder to yourself “How can I give up my job?”

I made a decision that I would never again accept a job that requires me to work from a particular location, like an office. I will never need to commute again, and I love the idea. It’s the one decision that I won’t compromise on.

I have been lucky enough to have been offered, and have accepted, redundancy from my job. To tide myself over for the next year I have accepted a work from home secondment. This will help me to bridge the gap between employment and self-employment, while I work out my next steps.

Self-development

Having this extra time to focus on myself has allowed me to look into some areas I had always wanted to explore, and to spend a lot of time on self-development. It has been a fascinating, thought provoking few months.

I have made some earth shattering, life changing realisations.

I don’t want to work for anyone else anymore.

What I want is to do something more creative with my life.

It is important for me to give back to the world, to help and inspire others.

I’m not sure exactly how I am going to do this yet, but that is all part of the excitement. It is also part of the fear and uncertainty I feel about the future. No positive changes ever happen without taking risks, and I am prepared to take those risks now, to build the better future that I dream of.

I was fed up of asking myself “How can I give up my job?” on a regular basis, so I took the plunge into the unknown.

Project 365

I have given myself this year of breathing space, and I plan to use every day of 2021 to move closer towards my goal of working for myself.

Every day, I commit to learning something new, and publishing it on my website and social media sites to help others who are also looking to break free from their own unsatisfying careers. I hope I can inspire some of you to take your own plunge into the unknown.

Please give me feedback on how I can help – what stage are you at in your own life journeys? What areas are you struggling with most? Hopefully we can work together to inspire each other to become better people, so we can all achieve our goals for 2021.

And so, today, Project 365 is born. It is my pledge to myself, and to you. A promise to spend every day of this year improving myself in some way, learning something that will help me to grow and develop. I promise to publish that learning daily, both as a journal to show how far I have come, and to help others see exactly how I have done it. It is a countdown to the day that I will move from my life as an unsatisfied employee, to my new future life, in control of my own destiny.

There is no agenda. I don’t know yet where the journey will take me. But I hope you will join me on what I hope will be a thrilling and emotional ride. Good riddance to 2020 and welcome to 2021. Welcome to our new future. Welcome to Project 365.