The Rich Life Letter is all about ESCAPING the rat race, living life by YOUR rules, saying goodbye to the boss and making (and saving) money on your terms.
But I’m not so dumb that I think you can do that overnight – no matter how much help or advice you get.
I worked in 9-5 jobs (on and off it has to be said), for the best part of 20 years until I finally had enough nerve – and enough money coming in from my projects – to up sticks and go it alone.
And let me tell you, IT IS BRILLIANT not having a boss or a commute or an alarm clock draining the life out of you.
That’s my long term goal for you – to give you the option to work when YOU want on a project you LIKE without having to waste hours of your life stuck on a motorway or crammed into a train carriage.
But I want to help you in the SHORT term as well. So if you’re currently working in a day job whilst plotting your escape, here are a few tips that will make your life a lot less stressful and a lot more financially rewarding…
5 tips to accelerate your rise to the top
These tips are in no particular order. They may not even apply directly to your situation. But these are just ideas.
- Bite off something difficult!
If you stick to things that are easy and/or make you popular, you might do okay, but you’ll never REALLY succeed. Instead, accept a job that involves hard work – and make sure it’s a lonely task. Work through the night to get a job done, or go for a run very early in the morning before most people are awake.
If you set yourself tasks that are isolated and difficult, the sense of achievement you’ll feel when you complete them will strengthen your willpower and make you achieve more when you’re asked to make sacrifices for real. Really. When I’m up against it deadline-wise I set an alarm (I usually don’t have one) and force myself to get up an hour earlier than I would naturally. But for some reason, that extra hour leads to me getting about 4 extra hours worth of work done during the day.
Give it a go. I think you’ll be amazed at how much more you’ll get through and how much more you’ll achieve.
- Delete all poisonous words.
NEVER write an email or letter that criticizes, shouts or insults a work colleague (or a client or business associate), no matter how junior their role or what the power balance is. That colleague might one day be in a position to help you or might turn up in another company in a position of power -and the last person they’ll want in their team is you. Instead, try and suggest positive ways to solve a problem. The more positive you are and the more you try and help rather than attack, the more favours you’ll get in return. It’s a simple karma – but one that works.
- Put in an extra hour a day… using this time split.
Try and get into work 45 minutes early, and leave 15 minutes late, every day. You’ll get a ton of work done in that extra 45 minutes, and you’ll get a steal on other colleagues who simply turn up on time. And don’t make the mistake of thinking that working late into the night at the office is a good move – it merely sends out a signal that you can’t keep up with your job. OR, split the week up and use the 45 minutes in the morning every other day to work on
your ‘escape plan’.
- If you’ve made a huge blunder at work – spend half an hour trying to solve the problem.
If you can’t find a solution in that time, go straight to your boss and tell them. Remember, this is only for the really BIG mistakes… those that could really have an impact on the business. If you try and hide these problems, you’ll fail. Simple as that.
Big mistakes are always found out. And if you own up to the problem, but then explain the possible damage and how you’re going to deal with it, it may actually
impress your boss.
- If you have staff, give them unexpected bonuses.
Your company may operate a bonus system, and to a degree that may work. But a great trick is to supplement this with an unstructured, informal bonus scheme that only YOU know about. If one of your staff work exceptionally hard, or achieve something that might usually go unrecognized, then give them a night out on expenses, let them leave early, or give them a small cash bonus (even £50 has a huge impact if it’s unexpected).
This has a huge impact on the moral of your staff, and whenever an occasion arises where your department is put under the cosh, you can bet your staff will happily stay late and put extra hours in to help you. And they will NEVER come to expect or demand these bonuses.
Don’t just read these tips; put these tips into practice from next Monday, and judge the results yourself.
If you’d like more advice on surviving the rat race… or even leaving the 9-5 and setting up on your own… make sure you join The Rich Life Letter. I’ll email you tips and ideas every week. Plus I’ll give you 3 FREE BOOKS to help you get started. Details here:
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