Whether you’re working in the office or from home, the feeling of being trapped in your career is one you may be all too familiar with. It’s this sense of not having agency over the very work you do, or even worse, how you spend your time at work. Even worse, it can be this insidious feeling of having no control over your time at all. As a working woman and/or mom, it can all feel all the more oppressive as your time is also overtaken by parenting, household and other duties and commitments.
This sense of lack of freedom was even more pronounced for working women and moms during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the aftermath of this global healthcare, economic and political crisis, so many working women and moms saddled with remote work in addition to childcare and household chores, have been looking for more freedom in their work and lives. As a result, over a million working women have had to resign from their jobs, many due to lack of available childcare. As we emerge from this crisis, many are asking the question: “How can I be freer in my work and life?”
For the longest time, women have been assigned much, if not most of the responsibilities around childcare, eldercare and the household. As women have started to fill up the professional ranks in larger numbers, they’ve still had to fulfill childcare and household-related roles on the home front. Where their male counterparts had the freedom to focus on their careers and outside pursuits, women have had to contend with almost insurmountable obstacles and inhuman demands on their time. Now more than ever, working women and moms are reclaiming their own time, a commodity that has for far too long been taken for granted by societies and institutions alike.
How can you regain more freedom in your career then, when you’re already struggling with owning your time as it is? Here are some tips that may help:
- Change your mindset
Time is your most precious commodity. However, as a working woman and/or mom, you may have been taught to sacrifice your time instead of owning it. As little girls, you may have been told to be pleasant, giving up your time and energy to care for, satisfy, and fulfill the needs of our families, partners, friends, associates, etc….As an adult, you may have struggled with reclaiming your time, especially as the added responsibilities of marriage, parenting, family and even friendships, and accepted this as a way of life.
This is where changing your mindset about truly owning your time can make a world of difference. Replacing toxic thoughts and beliefs around not having a right to your own time, with healing principles such as: “I have a right to use my time in ways that are healthy to me”, for instance, can rewire your thinking in more positive ways.
- Tie your work to your purpose
Creating more freedom in your career also means reframing the “why” behind the work you do. In this sense, tying your career to your purpose in every season can be particularly powerful. For instance, if your purpose is to help businesses obtain secure loans as a banking officer, then your career in banking may give you an added sense of fulfillment and direction.
Who are you helping in your career? How can you tie it to your purpose in this season? The more of a sense of purpose you get through your work, the more fulfillment you get, and the less you tend to feel trapped and lacking freedom.
- Lessen the impact of money
Too often, we feel tied to a particular job because of the paycheck. As bills pile up, we think there is just no other option for us to meet our financial obligations. You may have been, or may be, in this very predicament, and may feel trapped in your current career or business.
The more you can lessen the negative impact of money, the more you can create more freedom in your work and life. What if money were no object, or were less of an object? What if you didn’t have to work so many hours? How can you create more freedom by lessening the impact of money?
This can be done by creating systems in your work, including delegating, eliminating, or re-purposing tasks. Generating multiple streams of income is also another way of lessening the impact of money and feeling freer in your career and life. Last but not least, making your money work for you, through mediums like investing for example, also goes a long way towards increased freedom at work and in life.
Overall, creating more freedom in your work and life is a matter of changing your mindset, tying your work to your purpose, and lessening the impact of money. The more you can apply these principles, the more freedom you can have in your work and life.
