This article is part six of a seven part series on unplugging from the cubicle. Read the full introduction here.
The Clock Struck Twelve
It was downtime. Or forced downtime. I blocked any incoming emails, shunned phone calls, and opened a browser window in Firefox.
My nimble fingers worked to produce a search result. How to travel the world.
I gleefully called this research. Sometimes, The Holy Grail.
Not to mention the illicit feeling of boldly reviewing travel websites in the cubicle. It dawned on me I was doing this often, dreaming up travel scenarios, reading digital nomad blogs religiously. Absorbing, rather than complaining.
I had reached it, the end of my rope. Almost a year had passed since the company pulled a promotion in the midst of recession land. Day after day it had grown harder. Nightly journal entries told a tale of a woman in a loop. Get up, go to work, go to bed, do it all over again. Distract myself on the weekends with shopping or social drinking.
My life had become one note, and I craved for something else. No more document creation. No more monthly spreadsheets. Not another file folder to label and forget.
I wanted to feel chilly air blowing down on me from an overhead vent. I was jonesing for that endorphin kick when I step into a new city, not knowing what’s around the corner. My ears tingled to hear unknown vowels form a foreign language.
While at one time I felt easy in the intangible, it was time to embrace the tangible. Make it happen.
Time limit on life
And?
Maybe this story is you. When you’ve reached the point of no return. You want out of the cubicle, reservations or doubts are no longer in play. Now you want to act. But, how?
Action is the act of planning, not just doing.
- Action is not reaction - Don’t start packing your office belongings in a fit of anger. Irrational bouts will only send you back to the cubicle. Acting is peppered with calmness. Because the idea is to never return, right? Proceed with a singular thought – plotting.
- Start a plan – Begin constructing your escape route. Gather information on your finances, resources, wants and desires. Make sure all of them can meet your end goals. Do your goals involve long-term travel? A website? Guides or an online business?
- Delayed pleasures – Taking action means delaying short-term pleasures (impulse purchases, expensive outings) for long-term goals. If you keep focused on your goals, they won’t run away. I recommend placing power in a talisman, a necklace or charm to keep you tethered to action. Even placing a meaningful picture as your screen wallpaper at work or on the fridge stops you from straying into inertia. My motivator was putting up images of the very first place on my itinerary – India. Dream up yours.
- Stew - After you’ve done a bit of planning, sit on it a while. Double check the angles, is this what you want? Always leave room for whatever goes. Plans change, and so do dreams. Just ensure those dreams don’t involve slipping back into a cubicle nightmare.
- Execute - Launch the early stages of your plan, whether it’s opening up a high interest savings account, honing a budget, downsizing, or reviewing round-the-world ticket prices. Don’t stew too long. Constantly inject fresh circulation into your action plan.
Sprinting towards freedom
Action Jackson
What motivates us? We constantly fight between our emotional truth and arbitrary contracts invented to keep us in the cubicle.
Emotional truth is a realization of our ultimate desires. It’s an understanding about ourselves, not an intellectual concept. Think of a situation when you know Option A is what you really want, even though Option D is pushed across a desk towards you. That is emotional truth.
An arbitrary contract is a set of rules constructed to force us to behave in ways that is sometimes polar opposite to our emotional truths.
The struggle between the two can cause a volcanic rift in the mind. I hate my job, but I’ll stay. Anxiety is constantly part of my life, but a job is better than no job. These job duties don’t challenge me , but that’s the way it is.
The solution? Toss that contract into the trash bin. Listen with rapt attention to your emotional truths, action will not only be easy, but necessary. Promote your emotional truths to the forefront.
The man always ready for... you know what
Linking Behavior with Action
Cognitive-behavioral therapy attempts to repair thinking patterns that cause maladaptive behavior (behavior that is counter-productive or interferes with daily life). Altering thoughts gives a person tools to influence their behaviors, leading to productive thoughts, and actions.
I’m not saying anyone is maladaptive, but when certain thoughts continue to leave you stranded in the cubicle, adjusting your cognitive patterns will free the mind to full force, full action. You are what you think.
Ultimately, what you’re striving for in this stage is complete separation of rules or behaviors that represent tangled bush, blocking a clear path to what you’ve been struggling with for months, perhaps years: a re-imagined life.
If we follow our authentic selves, who might we become? Our best selves ever.
Photos: Frank Farm, good day, and bullshit movies
Popularity: 7% [?]
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
@Andi – Hehe.. Oh me too! I’m discovering or re-discovering aspects of myself daily! It was worth ditching the cubicle for this. :-D And everything you do says “authentic”, not to mention genuine. :)
@Gray – There were many times I fantasized about causing a dramatic scene, but as you say – that will force us back unless we plan it out properly. And I hope to see hits “yet” you allude to. :)
@ayngelina – Such a good point. At some point you HAVE to decide, and DO IT. :)
Beautiful writing like always! I’ve definitely tried to live an authentic life as of late and I see that I’ve become the best version of me. Loving it!!!
I think patience is the hardest part of this equation. As you say, there are moments when we just want to quit our jobs NOW, but we really need to be strategic about what we’re doing. Make sure we set ourselves up for success instead of failure. (I say “we” and “our” though I haven’t done this yet myself; but the emphasis is on “yet”.) :-)
Love this post, most of what holds us back is money so when I decided to go it wasn’t a grand decision. I just made the decision to start saving money because until I had the funds there was nothing to decide.
{ 1 trackback }