Back in April, I finished a very long and rather exhausting full-time design contract. And normally, I’d jump right into the next one. In fact, I was already interviewing when I realised that actually, I’d rather take some time off. Those of you who have been following my journey from the very beginning of my YouTube channel know that my idea of Financial Freedom has always been working part-time and since I achieved Financial Independence a while back, I decided that the time has come, I needed to see what it feels like to be time-rich. So let me share with you how it went and what I learnt so far, and what helped me navigate this time.

No structure 

Have you ever been in therapy? Personally, I believe that each of us should be given a lifetime access to a psychotherapist from the day we’re born. You know - welcome to the world, little one, here’s a person who will help you process your life because you’ll be so deep into living it that you might get a bit… lost. If it happens one day in the future, that it will be provided by the NHS, remember that you heard it here first. 

Years back, when I was seeing a psychotherapist, I remember that the part I struggled with most was the lack of structure. You turn up and… well, that’s it. Whatever happens next is pure freestyle. I kept asking my therapist about an agenda - imagine that! He must have had a ball saying that there isn’t any and we talk about whatever I wanted to talk about. It was very freeing of course and eventually I eased into it but the start… oooof, that was quite something to get used to. 

And so those 6 months ago, when I stopped having to switch on my laptop and say hi to team members every morning. When there was no yabadabadoo moment over eight hours later… it was a bit disconcerting. The great thing was that I finally could take some time off - which I did. The not so great thing was the vast space available for The Dark Web - basically, all unfriendly thoughts spanning across my mind. Mindset is a forever work in progress. 

It took me a while to accept no need to immediately fill the time with work. I imagine this is exactly how most retirees feel in their first few months of no employment. Anyway, this time only confirmed that I do have a strong need for structure, routine of sorts. I function better that way. 

So what really helps me is to use my planner, aim for a certain amount of focused work per day and having an earlish start. I’m not into 5am clubs, 9am is what I go for at the moment. That’s early enough to get my 8-9 hours of sleep, meditate and have a coffee or breakfast before looking at my to-do list for the day. 

Money anxiety

You’d think that this is something I’d left behind when reaching Financial Independence… Well, no. It happened that a very ad-hoc design contract landed on my lap so I was generating some income from that plus All The Honeys. And yet, the remortgaging, the news - especially in the UK - and lack of so-called “proper job” served their dish of uncertainty and doubt if I asked for it or not.

I always work 3 months ahead - meaning I already have 3 months of my living expenses covered, sitting in my business account. And that’s on top of my my emergency fund. So I know that I don’t have to worry about money… but  as I said, mindset is an eternal work in progress. 

We all give far, far too much power to our thoughts. They’re utterly random. They’re not truths but we often treat them like dogmas. What I do now with negative, unconstructive thoughts is Lebowski them. Here’s how it works. A rubbish thought appears in my head. I greet it, hear it out and repeat after Jeff Bridges: “oh yeah, well, that’s just like your opinion, man.” That detachment is enough to make me smile and let the negative thoughts disperse.

Ah yeah, for those of you unfamiliar with this character - I recommend you watch Big Lebowski by the Coen brothers. It’s a good movie!

Other than that, Monday to Friday I block all news sites. I check the headlines on a weekend, skim through a few articles that are not click bait and steer clear from the rest.  Some say it’s avoiding reality, I say it’s choosing to create your own reality. Plus, I find that the joy of picking up a favourite newspaper at the airport and spending the whole flight reading it is much bigger when it’s not a daily habit.

What else… well, by now you know that I’ve remortgaged and removed that stressor for a while. If you don’t know, I talked about it here.

Time freedom

Alright, you’re possibly reading this and thinking: oh wow, time freedom sucks! For some balance then, let’s move on to the definitely good things about it. The biggest realisation for me, personally, was the joy of having my free weekends back. I worked one or two contracts simultaneously and added All The Honeys to that. It pretty much meant no free weekends. There was always a video to shoot or edit, web page to create and action plans to prepare for my coaching clients. And suddenly I was able to do all this during the week and keep weekends truly off. This is probably nothing new to most people who choose to focus on their jobs and don’t want to spend time on side hustles, studying or starting a business - to make it clear, I find nothing wrong with that approach. But yeah, I think I missed my weekends!

Another great thing about Time Freedom has been the ultimate flexibility in life. As a freelance designer I’m used to flexibility but believe me, this has been on a different level. No notices to anybody, no emails, no explanations. A friend was visiting London mid-week and we spent half a day talking, eating, walking and I was catching myself thinking: this is exactly why I wanted to be Financially Independent. And then on my way home, I needed to change at Canary Wharf, during the rush hour… well, I had no reason to rush so I sat down on a bench and did some people watching. If you don’t live in the UK, Canary Wharf is a financial district in London. People who work there usually earn a lot of money. I was watching them, the uniformed, dressed in all shades of grey crowd, and felt great to be wearing super casual clothes and coming back from a fun day out with a friend. And that was the moment I realised once again that I’m 100% NOT a corporation type and have little desire for big riches. 

So yeah - running midday, catching my favourite gym class at lunchtime, taking a reading break on a rainy day. You know - the simple things most of us want to be able to do whenever we like doing, not when we have to do. That has been amazing. 

All in all, last half a year has been a great experience. Financially, I’ve had no losses whatsoever. I kept generating income. I had enough time to rest and recharge. Psychologically, I’m far more aware of my hang ups. Now I can see even more clearly what triggers anxiety in me and keep working on it. 

And now what?

You’re going to laugh - I’m slowly looking for my next design contract. I feel that 6 months without a “proper job” in a year is enough for me. For now. At the same time, I keep developing All The Honeys. I love coaching clients and no amount of design work has ever given me as much satisfaction as seeing my clients grow and lift their finances to the next level. If you’re keen on becoming one of them and are ready to reach for your Time Freedom, check out my current offers and let’s get started!