My 9-5 is over. What’s next?
Time for change
Today was my last full day at work. A 9-5 job I have been in for the last 10 years.
I write this feeling positively jittery from both elation and exhaustion.
My head is exploding with ideas, possibilities and excitement around being the master of my own time again.
I know I need to rest and recover from the chaos of the last year, however my eagerness to move forward with my own projects will likely not let me.
I am aware of how I am feeling and how burnout can creep up on you, so I will make a conscious effort to get some rest over summer.
Before I move on, a quick shout out to the sponsor of this newsletter (yes - I have a sponsor woot! woot!)
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What’s next?
We fly to Kenya for Eid for an adventurous break with the kids. Then we go to India, and then Scotland. So although we are in and out of Dubai over summer, my project planning has begun; I just need to weave in some structure so that I can move forward in some way.
The broad plan is to spend 50% of my time working on freelance brand journalism and communications projects where I do work I enjoy, stay engaged in the marketplace and maintain a trickle of income.
The rest of my time I plan to:
Work more on this newsletter! This newsletter is a true passion project that I have been working on in the fringes of my time. It has brought together such amazing women (383 of you!) and I hope to spend more quality time on it and grow it into a stronger community. More on that soon!
Explore content technology and the future of work: Generative AI is changing the way we work, especially in the communications industry. In fact, 60% of all jobs are going to change. I find this fascinating and am curious about what this means for us and what we need to do to stay in the game. I will be exploring this space and sharing my insights*.
*If this interests you, do sign up here to be the first to know when I launch the platform.
This newsletter is brought to you by a really cool generative AI tool called Oscar Stories. It’s an app that allows you to generate unique stories with your child as the hero! Check it out here.
Set up ‘passive’ income streams: I don’t believe that any income stream can be totally passive, however I do believe that there are ways to automate your income to some extent.
My ongoing courses and experiments with Digital Course Academy, Low Content Profits Academy, Affiliate Marketing, and the Small Bets community have shown me many paths towards this.
I have dabbled in all of them, however I have not had the bandwidth to see anything through. So I plan to give this a shot, one project at a time, to see if I can make something work. More on that soon too!
Housekeeping: Last but not the least, I need to clean up my laptop and back it up; get a new laptop; clean up my emails, unsubscribe to SO many emails - I get about 100 emails a day, this is not normal!
My husband has been amazing and has sorted out my workspace already, so I’m ready to rock n’ roll!
On a personal level, I plan to:
Catch up on my inspiration: These two books just arrived and I think it’s perfect timing for me to dig into them, serendipitous almost!
Spend more time with my family: I don’t feel like I have been present enough with my kids lately. Just by being around a lot more over summer and as I work from home, I hope to be able to give them more quality time.
Start dancing again: Dancing salsa is my unicorn space and I hope to rediscover it. I haven’t danced salsa since I had my first child and hope to hit the dance floor again. My aerial silk instructor is also a dancer, so I have a partner to go with!
I’m super excited about my upcoming journey.
Quitting my job is my second milestone
When I launched this newsletter two years ago (first milestone!), the idea was to find ways to better design my life so that I can grow personally and professionally, whilst being a better mum.
The crux of this is finding time freedom and financial independence whilst doing something you love. The purpose of this newsletter was to bring together like-minded mums who want the same.
I truly feel that by committing to this desire, I have been able to work towards quitting my job and giving myself the opportunity to attempt to design my own life.
I am truly grateful for having a space in your inbox, and do not take it lightly. I look forward to sharing my upcoming journey with you: good, bad and ugly! I hope you stay tuned.
Have a great weekend.
Love, Abha
I hope you had a wonderful Eid break and enjoy your summer travels. I love your unicorn space too.