I’m going to try to convince you that your life can, should, and will be different if you just overcome the fear of quitting your job to do what you want. For those of you who have ever played a video game and unlocked a new, exciting level, and just wanted to stay awake and explore it all night long, or those of you who have gotten completely lost in a fantastic land of looming mountains and white sand beaches in your favorite book- well, you can have that feeling encompass your entire life. It doesn’t need to end when you put down your book, turn off your video game, log off your computer, or leave to go to work for the day.
Reasons to quit your job (and become self-employed, which I will cover in later posts)
1- You stop learning if you stay at your job too long
It might be fun for a while for a new college grad to experience the corporate world, but there comes a point (and it comes VERY quickly) when you’ve learned all you can from that job and it becomes pure habit. People who travel end up wiser and happier at the end of their lives.
2- Your entire life is monotonous
You wake up grumpy and hit snooze. You drink coffee and put on a boring and constricting work suit. You sit at the computer and probably aren’t very productive. You go home, eat, do the same things on your PC that you were doing to distract yourself at work, shower, watch TV, sleep, and repeat. Stop it. Read that paragraph again. Seriously? Is that what you want to do? What a waste of your life. Traveling needn’t be scary and it certainly needn’t be expensive. In fact, you can travel WHILE you start your business, and continue to travel when it is up and running. I created Paradoxfox to allow myself to be mobile.
3- You don’t need to let other people scare you into staying
This is the tough one. As I described in my very firsts posts, society is just against the idea of quitting jobs, pure and simple. Its quite honestly like a form of brain-washing. There is absolutely, 100% no need to ever be an employee. Some people may truly enjoy their jobs, and that is wonderful, but they are the exception.
4- Money is limited
So you are telling me- you work a 9 to 5, with overtime, and get paid by the hour to do the same kinds of things over and over and over? And what happens when you want more money? You have to ask for a raise, you say? No, thank you, I’ll pass.
Entrepreneurs have the potential to make a MUCH greater amount of money. While money may be tight at the starting point of a new business, it’s very often worth the wait.
5- It is hard to be creative
People are naturally creative- even if you don’t think you are, you are. Maybe not artistically, but if you are passionate about something- travel, music, even a TV show, I’m sure you’ve had a few original ideas about the subject. Employers tend to stifle creativity. There are more exceptions to this rule that to the others I’m listing, but creativity in the workplace can sometimes cause the loss of profits and is therefore discouraged. In the REAL real world, the Escape Normal world, creativity is welcomed and helps you lead a fuller, happier life. See my last post- I decided I want to build a small eco-home for myself. Could you find time to do that, or even THINK of doing that if you spent so much of your life stuck in the routine of an employee?
6- Money cycle of doom
You make a fixed amount of money, and then spend it on rent, food, utilities, and luxuries. You have debt. You work to pay off this debt but more keeps coming as you buy things you think you need. You don’t need them. Living does not need to be expensive. Most people’s idea of a perfect vacation in paradise is laying on a tropical island during the day, maybe mix that in with a few frozen drinks, some Bob Marley, windsurfing and a chocolate-bronze tan. Well you know what? That lifestyle costs FAR less than the lifestyle you are living now. Its almost sickening how little it costs to live like this- I’m going to dedicate a post to this topic soon- but until then, maybe this will convince you: Cheapest places to live in the world
7- Active income v. Passive income
Active income is income you receive when you do work. Passive income is income you receive while you don’t- you make money while you sleep, bathe, relax, and best of all, travel. Look at it this way- active income is like shackles; its ties you to your job and severely limits the time you get to do the things you love. Passive income allows you to do the things you love and still get paid. I have a nice post planned about ways to make passive income. This blog will, at some point, be one of my passive income streams.
8- You don’t get to meet new people
Humans are innately social, and being employed limits your social pool to the people you work with and the friends you had before you started working. Sure you might get to meet a cool client now and then, but do you form strong friendships with them that extend beyond the workplace? Probably not. If you travel and explore, you can make life long friends from around the world. Personally, I want to take classes in dance, learn to sew, learn to build my own home, and volunteer- and each of these things is geared specifically toward people who enjoy doing that thing. So I know for a fact that I will meet people with the same interests as me, many of whom I will be friends with for life. I’ve done this while traveling before and I’ll do it again. Can you say as much of your job?
Not convinced? Read The 4-Hour Workweek, which has the tips and lessons that one man, Tim, has learned from reorganizing his life so that he went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week. Buy on amazon.
Interested in seeing the world? Learn how to travel for free (for real!) by reading my ebook, “How to Become the Jack of All Travel: A Beginner’s Guide to Traveling the World for Free“. If you’ve ever wanted to travel, now is your chance to seize the day! Don’t let the opportunity pass- learn the methods I’ve been using myself to travel the world for years.
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