If you didn't have to work for one year what would you do?
Here's a lovely thought experiment for you, just for fun and a little self indulgence:
You come into some money. Perhaps an unexpetced inheritance or investment payout.
It's the equivalent to one year's salary.
It's the equivalent to one year's salary.
What would you do with it?
It's just enough for one year - after that, who knows...
Would you let the fear of uncertainty for the year after put you off taking a risk?
I wonder what people would answer to these questions?
A year's wages comes into your life, how would you use the money?
Would you still work?
Would you take a sabbatical?
Would you quit your job and take a risk, see how far a year's earnings would last?
Quit your job and give yourself a year to find the job of your dreams?
Take a once-in-a-lifetime holiday?
Pay off a chunk of your mortgage? Or put down a deposit for your first home?
Do all the things to your home you said you always wanted to do? Install that extra bathroom.
Build that extension. Revamp your whole house. Install that dream kitchen.
Build that extension. Revamp your whole house. Install that dream kitchen.
Perhaps you would inivest it?
Angel invest in a new business or venture?
Put a deposit down on a second home to rent out?
Pay it into your pension?
Stick it in a savings account?
Start a trust fund for your kids?
Would you take that part-time hustle and build it into a business?
Pay off your student loan, or those other debts you've been hiding from?
You could get a whole new wardrobe?
A new car?
What would you do with the money?
Think Of It As Redundancy
What if you thought of it like a redundancy payout - would that change your mindset about taking
a risk?
a risk?
Tell yourself the job no longer needs you. You don't need to work for a year.
Redundancy is often a catalyst for change.
It's easy to fall into a job, a routine. You're just riding that cashflow conveyor belt towards each
weekend; counting them down until you retire and can finally do what you want.
weekend; counting them down until you retire and can finally do what you want.
Would a year's money be enough to 'do what you want', right now?
Why wait until you're too old to do the things you've got on your bucket list?
What about stepping off that conveyor belt? Would you do it?
It's easier to stay, to hang on for your pension - especially if your job isn't bad.
We're afraid of risking everything by leaving a regular wage.
But if it were a rediundany payout, that can feel like a body blow.
In can throw a spanner in the cogs of that conveyor belt.
In can throw a spanner in the cogs of that conveyor belt.
A redundancy can make or break us, if we let it.
If you considered that chunk of money as a redundancy payout, that this is your moment to leave
your job behind and try something new, would that shift your attitude to risk?
If you tell yourself there wasn't a choice?
your job behind and try something new, would that shift your attitude to risk?
If you tell yourself there wasn't a choice?
Our Life Changing Redundancies
In our relationship, there have been a couple of life-changing moments and they all started
with redundancy payouts.
with redundancy payouts.
Each redundancy has been a new beginning. However, as with any new beginning, there is
inevitable grief over what you've lost, then the fear of uncertainty to come.
inevitable grief over what you've lost, then the fear of uncertainty to come.
My first redundancy payout - I think it was 2002 - paid for our wedding (in Florida)!
But, it also opened a door for me into a career in enterprise and employment support.
I had been a HR officer for a factory in Somerset, and likely would have followed a preplanned
route up the HR ladder, because that was the easy option.
route up the HR ladder, because that was the easy option.
My choices, my life experience, the people I met from all walks of life all opened my eyes to a
world of socail mobility, self-development and human potential that I would never have been aware
of if the fortunes of that factory had been different.
world of socail mobility, self-development and human potential that I would never have been aware
of if the fortunes of that factory had been different.
The second redundancy was Graham's (my husband).
He came home from work one day and said, "When the company closes and my job ends I think
we should move to Bulgaria."
we should move to Bulgaria."
My initial reaction was along the lines of, "What the *@**$**£# ** *@!"£$*?"
He'd been chatting to a mate in the staff canteen over a period of months (probably years) who had
done just that. He'd invested in property in Bulgaria, renovated and flipped them and was making a
good living. He was planning to move there himself for a very different quality of life.
done just that. He'd invested in property in Bulgaria, renovated and flipped them and was making a
good living. He was planning to move there himself for a very different quality of life.
We took several holidays, loooked at a few properties and took the plunge.
We stayed for 18 months before running out of money and returning to the UK.
Those were the most enlightening, inspiring and amazing 18 months of our lives.
An experience that allowed us to learn more about ourselves, and each other, than we ever would
have hoped to learn had we stayed in the UK and Graham had just gone and got another job.
An experience that allowed us to learn more about ourselves, and each other, than we ever would
have hoped to learn had we stayed in the UK and Graham had just gone and got another job.
I finlly pursued my lifelong dream of publishing a book, having that 'what if ' moment that set off a
whole series of books while visiting a museum in Varna.
whole series of books while visiting a museum in Varna.
In 2010, with nothing but the stuff we could fit in a car, we left Bulgaria to come back to the UK.
We ended up in the amazing city of Bristol, a place we'd visited for years but had never considered
living in. We've since fallen in love with the place and realised that, really, we're ubanites.
Life in rurual Somerset had never been satisfying for us, hence we spent most of our weekends
travelling to cities around Europe and southern England.
We ended up in the amazing city of Bristol, a place we'd visited for years but had never considered
living in. We've since fallen in love with the place and realised that, really, we're ubanites.
Life in rurual Somerset had never been satisfying for us, hence we spent most of our weekends
travelling to cities around Europe and southern England.
The next defining redundancy was in 2015 when I started my own consultancy business.
A decision that has made me realise my own potential, my limitations, my resilience.
I never want to work for someone else ever again!
So, would you do it? Would you take the risk?
Would you quit your job and give yourself a year to try something new?
Would you quit your job and give yourself a year to try something new?
Or would you settle for making the life you already have more confortable and enjoyable; with 'stuff'
and 'holidays'?
and 'holidays'?
