The day has come when you’re in the so-called rat race, and never knew you’d be in one, or even the concept itself was entirely foreign.
We’ve been asked our whole life “what do you want to be when you are older?”, only to realize the day has come when you are older, placed into the workforce and your only true passion is to become free from the 9 to 5, the working for somebody else, the capped earnings, the huge time expense away from loved ones, the social expectations of how to be and how to act, the consequential stress of it all…All whilst being in your 20s!
Counting down the minutes until the end of your shift, counting down the days until the weekend, only to also realize you’re counting away your life in the midst of it all.
Well, I’m here to tell you… THAT IS NO WAY TO LIVE.
I’m going to keep it real with you all.
Girl, I am sat here on my lunch break, in MY 9 to 5 writing my thoughts away to you all, really deeping that this is as much of a letter to myself as it is to you all.
I am her, I am you all who are in the same boat here.
However, no matter how “normal” it is to others, I REFUSE to accept this reality, and do not accept that this is how I’m bound to live my one and only life.
Yes, maybe if it was 50 years ago and I didn’t see any way out, but we are in the digital era where people are earning tons of money online. I choose that life, and I will have it.
If this is all resonating with you a little too hard, then follow along my journey, learn my exact steps and let’s all get there together.
You can start by having a read of my other Blog article here on “How to Build a Profitable Online Business as an Introvert: How I plan to and how you can too!”
Alright, so let’s dive into the real tea that brought you here in the first place.
How to build your dream life when your 9 to 5 takes away all your time, energy and willpower? Is the REAL QUESTION.
time manage the ISH out of your life
We are all girlies in our 20s who don’t want to waste our lives at our 9 to 5s, but also DON’T want to waste our spare time escaping the 9 to 5.
Confused much? Hear me out.
Our 9 to 5s can become so unbearable that we try to use every last second we have trying to escape it, but at the end of it all, we also don’t want to miss out on the present, on the loved ones, on the beauty that is life because that is all we have guaranteed; the present moment.
NO matter how big the desire is to chase the dream, we can’t forget what the true essence of life is, that nothing is for granted, and we don’t want to look back and regret all the time we didn’t give to family, our relationships, to ourselves.
I understand that is where the true conflict lies also though because we don’t know how to navigate this thin line of juggling a dream, an escape, but also living life in our 20s in as much of a fulfilling way as possible.
My answer: time management.
It’s not a fun answer, it’s not one you might like at first, but trust me! Once I started to manage my time, I felt lighter, my goals felt attainable, but life also felt funner, and fuller, and as a result, I felt less guilty when spending time on my online business.
I have made a more in-depth blog post on how to time manage building your dream life, whilst working a 9 to 5, but to give you an idea, I don’t spend 15, 20 hours on my online business as many may try to commit to. I keep it a lot more sustainable and realistic, but the key is I STICK TO IT.
self-soothe, pep-talk, repeat
This! Here.
This is all about being your own bestfriend, smothering yourself with self-love, and being your biggest supporter in the most challenging of moments you’re bound to experience.
As we have all heard “if it was easy, everyone would do it”, and even though there are more and more people doing it, you’ll find the majority still stick to the standard 9 to 5; which is fine, if that’s what you’re happy with.
However, I can guess you’re not, if that’s what brought you here.
So let’s break it down:
Self-soothe through the moments where you are faced with the harsh realities of working a 9 to 5. We all know about the sunday scaries, waking up feeling like a robot with no control of your day or life, using up half of your weekend preparing for your week ahead into that 9 to 5…
The best ways I have found self-soothing most efficient is to:
- Be aware and mindful when the anxiety starts to creep in, recognise why, and reassure myself that everything will be okay. Using logic to override the emotion, and reassure the self-confidence that the 9 to 5 is just temporary, and does not consume my whole life.
- Breathe! It’s crazy how long we can go without taking one full deep breath. GAME CHANGER.
- Un-crease your forehead. We all know the stress ain’t worth it.
- Think about what you’re looking forward to that day; even if it is heading home after the long Monday shift. Take what you can, and feel it in full effect!
Pep-Talking is my thinggggg. Therapy who?
No one knows you better than yourself, and talking to yourself, as you would your bestfriend, has the most healing effects in the moments of self-doubt, or exhaustion, that you may face when creating the dream life for yourself.
Even if it feels fake at first, just push through, I promise, it will have good benefits in keeping you going.
Repeat, and I think we all know why this one is here…
Because creating the dream life for yourself can take time. But why does it have to take time?
Well, depending on what online business model you’re pursuing, it doesn’t always have to take that much time to do, but it more so relies on the time to learn. Time to learn, make the mistakes, get better, and repeat; until you’re a few months in and it becomes second nature to you.
Through that journey, you need to be able to keep the morale elevated, and even when it’s hardest, keep going.
It’s better to live off the dream life for a little bit, than for no time at all. Am I right?!
I mean, with annual leave, we’ll take anything we can get, let alone an entire online empire that you want to reinvent your 20s with. Financial Freedom, time freedom, all of it!
We are here for it.
do the thing.
As you may imagine, building your dream life comes with a lot of doing.
A lot of thinking can slow down the process, stop you, or put you off. However, don’t allow yourself to think too much; there is almost always a solution to any one of the problems you can imagine.
Most of the time, it just implies you becoming wiser, smarter, and more equipped to make more money online. Mistakes will come, and that’s fine. We invite the mistakes because that’s how we will learn sooner, to then make money online sooner.
I would break down the doing into 3 simple phases:
- Testing Phase: this is where you will brainstorm what kind of business model you want to pursue. Maybe it’s Youtube, Blogging, Content Creation, ECommerce, Print On Demand. Maybe you know what it is, maybe you don’t. If you don’t, this stage will be a lot of trial and error to see what aligns with you.
- Definitive Phase: here, you know what you are pursuing and this is when you learn as much as possible from Youtube, Books, Courses, however you’d prefer, and you strategise your business plan.
- Execute and Optimise Phase: learning cannot become anything more without application. Here is where you take your business plan, your goals, and you put it into action. Take it step-by-step, day-by-day and it will become less overwhelming. Things take time and so will this.
I will break down a bit better how I navigated these 3 stages in my own personal experience, in a separate blog post, so you can see a realistic glimpse of how doing the thing can play out, outside of the “get rich quick” ideal we are all sold on social media. (Not to demotivate you either though, it takes different amounts of time for different people!)
focus on personal development
I wasn’t sure, at first, whether to include this one here, and then I realized, that is what in her Full Effect is all about; being our bestest selves in all things life and business, navigating our 20s feeling our most fulfilled and happiest with our dream life that we have created for ourselves.
So, yes, your trajectory with building your dream life will very strongly overlap with your own personal development. No matter what, always try to become a better you, and that will filter into all aspects of your social, physical, emotional life in your 20s, as well as your online business.
- The better you feed yourself, the more energy you will have.
- The better you sleep, the more refreshed and creative you will be.
- The more you put yourself out of your comfort zone, the more confident you will be.
- The more you learn, the more dynamic and wise you will be.
See where I’m going with this?
The more you look to become better in your health and self, the better you will show up for your wealth.
Don’t over-fixate or become obssessed with personal development; that’s not what I’m saying, because here we are all about promoting balance, fun and joy in your 20s! However, look after yourself, is more what I am trying to convey here because you ae unique and you have something unique to also give others.
Nourish it, and you’ll grow in all directions possible.
I hope you found this useful, and let me know if this resonated with you in the slightest sense!
Let me know what the dream life is for you girlies out there, in their 20s, trying to escape the 9 to 5, in the comment section below!
Mine: work for myself, earn money online, create a supportive community of women online who want to connect in their 20s, have more time for my loved ones, financial freedom, more time for fun experiences and core memories, live life on my own terms!
Your turn below!