Find the Balance Before You Start Hating Your Job

Before work starts to feel like an obligation, channel your passion where the innate fire comes.

I did not realise the amenities of freelancing before I went all-in and quit my desk job on an auspicious day: December 31 2019. I still remember I received the last email from my boss around 11 AM that day. Sigh!

There are so many benefits of freelancing I’m discovering slowly, but here I am mentioning the ones that are already improving my lifestyle.

You won’t find most of these perks while working 9 to 5, though desk job has its benefits which I won’t discuss because they are in the past now.

I have done only one full-time job. So honestly, I can’t judge the entire office culture based on just one company’s experience. Let’s just say the first benefit discussed in the next paragraph was the top reason to quit the last job. Then many other ideas were born.

You want control of your time.

The flexible schedule comes first. You can work whenever you want. You can even sometimes distribute the workload over an entire day or week to feel less overwhelmed.

Feel sleepy? Take a nap. Boring? Play some music or game. Lazy? Go for a walk. Make sure to have a face mask, though! Or call a dear friend who understands the nuances in your jokes.

Do you want to do all the above activities freely in a desk job? Boss will want to talk to you. Doesn’t sound like a good memory, does it?. Let’s move past it before you hit the screen where you’re reading right now.

Task-based rewards system

Now comes the control over the income because of task-based reward system as compared to the time-based one in a desk job.

It doesn’t matter how hard I worked. I would get the same salary every month! No one tells you about this fact in college!

In freelancing, I know I will make around $1k every month by working for a maximum of 3 hours daily.

The impressive part is I see the income progress throughout the month. I can even work intensively someday and increase the month-end projections.

Here is how my salary from the past few months looks like:

March: $779 April: $850 May: $1024 June: ???

Of course, you’ll be wondering about June also because I mentioned about the monthly tracking earlier.

See I was serious about it. I have already reached $412 ( in 12 days ) so far this month! The projected earnings are above $900 with the rate of minimum $30 per day.

Reasonable deadlines

On top of the time-based rewards system, it was made more intense with stuffed up deadlines in my past job.

My manager used to give me a set of tasks to finish before a given deadline. As I approached to finishing them, he handed more work under the same period. Not every manager is like this, though.

Now the common sense says “more work should mean more money”, right? Only then will you realise the value of your work which will, in turn, show your importance in the company.

But right now, I set daily deadlines that are difficult but achievable. In 80% of cases, I achieve them, and that gives me a good night’s sleep every time. Wouldn’t this deadline completion rate satisfy you too?

Clothes

There is no formal uniform in freelancing ( still a narrow perspective, I haven’t done all kinds of freelance jobs ), especially nowadays, because it’s only your face on Zoom call. If you don’t even like your appearance sometimes, for example, when you just woke up for a meeting, then exaggerate about the slow internet and disable video.

I used to avoid video calls occasionally in my last job because my meetings generally happened with my manager in San Francisco and me in Bengaluru. I don’t care if she ( manager ) finds out now because none of us is at our past job now! Bingo! She left for Amazon, and I am in Udacity.

Save time and money.

You will save time and money on the commute. If you club the previous criterion, then you don’t even have to think about formal clothing too.

You will save all the money and build a customised workstation for yourself. It’s a choice. That’s what I am doing currently. Though right now, I am just ganging up with Apple products.

Recently, I purchased iPad Pro and HomePod. I already have iPhone, MacBook Pro and Apple Watch (upgrade required). I have also planned one Apple product every month until December. It includes repairing some old ones too.

Hi Dad! If you are reading this, you will also get one on Father’s Day. Stay tuned and just be patient for the surprise! If you don’t like it, we will talk it out.

Physical and mental well-being

This one has a direct impact on your health: the freedom to practice mental and physical wellness. I am a morning person, and I plan my work schedule accordingly.

I was an early bird even when I started to manage time in my last job. Since I quit, I am even more flexible to prepare for contingencies like travel ( home also counts here ) and minor health issues.

Final words

These were just a few benefits of freelancing I mentioned. But I could’ve never got them if I hadn’t left my desk job.

To me, freedom to express ideas and see results from my actions is at top priority. I learned this in childhood. It is because my father believes in actionable results, no matter the obstacles.

That’s why I did not tell him about the correct date of quitting in the first place. I told him around the first week of February. Then with time, I revealed the quitting day in one of my blogs, and he knew why I lied.

It is because I don’t want him to worry about me. Even I don’t worry about myself, so why should he? Worry is like extrapolating your insecurities and inefficiencies. It doesn’t make sense after a limit.

My father usually knows when I am lying and doesn’t pressure me much because he also knows that I am doing it for my well-being.

Nowadays I am glad to see when the discussion ends like this when he says, “I may never understand your ( includes my elder brother too ) perspective, but one thing is for sure that I don’t have to force myself into it. You do what you know is best for you. You have time, resources and my blessings. You people have the become the master of your decisions, and I am proud of it. Even your intelligence is just way beyond what I prepared you with what I had in mind while nurturing you. Wow!”

There is a sign which will show you the right time to leave your job if it is degrading your mental health ( only if you care ). Dare I mention, the physical well-being too! See, I wanted to direct my professional journey solely. I have been doing it since January 1 2020.

But it did not happen unless I left the work which didn’t make enough sense. I don’t know what else freelancing has to offer because I am still exploring more income streams and hobbies too. Do you see the hero image for the blog below the headline? I will sketch myself for future blogs someday soon! The inspiration for the sketching idea is Darius Foroux.

This blog belongs to a series of posts I am publishing in this 100-days streak. Today is day 80. Navigate to the end of article 22, for the references from day 23 onwards. If you would like to read the ones before day 22, here is the first one that documents them in the end.

~ Sanjeev