How to Escape the 9-5 Grind and Build a Life You Love
You deserve to live a life you love.
A life full of mornings waking up excited to get out of bed.
A life full of days spent looking forward to what’s next while still enjoying the present.
A life full of Sunday evenings taking it slow, instead of feeling crushed with anxiety as you dread the week ahead.
If you’re drowning in an exhausting 9-5, unfulfilled, and overworked, you likely feel like you have nothing left to give to the other areas of your life.
It can feel like a countdown to retirement.
This is not how life is meant to be lived.
Despite how unrealistic it may sound to you when you’re buried and seeing no end in sight to the giant stack of projects, you can, in fact, control how you spend your days.
You can decide to make a change that sticks.
You can create what you want out of your life.
But, it won’t happen overnight. You won’t wake up one morning and say “I have arrived”.
Creating a life you’re excited about is a journey.
It’s happy moments that you intentionally plan for. It’s practicing new habits, building momentum with small changes, and making things easy that were once hard. It’s looking back at the progress you’ve made and feeling confident in your vision for the future.
You’ll evolve and iterate as your interests change and new opportunities arrive.
But the exciting part is, you have the power to do it. The power to build a life you love. The power to live your ideal schedule.
What’s an Ideal Schedule?
Many of us go through life with a false belief that one day the work will be done and we can finally “rest”.
We believe if we work hard now, it will pay off in the long haul. Everything will be checked off the to-do list. We will have no more obligations or responsibilities and can live a life full of complete freedom doing only the things we want to do.
That’s not what an ideal schedule is about.
Even in this perfect idealistic future you fantasize about, you’ll still have responsibilities of everyday life.
You’ll still have errands, doctor’s appointments, and boring events you wish you could skip.
You’ll still have “work”. (Though, you’ll hopefully find work is not the opposite of rest, but instead, serves as a source of fulfillment via creation, problem-solving, or service, even if money is no longer an object in this futuristic fantasy.)
An ideal schedule is about intentionally planning a schedule that doesn’t ignore the “must-dos” but puts a greater emphasis on building your schedule puzzle with more of the “want-to do” pieces.
What’s Your Dream Life?
The first step to living a life you love is to design your ideal schedule.
Creating a plan for an ideal schedule, grounds your fantasies about “someday” into reality. This makes it easier to grasp how to make your ideal schedule come to life. You’ll have an exact blueprint to work towards.
But what does a dream day in the life of future you look like?
Give yourself twenty minutes or a long walk to fantasize about what your “dream” life would be.
Would you be a true nomad, traveling to a new place in the world every week?
Would you have your dream job working only on tasks that held your interest and fueled your passions?
Would you spend most of your time volunteering to feel a sense of fulfillment and service?
Write down all of the hobbies or adventures or down time you would love to fill your day with. (Pull from your list of 100 Dreams or Best Moments if you want more inspiration!)
Dream big. Don’t judge what you think you want. Don’t worry about going against the norm. This is about you and your life, no one else’s.
Knowing what you want to spend your time on makes it easier to start moving in that direction. You’ll have clarity. This is a necessary step as without clarity you cannot make impactful change.
Creating an Ideal Schedule
The daydreaming is a fun and necessary step.
But, now, a little dose of reality.
Even the most picture-perfect future is going to require some real-life moments.
So while you’ve got your idea of all the good things you’ll be doing, you’ll still have dentist appointments and even an unplanned root canal. You’ll still have to wake up earlier than you might want to catch that flight or take the dog for a walk before it gets too hot. You’ll still struggle to fit in a workout routine that will keep you healthy as you grow old enjoying the amazing life you’ve built.
Putting it all into a schedule will make your dream life a reality.
Write out the schedule for your ideal week. (I recommend using the Time Block Like a She Boss Template or just grab a notebook.) What does your week look like hour by hour?
What time will you wake up?
When will you work out?
When will you run errands or do household chores?
How many hours a day do you want to work or volunteer?
What hobbies will you fill your days with and when?
Write out what this schedule might look like for a full week. Even look at a full month if your ideal schedule includes some monthly travel.
(Need some inspiration for what this could look like? Check out a day in the life of Oprah!)
When your ideal schedule is written out in this way, it feels more realistic which can both make it feel more attainable, and also help you see where you can bring some of the ideal into your current hustle and bustle.
Your calendar isn’t up for interpretation. It can’t lie. This schedule is your vision board, but in the form of a map so you know the best route to get there.
Start Living Your Ideal Life, Today
Now…how can you have some of your ideal life today?
Time to create your realistic ideal schedule.
Follow the same exercise as above, but write it for your reality of today. Based on your current career and responsibilities, what does your real-life schedule look like?
What time do you wake up?
When do you work out?
When do you run errands or do household chores?
How many hours a day do you work or volunteer?
Do you have time for hobbies? When?
Compare the two schedules and find where you can work some of the ideal into your current schedule. Look for the quick wins.
For example:
If you're currently working 60-hour weeks but your ideal schedule is 20 hours per week, where can you cut back to focus on working just 40 hours per week?
If your wish is to travel 3 weeks out of every month, but your current responsibilities keep you tied to home, where can you take a 3-day weekend trip once per month?
If you long for 8 full hours of sleep every night but can only squeeze in 6, what’s one night you can prioritize shutting everything down, structuring a special night-time routine, and crawling into bed extra early?
Avoid all-or-nothing thinking. Small changes to your day can add up to big changes.
And don’t just focus on shaving time off. Put equal focus on filling your time with what you enjoy.
Remember, it doesn’t happen overnight. You aren’t going to wake up one morning living a brand new life. The secret is to work your way there over time.
By finding small moments to be intentional with your schedule, you will get closer to this fantasy life and ideal schedule.
Keep Going
Once you’ve found the small moments to shift closer to your ideal week, re-do this exercise every 6 months or so.
You may find your ideal schedule shifts a bit as you lose interest in old hobbies or find new passions to pursue.
You may also find your current schedule is getting closer to your ideal, so it’s time to make a few more adjustments.
The beauty of this exercise is it keeps you grounded. You won’t lose yourself in unrealistic fantasies that you’ll never achieve, making you feel stuck and like a failure. Instead, an ideal schedule helps you see the beauty in the day-to-day while you move forward.
This gives you a true North Star to work towards.
Today is the day to start living a life you love.
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About Me
Hi, I’m Kara. I’m a former workaholic turned time-management expert. I help women stressed out in their 9-5 get more done, in less time, so they can get back in the driver’s seat and start living a life they love.
