What are your priorities?

What are your priorities? I took some time recently to re-evaluate my life. I had been running around like the proverbial headless chicken, trying to do everything, but ending up with the sinking feeling that I was never getting anywhere fast. That can feel very demoralising. Maybe you feel that way too.

I decide that the main problem was that I had got my priorities all wrong. I was spending most of my life on a career that wasn’t making me happy. In fact, far from making me happy, it was making me stressed, depressed, and ill. I decided things had to change.

My priority

My priority is to create a lifestyle for myself where I can feel happy and fulfilled. That seemed like quite a tall order to visualise or define, so I set about working out what was most important to me using a process of elimination.

Self-analysis

I considered whether any other areas of my life might be contributing to my problems. I analysed my general health, my relationship and my connections with my family and friends. I looked at my finances, my home and my hobbies. I had worked hard on all of these areas of my life, and can truthfully say that I am satisfied with all of them.

Career

I had worked hard on my career too, but it just did not make me happy. Although I was skilled at what I did, I always felt I could be using my time more effectively. I had felt this way for years, and every time I got itchy feet I studied for a new qualification and got myself promoted. The sense of achievement helped for a while, but it seemed to wear off quicker and quicker the more time that passed. I felt time was just passing me by.

The time-money trade-off

I had so many other things that I wanted to achieve, and it felt as though the time I was spending at work was getting in the way of all my other plans and projects. I considered taking a sabbatical, and I considered going part time. But at the end of the day, I realised these were just my mind’s way of trying to avoid the big picture that was revealing itself to me. I just didn’t want to work for anyone else any more. I had decided that my time was more valuable to me than money.

My time is precious. We aren’t on this Earth for an infinite period of time. I don’t want to waste my time doing a job that doesn’t excite me. I would much rather spend it doing the creative projects I want to do, that inspire and fulfil me. Don’t get me wrong. I realise that this is everyone else’s dream too. The point is I sat down and asked myself the hard question of am I prepared to gamble my entire career history to date on the chance of following my creative dreams?

Uncertainty

It’s not as if I have enough funds to support me if I just quit my job. Yes, I will have a redundancy settlement, but I also have a large mortgage to pay. My funds won’t last indefinitely. I will need to find another source of income. Giving up a guaranteed income from a professional career is a scary step, with all the uncertainty it brings. But I figured it was the only one that would give me my sanity back. So, when offered the chance, I requested redundancy. I guess time will tell if I have made the right decision financially. But there is one thing that I am certain of. I am already a lot happier than I was before. My gut feeling is that I have made the right decision. And that is a feeling that no amount of money can buy.

Project 365

I set up this website after deciding that I want to build a more creative life for myself, so I can give up my job and be in control of my own destiny.

I have set myself a goal of publishing an article on my website every day this year, to document my journey from employment to self-employment.

The name I chose was Project 365 because I see this as a year that I have dedicated to learning and self-development, as I countdown to freedom. It started on 1st January 2021, so I have 341 days to go!

Why not check in on a regular basis to see how I am progressing, and what I have discovered?