For the last 6 weeks, my husband and I have been unemployed. It was our decision, and a calculated risk. We knew that moving to Athens was the right thing for us, but the change meant walking away from all of our income. Scary stuff nowadays, no?
So we took the plunge, assuming (hoping) that we would find jobs pretty quickly once we hit the city.
*looks at watch* Aaaaaaanytime now.
Seriously though, we haven’t been super stressed about it. And therein lies the success of this experiment. Before, money was a constant source of panic for us. Debt, bills, spending, the bank account… just thinking about money used to make me break out in a cold sweat. But something about being in a situation we cannot control has cured me of that a little. I can’t apply for jobs that don’t exist. I can’t force people to hire me. I can submit resumes, and call about meetings, and network. But that’s it. That’s where my power ends.
So I’m at peace about money. I did my part, and I don’t have any reason to feel panicked or guilty. Do I have the money to pay my bills this month? Nope. Can I change that by panicking? Not at all.
But here’s one thing I can control: I may be without a job, but I refuse to be unemployed. I have taken on some projects that are very dear to my heart. I’ve picked up Spanish again. I’m writing three books (one fiction, two non-fiction), and I have some big things coming soon to the Live Simply blog. I’m developing a game, creating an online course, and working with The Writer on a web series. And that’s just scratching the surface – The Writer and I tallied my current daily endeavors last night, and the final count came out to 25 unique tasks. With everything I’ve taken on, I easily work 8-10 hours a day.
Here was my projects list:
- 30 minutes of expo research and prep daily
- 30 minutes of line memorization for web series daily
- 30 minutes of zombie game development daily
- 30 minutes of product development for Tshirts & Twine daily
- 30 minutes of yoga daily
- 1 hour of Live Simply Magazine development a day (oh yes, it’s happening!)
- Acorn Project (1 lesson a day)
- Spanish (1 lesson, 2 practice sessions a day)
- 1 Jump Off the Ladder reminder/update every other day
- 30 minutes of development for future Jump Off the Ladder challenges daily
- Misc reading (2 chapters daily)
- Online course development (1 lesson each day)
- 500 words of Book 1 daily
- 500 words of Book 2 daily
- 500 words of Book 3 daily
- 1 hour of research for Book 3 daily
- 1-2 posts for the Live Simply blog daily
- 1 weekly post for Crossing Beruna
- 1 weekly post for Forest Four the Trees
- Return emails and messages once a day
- Do EFT as needed throughout the day
- 30 minutes of piano practice daily
- Fill Tshirts & Twine orders as needed
- 1 weekly post for the Tshirts & Twine store blog
- 30 minutes of networking daily
At first, this sounded like a lot to my roommates. Honestly, the number of projects doesn’t seem that high to me. It wasn’t that long ago that I was working two full-time jobs (that’s 80 hours a week, folks) while in school and taking finals, on top of maintaining the house and learning to be a wife. I’m not gonna lie, that lifestyle led to burnout pretty quickly, and I don’t ever want to go back. But 8-10 hours of work, 5 days a week is nothing. I just figured it’s average.
But my friends and husband know me well, and pointed out that with my personality I would have a difficult time limiting myself to a few minutes a day for many of these projects. And it’s true. For example, I don’t want to hit 500 words on one of my writing projects and have to stop if I’m on a roll. So the Designer came up with a great idea for a restructured schedule. Now it looks like this:
Monday:
Book 1 (writing and research)
Book 2 (writing and research)
Book 3 (writing and research)
Tuesday:
Expo research
Lines for web series
Live Simply Magazine development
Wednesday:
Product development
Fill orders
Tshirts & Twine store blog post
Thursday:
4-6 Jump Off the Ladder updates
Online course development
Friday:
6-10 posts for next week’s Live Simply Blog
1 post for Crossing Beruna
1 post for Forest Four the Trees
Networking
Every day:
Yoga
EFT
Spanish
Piano practice
Reading
Return emails/comments/messages
Acorn project
I’m pretty excited to try out my new system. I think this will give me plenty of freedom to devote as much time as I need to the important projects, while still getting everything done. I might be broke financially, but I am the queen of time, and I’m going to act like it. I want to look back on this part of my life without regrets. I’m both the poorest and the richest I have ever been. It’s a really neat paradigm shift, and I’m enjoying (and making use of) every minute.
Oh yeah, and as of yesterday, I have a job offer!
(Go figure.)
Forest Four the Trees 
You go Queen of Time!
Haha, thanks girl!
Reblogged this on The Live Simply Community and commented:
And now that you’ve seen my living space, how about a peek at my average workday?
I’m very envious of your new schedule, it’s where I aspire to be….. Your thoughts are very much helping me get there, and j.o.t.l is helping me stay accountable. Cheers!
I just love the way you seem to take things in stride and keep going. Most days I have nothing much to do, as well as never having any money after the bills are paid. I am a subscriber to the Live Simply and I just love some of the ideas I get to make my living space much simpler, as I need the extra space for maneuvering my wheelchair around my small apartment. Keep going! I love what you’re doing. I have to update how I’m doing with Jumping off the ladder. 🙂
Wow your schedule is giving me inspiration for a future jump off the ladder challenge.