Escaping the rat race

Have you ever had days when you felt like Bill Murray in the movie, Groundhog Day, when he wakes up every morning experiencing the same day? Do you feel unappreciated at work? Or even worse feeling worthless because you are out of work at the moment?

How many have had days like this?

9AM Arrive at work just in time for a coffee break surf the internet, visit your favorite blogs and social networks
10AM An unproductive meeting with 5 of your associates talking about what everyone should do
12AM Lunch…
2PM Talking to a dissatisfied customer, spending the next 30 minutes on a diplomatic response via e-mail
2.30PM Deciding not to send the e-mail and rather keep your e-mail app open with 5 minute check intervals
3.00PM Check the latest youtube video links that you friends sent
4.00PM Another unproductive meeting
5.00PM Picking up the kids from daycare

In the west we more and more identify ourselves with our career or job status. With the recent economic downturns, it bubbles that have burst, real estate and financial markets that have bust, more and more people are forced to re-evaluate their careers and career choices. Maybe even be forced to relocate to move with their companies or be made redundant.

There are many stories in the news about university graduates with giant student loans not finding work in their designated fields. These days you have to be a wizard and have a time machine to be able to foresee how the job market will look like from the time you choose your field to the day you graduate.

Working 9 to 5 and not being able to leave your work station apart from lunch is for the people in the comfort zone is not for everyone. Have you felt like you want and deserve something more, to do something meaningful because you want to, not because you have to.

You have the power to choose what you do, where you do it and when you do it. In these days with telecommuting and internet business that you can run offshore, you can change all that.

Measure your work in terms of output, not the hours you put in. If I sit in front of my computer and surf the internet while chatting on Facebook doesn’t mean that I have gotten any real work done.

Work as if you are going on vacation tomorrow. You know that last day before you are going on vacation, when you know that there is no one there to fill in for you while you are gone, and you have ticked off all those important things on your list the last day before you are off. That is what you should be doing every day.

The difficulty with looking after yourself first these days is that you have so many demand of who you should be that have been passed on to you by your parents, teachers and friends over the years.

In order to be able to make others happy you have to be happy. This means that you have to look after yourself first. This might sound selfish and might not be in line with your character, but it is vital in order to meet your definite purpose in life, to listen to that inner voice and find your destiny.

By looking after yourself, knowing yourself, what makes you tick you will set yourself apart from most people in this world today that don’t.