Rat Race Escape Artist

Work Life Balance - How to Get It Right

A few years ago, a colleague of mine was horrified to find me in the office on my birthday, telling me that she ALWAYS took the day off work if the birthday fell on a week day. It had never really occurred to me to do the same but, seeing that she had a point, the next year I dilligently took the day off and had a lovely time.

I went off for the day on my own for some top 'me time' and went to Borough Market (a totally ace food market in London) and then to the cinema in the afternoon (best time to go IMHO). And I've been doing something similar every year since. That is until now...

I know that work life balance is one of the reasons I wanted to escape the rat race but I have to admit that today, for the first time in ages, I've spent my birthday working. Why? Well, due to a few techie hitches with redirecting my domain, my audio business website's been down for a few days (still only semi resurrected now) and whilst that's down, my shop is effectively closed.

So, I could've left it for another day and pushed my podcasting and marketing schedule back even further just so I could have my birthday off. Would I have enjoyed it? Possibly but probably not as I'd have felt the niggle in the back of my mind of a major job left undone. I felt it was time to be sensible, bite the bullet and work through my birthday and because it's my own business I'm working for, I feel tired but happy!

And it's not like I'm having an awful day at all - my lovely boyf is taking me out for dim sum in Hampstead soon - yummy!

Win Win Situations - Turning a Problem into a Super Solution

I've been having some problems with my cleaning business lately in that I can't get my advertising to work very well. The details are way too boring to go into but the upshot is, I've decided to stop outsourcing my distribution for a while and take matters into my own hands. And now that I'm out of the day job, I have the luxury of time to do it properly.

The new plan involves me getting up at the crack of dawn to do a brisk hour of delivering my own cards. Now, whilst this totally defeats the aim of leveraging other people's time a la 4-Hour Work Week and working on my business and not in my business, I feel that it's a necessary step at the moment. It serves me on several levels:

• I know for a fact that my advertising is reaching exactly where I want it to (and can therefore monitor and adjust accordingly).
• I have structure and routine to kick-start my day.
• I get a good hour's exercise a day (the housing stock in my pod consists mainly of houses which are accessed by steps, both up and down - good for the buns).
• I get to listen to the millions of podcasts that are stacking up on my ipod that I just don't get time to listen to in the course of a normal day.
• I can quit my gym, saving myself money and guilt for not going as often as I 'should'. Plus I can't listen to my ipod in a swimming pool...
• I still make it to my desk by 9.

So by my reckoning, it's a win/win/win/win/win/win/win situation. Go Cleaning Biz team!

Rat Race Escape - What I've Learnt So Far...

If I actually list all of the things I've learnt so far in my rat race escape efforts this will make for a long and boring post so I'm going to keep it short and to the point.

The last few weeks has felt like a year, I've experienced every physical and mental state there is - I go from feeling great to crying, from really enjoying myself to hating every second of some of the things I find myself doing (it turns out that being your own boss means doing your own admin). Then there's the exhaustion...

I wouldn't swap this for the world and know for certain that working for myself is a million times preferable to working for someone else but I have learnt a few things very quickly:

• Be realistic about what you have to do and the amount of time you have to do it (30 odd hours a week seems to go nowhere).
• Don't take on too much (I've had to scale right back on my Rat Race Escape stuff to really concentrate on my audio business).
• Know when to lie down with a blanket over your head in a darkened room.
• Get up off the chair every now and then (preferably to go and lie down in that darkened room).
• Don't beat yourself up for not being able to do everything perfectly all of the time - make it good enough for now.

Escaping the Rat Race? Look After Your Number 1 Commodity

I had a bit of a wake up call yesterday when I started to get a pain in my lower back. The strange thing is, I've never had back pain in all my time of working in an office yet now that I'm 'free' the pain has started to develop.

So when I found my business coach, Judith Morgan, blogging about Extreme Self Care, I read it with interest.

It's made me give myself a massive kick up the backside and stop being glued to the desk all day. I've now blocked out some spaces in my diary to go to relaxing sessions at the gym (yoga - will my frantic brain be able to stand it? Not sure) and swim regularly.

I am also resolute in the principles of absolutely no internet on Sundays and if I can get to a stage where that applies to Saturdays too then I'm a happy bunny.

What do you do to make sure your best asset doesn't conk out and leave your business floundering? Are you finding it difficult to make sure you look after yourself?

One Life Live

As I now have much more time than I previously had I plan to take up a lot more networking opportunities this year and I'll be able to go to more events. The first one I've got lined up is the One Lif e Live event here in London. Check out how they bill it:

"Do you dream of doing something different with your life?

               

If you're stuck in a rut and feel it's time to make a change, come to One Life Live 2008 and get the inspiration, advice and practical support you need to make it happen.

It's the only event to bring together all the options in one place. Whether you long to take a career break to travel or volunteer overseas, want to retrain for a new career or start your own business, dream of relocating to start a new life in the country, by the coast or overseas, or simply feel in need of a better work/life balance - you'll find the answers at One Life Live.

You've only got one life, live it!"

Looks just the think for an inspired rat race escape, doesn't it? If you plan to come to this, let me know and we can arrange to meet up...it's from 29th Feb to 2nd March at Olympia.

Still in the 9 to 5 Mentality?

Now I know I've only been out for 3 days so far but today it occurred to me that it might take a little while to shake the mentality of the 9 to 5. I'll give you an example. I had a few things to do for a potential client today so I got up pretty early to sort things out (easy to do when the snoring boyfriend is off on a business trip - nice sleep!). This meant I was at my desk for 7:30. So far, not so weird, I used to have to be at my day job for 8 so I'd be well on my commute by 7:30.

The weird feeling of 'naughtiness' came when I decided to go for a swim at about 10:30. It wasn't a before work swim or a lunchtime one or a post work one. So what was it? It was a non 9 to 5 one i.e. I can go for a swim whenever I like. Now, one of the reasons I no longer wanted to be part of the rat race was so that I didn't have to dance to the tune of 'The Man' but it still felt a bit wrong. And very naughty -  so much so that I even wrote my sister an email just before I went to let her know where I was going and to justify why I was 'allowed'. Weirdo!

I know for a fact that I've got more done today than I would've in the average day in my previous existence so I'm putting it down to me feeling a bit wrong because this is something I've never had the luxury of doing before (and what a luxury to have a whole swimming pool to myself).

Can anyone else remember feeling like this when they got out? Or are you looking forward to the days of going for cheeky swims when you do get out?

The Jelly-Wobbles

It's been a bit of a week this week. In fact, January has been a bit of a month so far. There are just 9 working days (and counting) until I officially leave the rat race and walk away from my job...yey! Or maybe not... If I really think about it (and I do, all night whilst I'm tossing and turning) I'm also walking away from the security of a regular salary, the safety of knowing that if I don't know what to do in a given situation I can just ask my boss for advice, the comraderie of some really good, friendly colleagues and the promise of knowing where I'll be all day every day. I fluctuate at the moment from feeling a hundred per cent sure I'm doing the right thing to feeling like I'm flying down the hill in a rusty old car and I don't know where the brakes are. Obviously I know deep down in my gut that I'm doing the right thing for myself but wow, do those doubts get me sometimes!

I feel like 1st February is D-Day and that I've got to hit the ground running and turn everything into a huge success from day one and I feel guilty about taking a holiday between finishing my day job and starting my new life (should be working on my businesses). I feel I've put huge expectations and therefore pressure on myself (nobody else is doing this to me) and I'm terrified that the end result might be that I'll have to go back to a day job (can't believe I said that out loud).

I'm Out of The Rat Race

I'm not normally one to go quiet but I haven't been very active with my blogging of late. This is because the keeping the balls up in the air has become a little tricky at the moment as I'm working towards my Great Escape.

That's right, I'm free, I'm out, I've escaped the rat race by finally cutting the apron strings of the day job. I'm due to leave officially in January and I can't wait.

It means I've been busy planning how I'm going to hit the ground running in February by taking a realistic look at various projects I'm working on and deciding which ones to concentrate on to sustain my escape. I'll be working on my Cleaning Biz pod, as always, my Rat Race Escape Coaching (I'll be adding some downloadable products etc to the mix now that I have time to develop them properly) and I'll be launching a new work stream in January, which involves creating audio products for other people (who said my time at the BBC was wasted??). More on that last one when I have the website up and running.

I've also been looking at how I can run all of this from my 6 feet by 9 feet office - I'm redesigning that to pretty much make most of the room a desk - sounds weird but I'm hoping it'll work. So far, working from home has been managable as it wasn't full time but now that this will be my permanent place of work, it'll have to work better for me.

Monday fun day?

Is your Monday turning out to be a fun day?

The dreaded Monday has come around again and for most of us it's back to the grind of Groundhog Day. For once in a little while though, I seem to be having a run of good Mondays.

This week has started very well not only because business is picking up a steady pace but because my new blogsite has been completed and is now fully functioning and ready for action. To celebrate the launch I’ve decided to do a little giveaway. If you or anyone you know is ready to make a serious rat race escape attempt then I’m offering one free place on my rat race escape coaching programme. Sessions will take place on the phone so this is not restricted by geography. The only condition is that the person who takes up this offer is serious and ready to start acting right now on their ‘no more 9 to 5’ plan.

Imagine not having that sense of dread on Sunday evenings because you know what's awaiting you at the day job. What would it be like to make your own decisions about how you run your day? What would you give to be able to turn off the alarm clock because there's no more commute, no more fighting for a seat on the train you really wish you weren't on? You're your own boss and can decide how, when and where you want to work.

If you or anyone you know is really serious about making some major life changes then contact me at the above email address, stating your case for a free place on my coaching programme – the most compelling case wins the place.

Blog-tagged - what's happening?

An email landed in my inbox yesterday from Nicola Cairncross of The Money Gym telling me I’d been blog-tagged. I’d never been blog-tagged before and don’t mind holding my hands up and saying I was more than a bit baffled. What was I supposed to do with it? A frantic email later and I was kindly pointed in the right direction.

So, I’m playing the game and I’ve been asked the question “What are the five top web resources that you use”. I also have to follow the rules:

1.      MUST be clean. No R  or X-rated sites

2.      Only FIVE links.

3.      MUST tell 5 people.

4.      A link back to the person who tagged you

5.      Lara's place is the meme originator

By the way, if anyone can shed any light on where the word ‘meme’ comes from, I’d be very grateful.

Compound Interest Calculator - very handy for doing sums that would otherwise take me ages to get my head around.

Property Secrets  –  there are so many property related sites but I particularly like this one – it was recommended to me a while back and it has tonnes of useful articles and ebooks. I'm a bit of a property nerd really.

Escape from Cubicle Nation – am also a bit obsessed at the moment with all things rat race escape and there are some interesting articles on this one.

Success Rocks – this blog is a resource which helps me to keep a strong mental attitude – Lea talks about her amazingly inspirational lifestyle as a rat race escapologist extraordinaire. If I ever feel like giving up on all of this, I only have to have a quick look at this to make me keep on keeping on.

8keystosuccess – I’m getting the tapping habit from Judith Morgan and have found a good site where you can get downloadable audio EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) scripts.