My dream is to build a life I don’t need to escape from.

One where I love Tuesdays as much as Saturdays.

And I’m not willing to wait til I retire at 60 to do it.

The hardest part about this?

The standard work schedule is Monday through Friday.

If you share a similar dream and (1) you need to work to make money, (2) your work doesn’t energize you, and (3) you don’t have autonomy over your schedule, it’s gonna be pretty difficult to make it happen.

Weekdays are 70% of the week — so you'll always be living for the reprieve of the weekend.

“How we spend our days is how we spend our life.” - Annie Dillard

Here’s the solution: Design your life and career around YOU.

Few people can tell you how — because they haven’t done it. Common advice points to what is most likely to bring you external success, and there’s a lot of merit to that approach.

But you can’t follow what others do and expect the results to feel the same for you too.

I didn’t learn this until I achieved the external success I wanted… yet couldn’t shake the itch for something deeper.

I’ll never forget what it was like to feel trapped — by the golden handcuffs, the back-to-back meetings, the urgent expectations, and the feeling of “What is this all for?” — throwing myself into HIIT workouts during the week and vodka on the weekends in an attempt to feel alive. I felt so out of control of my life, lacking purpose or direction.

I’m glad I decided to examine my values and change course.

Here are some of my values — Which of them do you share?

• Quality time laughing with family and friends
• Autonomy over when and where I work
• Immersing in nature and exploring new places
• Freedom to lean into my intellectual curiosities
• Creating work that changes lives in alignment with God’s mission for me
• Authenticity and sharing ideas freely, which enables genuine connection
• Collaborating with exceptional humans on impactful projects
• Optionality, and building wealth and the options it creates
• Health — mental, physical, spiritual, emotional
• Personal growth & constant learning

If I had to sum it up to just one, it’s Freedom.

Freedom to create the most authentic, energizing, and impactful life I can dream up.

I bet you can relate.

Since my burned out days in consulting, I’ve made many changes to get closer to my ultimate goal. These are the results:

Today, I’m building a soul-aligned business that transforms lives and has infinite potential to create impact — and wealth — as a result. I am 100% in charge of my own schedule, the ideas I write about, who I collaborate with, and the work I put into the world. I haven’t built a million dollar movement yet or created the scale of impact I desire, but I have full conviction in my path there.

I spend more time with my family than anyone else I know at 29 because I can work from anywhere. I’m writing this from Northern Michigan, where I’m hanging with them and taking long walks in the woods. Next week, I’m moving to Europe for the summer.

I no longer need to escape M-F by numbing on the weekends. I stopped destroying my body and switched to drinking only at weddings this year (I still love a dirty martini and going wild on the dance floor, though I do that sober too). I spend more time on my physical and mental health than ever before — I want to be more present to experience this gift called life.

I say this to show you what’s possible. The Universal Law of Oneness states, "What's possible for one is possible for all."

When you know what you value and stay openminded to possibilities, you can make career and life decisions that align. Most of your constraints don't really exist.

Now, let’s be honest. This is not easy to pull off.

Choosing to design my own path and pursue entrepreneurship has been the most challenging transition I've made so far, but my purpose pulls me forward on the difficult days because I'm so energized by my future. And I'm learning how to fall in love with the journey.

If you want to build a life you don’t need to escape from, get more intentional about designing your career so it fuels the life you want to live — whether that means getting a new job, building a business, or working on a side project.

I’ve created a streamlined way to approach this process and have helped countless clients implement it successfully. To accelerate your path toward a career aligned with your values, join my FREE Career Clarity Masterclass on Wed, June 19th. If you’re in need of direction, I know it’ll be game-changing. Register here or share with a friend.

As a final note: Regardless of where you are in your life or career — take some time to reflect on your values and whether you’re living them today. Some things may need to shift. Change is liberating, embrace it.