Introduction to Escape the 9 to 5
Good morning! Today, I want to talk to you about work, the 9-5 grind, and how you can avoid it - escape the 9 to 5. It's important to find work that you love and that brings you a sense of purpose. In this blog, I will share some tips on how to identify your passion and purpose, be flexible with your schedule, and build a value-driven business. If you are looking for the full video transcript, click here. Now, let's get started!
Click the video and listen to the She Designs, She Empowers Vlog or keep reading.
Identifying Your Passion and Purpose
Reflecting on what truly brings you joy and a sense of purpose is essential. It may take time to discover your true passion, but it's worth the effort. For me, it took 14 years of being an entrepreneur and trying different things to find my purpose. I realized that I was passionate about helping people, and that became my driving force.
When opportunities came my way, like revising a friend's website, I saw it as a chance to combine my passion for helping others with my goal of avoiding the 9-5. It was a freelance project at first, but it developed into an opportunity for personal growth. I learned to prioritize my family while still pursuing my work goals.
Be Flexible and Have a Purposeful Schedule
To avoid the 9 to 5 and love your work, it's important to be flexible and create a purposeful schedule. Start your week by planning and blocking out dedicated work hours. Make a list of tasks that need to be accomplished, both for work and personal life. Prioritize your tasks and focus on the top three items that will make your week successful.
Of course, unexpected events may disrupt your schedule, especially if you're a mom. But being flexible and open to change is key. Remember that there is a season and a time for everything. If something doesn't align with your current goals or values, it's okay to say no to projects or clients. By being intentional with your schedule and priorities, you can find greater satisfaction in your work.
Building a Value-Driven Business
A value-driven business aligns with your core beliefs and contributes positively to the lives of others. Identify the values that are important to you and incorporate them into your business. For example, if integrity, quality, and communication are your values, make sure they are reflected in your interactions with clients.
Personally, I found that tithing and giving my business to God made a significant difference in my income and overall peace of mind. Your values may differ, but infusing them into your everyday processes or using them as checkpoints can guide your decision-making. Remember that your business should reflect your beliefs and positively impact those you work with.
Conclusion
Avoiding the 9 to 5 and loving your work is possible if you follow these tips. Identify your passion and purpose, be flexible with your schedule, and build a value-driven business. Remember that it's not an overnight process, but with time and effort, you can create a fulfilling career that aligns with your values and brings you joy.
If you're looking for a community of like-minded women who are avoiding the 9 to 5 and loving their work, I invite you to join me at The WE/Me Community. Together, we can support and uplift each other on our journeys.
Have a wonderful day!
Video Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:10 good morning happy Saturday it is a cold
00:14 Saturday morning here in Georgia I'm all
00:16 cozied up with some coffee and I wanted
00:17 to just jump on and chitchat about work
00:21 9to5 the grind how to avoid it how you
00:24 can avoid it and love the work that you
00:26 do I am going to just jump straight into
00:29 this topic with you and tell you how
00:32 important it is to identify your passion
00:35 and your purpose reflecting on what
00:37 truly brings you Joy and a sense of
00:40 purpose is truly important for me I was
00:43 able to find this over a period of time
00:46 it's not an overnight process but after
00:49 let's say 14 years of being an
00:52 entrepreneur and doing so many different
00:54 things including MLMs I I did that right
00:58 after my son was born and I just kind of
01:01 couldn't sit still I would do that in my
01:03 spare time but then I found it was just
01:05 kind of eating up not just my spare time
01:08 but it started eating up my family time
01:11 because I was so focused on building a
01:13 business out of it instead of just
01:16 focusing on my family which was the
01:17 whole point of the time that I was
01:19 spending at home at that point so after
01:21 my son started school and I had some
01:24 time freedom I was introduced with some
01:27 opportunities to do what I had done
01:30 prior to becoming a mother and that
01:32 included some web design which I said I
01:34 would not go back to but I really didn't
01:36 have any good reasons why I shouldn't go
01:38 back to that so I just started
01:40 reflecting on what was important why
01:44 should I or should I not accept those
01:47 opportunities and at that point my true
01:52 purpose was to avoid the 9 to5 but my
01:55 passion was helping people so when I had
01:57 a friend come and ask me to to revise
02:00 their website the one that I had built
02:02 for them years prior it was important
02:05 for me to consider them because I was
02:08 just passionate about helping people and
02:10 then I connected the dots I was now able
02:12 to connect those dots and not just help
02:15 him but also avoid the 9to5 so when I
02:18 first jumped into that project it was
02:20 more freelance style like I had done
02:23 before and then it just kind of
02:25 developed into an opportunity to develop
02:28 myself and my mind because initially I
02:30 was like oh I'm on this timeline I
02:32 promised to have this project done in x
02:34 amount of time and I just wanted to sit
02:36 down and Hammer out the project whether
02:38 it meant doing it morning noon and night
02:40 or whatever even though I said listen my
02:43 family comes first and I'm only going to
02:45 do this while my kiddo is at school so
02:49 through that project and probably the
02:50 next few projects I finally learned to
02:53 relax and truly put my priorities in
02:56 order so if you want to avoid the 9
02:58 to5 and love your work I really
03:01 encourage you to number one identify
03:03 your passions and your purpose Proverbs
03:06 1:63 will help you with that commit your
03:09 work to the Lord and your plans will be
03:11 established just sit on that and think
03:14 about it for a few minutes and know that
03:16 it's not an overnight process it's
03:19 something that you really have to work
03:21 at on a daily basis you have to reframe
03:24 your mindset to put yourself in a
03:27 position to accept the changes that come
03:30 with the before and the after when
03:33 you're doing this the second thing is to
03:35 be flexible and have a purposeful
03:37 schedule for me the things that work the
03:39 best is to start my week planning and
03:42 have kind of times blocked out I don't
03:46 do time blocking necessarily but I'm
03:48 definitely a list maker and a list
03:51 checker right I check my list on a
03:53 regular basis and I go back to it so
03:57 every week I plan out my week I time
03:59 block I say say okay this is already on
04:01 the schedule it's nailed down I can't
04:03 move that these are the times and the
04:06 hours that I really have to sit down and
04:08 get my work accomplished but then I make
04:10 my list of things that have to be
04:12 accomplished I separate them between
04:14 work and personal and know that during
04:17 those different time blocks like for
04:19 work when I'm blocking off for work I
04:20 know okay this is where I have to get
04:23 the checklist done that's work rated and
04:25 I always have a top three so on that
04:27 checklist of tasks that Happ to be
04:30 accomplished I have a top three if I can
04:32 accomplish those on day one Mondays are
04:34 hard but if I can accomplish the top
04:36 three on Monday I'm basically done with
04:39 my work for the week because those top
04:41 three items are the things that I have
04:43 to accomplish for that week to be
04:45 successful in my own mind so are things
04:48 going to pop up during my week that are
04:50 going to flip-flop things around and are
04:52 they going to be surprises in my week
04:55 absolutely listen as a mom when your kid
04:58 gets sick does it throw your schedule
04:59 off it throws your schedule off
05:01 especially if you're a stay-at-home mom
05:03 or if you work from home and your kid
05:05 has to stay home let's be honest that
05:08 will throw off everything but you have
05:11 to be flexible again I encourage you not
05:13 to expect these mindsets to happen
05:15 overnight but to just relax into them
05:20 accept those changes as they come be
05:23 flexible but start your week off being
05:25 purposeful Ecclesiastes 31 says for
05:28 everything there is a season and a time
05:30 for every matter under Heaven friends I
05:33 can talk to you about Seasons all day
05:35 long there are so many seasons and you
05:38 are not alone if you feel like you're in
05:40 a season where you just cannot get your
05:43 mindset where it needs to be to
05:45 accomplish a big goal but just relax go
05:48 back to God's word and seek him first he
05:52 is going to help redirect your path he's
05:54 going to give you the peace and the
05:56 assurance that you need to finish
05:58 accomplishing ing that goal or to reset
06:01 the timeline for that goal maybe you
06:03 just need to recognize that this is not
06:05 the right time for a particular goal the
06:08 third thing that I think is important
06:11 for us when we are trying to avoid the 9
06:14 to-5 and we want to love our work at the
06:16 same time is to build a value driven
06:19 business so what are your values what is
06:22 important for you to incorporate into
06:25 your business that connects you to it
06:28 long term okay this isn't something that
06:31 I set up right away but I did connect to
06:34 some values that I was able to recognize
06:37 later that carried me through until I
06:39 truly created the values for my business
06:43 and some of those that I can tell you I
06:45 connected to right away really went back
06:47 to step one that I referenced which is
06:51 to be intentional about your purpose and
06:54 your passions so I did know I was
06:57 passionate about helping other people I
06:58 wanted to help save my friends some
07:00 money I mean they were being quoted you
07:02 know at the time what I thought was
07:03 outrageous rates I knew that I could do
07:06 it for them and save them some money so
07:09 that was important to me and also they
07:10 trusted me and they wanted to work with
07:12 me again and that was encouraging for me
07:15 but also I wanted to help them out I
07:17 wanted to give them the option to work
07:19 with somebody that they knew and trusted
07:21 so those are some of the values that I
07:23 think just kind of followed and carried
07:25 me through the early days of doing
07:27 business but some of the values that I
07:30 have in business now include Integrity
07:33 quality communication right high level
07:36 communication also working with
07:39 like-minded women is something that's
07:41 really important to me and of course we
07:44 work with people outside of our target
07:46 audience but just making sure that the
07:49 foundational beliefs and core system
07:52 works for both parties the way you
07:54 interact with clients is important
07:56 business practices are important but
07:59 again again I think the values there are
08:02 to make sure that for me tithing for my
08:06 company doing that with my business has
08:08 made such a major difference in my
08:10 income giving my business to God rather
08:13 than depending on myself has just made
08:16 the greatest difference the piece that I
08:20 have about finances is so drastically
08:24 different than before my business was
08:26 God- centered so stop and take some time
08:29 to really think about what kind of
08:31 values do you have in life should they
08:34 roll over into your business and how can
08:37 you identify what those are and how that
08:39 they would affect your business just
08:41 Infuse them into the everyday processes
08:45 or at least use them as checkpoints
08:47 because let's be honest we're all given
08:49 these different checks in our heart and
08:51 our mind and when something pops up like
08:54 I'm not real sure this is a project I
08:56 want to take on for XYZ reasons let's
08:59 let's go back to the core values and see
09:01 if the project lines up and if it
09:03 doesn't just know this is when it is
09:06 time to say no to a project or a
09:08 potential client you'll definitely find
09:10 greater satisfaction in your work when
09:13 it reflects your beliefs and you know
09:16 contributes positively to the lives of
09:18 those that you're working with for this
09:20 point I want to bring up Colossians
09:23 3:23-24 whatever you do work
09:26 hardly as for the Lord and not for men
09:29 knowing that from the Lord you will
09:32 receive the inheritance as your reward
09:34 you are serving the lord Christ so
09:37 remember in your journey that it's very
09:40 possible to avoid the 9o5 and when I say
09:43 that I am kind of referring to like a
09:45 corporate job if you're a career Pro and
09:47 you're here listening to me today
09:48 avoiding the 9o5 could just mean the
09:51 typical schedule and you're capable of
09:54 doing that by just go to your boss and
09:56 talk about you know what's not working
09:58 for for you and how you could make some
10:01 shifts I was speaking with a good friend
10:03 yesterday and she was informing me that
10:07 she's part-time now but she was like
10:09 actually you know I'm truly not
10:11 part-time when I informed leadership of
10:15 the changes that I needed for my work to
10:18 align with my values and my goals and
10:21 also allow me to have the balance that
10:24 she needed in life that she was going to
10:25 either have to quit her job or she was
10:27 going to have to go part-time and she
10:29 was able to actually work with
10:31 leadership and time block her her
10:34 schedule so that she's able to
10:37 accomplish all the hours and all the
10:40 classes and teach everything she needs
10:42 to so she can then use her afternoons
10:45 while she's in town while her kids are
10:47 in school to accomplish the things that
10:49 moms need to accomplish like going to
10:51 the doctor or getting groceries done
10:54 before she has a car full of kids in tow
10:57 anyway it was just a beautiful thing for
11:00 her to share with me how she
11:03 accomplished this but yet it was a
11:05 win-win solution for her and for the
11:07 school so again if you're in a
11:09 professional career don't think that
11:12 these tips won't help you as well so
11:15 friends thank you for tuning in today
11:17 I'm Tiffanie Teel and I'm just here to
11:20 share my journey and help you on your
11:23 journey and just create a community
11:26 where we know that we're not alone and
11:28 we can totally build each other up
11:30 remind each other that guess what you
11:32 probably haven't gone through this for
11:34 the first time someone else has probably
11:36 gone through this struggle before let's
11:38 identify what that struggle is but let's
11:40 also share how we were able to overcome
11:42 it so that we can help push each other
11:44 through those moments quicker than we
11:47 might have to if we were alone so I hope
11:49 you have a wonderful day if you're
11:51 looking for a community of like-minded
11:53 women who are avoiding the 9 to-5 and
11:56 loving their work I invite you to join
11:58 me over at the we over me community.com
12:02 where we are building a new group of
12:05 women and online community space as well
12:08 as a local space and opportunity to
12:11 connect and support each other on a
12:12 regular basis friends have a great day
12:15 and thank you for joining
12:27 me
12:29 [Music]
12:35 [Music]
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