‘The world is still young and we are all pioneers’
Anon
I live and work on the other side of the world to my employer. I have spent more than a decade living in Australia, while being employed full-time by a company in London. I do not have a unique skill set; neither am I somehow irreplaceable. I do exactly what I would do in the London office; except that I do it from my home office in our little house by the beach, on the other side of the world. I am an ordinary employee, living an extraordinary lifestyle.
I used to be one of the millions of middle-management, middle-aged people commuting into the big city. I was exhausted, bored and stressed; deeply frustrated that I didn’t get to spend enough time with my young family. I was a walking stereotype.
My life has fundamentally changed for the better over these years and I have taken the time to document some of this experience in the book Same Job New Life. I will also be sharing some of my experiences in a series of articles on Thrive. I will recount some of the triumphs and disasters along a path which, though it hasn’t always been easy, is a path that I will never regret taking. Everything my family and I went through has been worth it.
This mode of working is something that countless professionals from all walks of life can do and will almost certainly be doing in the future. So why not you?
In our own way my family and I have been pioneers, taking a path less travelled. The path wasn’t clearly sign-posted or well-trodden and, like all great opportunities, it wasn’t advertised or pre-defined. As John F Kennedy said; ‘Things do not happen. They are made to happen’.
Sharing some of my experience is intended not only as an introduction to an idea that people may not have seriously considered before, but also to demonstrate that it is entirely possible. Would you like to escape the rat-race and become a ‘lifestyle pioneer’ of the digital age? This possibility may, or may not be for you, but it is a viable option that I would like others to know about.
For us, it has been an amazing journey and, in sharing some of my experiences, I hope it will inspire and serve as something of a route-map for all those brave souls who dream of having their own adventure.
So, is this really the secret to a perfect work/life balance? Well, it has been for me. Discovering a work/life balance is about finding that ‘sweet spot’ between our professional and personal lives and that will be different for each of us. My choices haven’t been without their risks and this lifestyle may not be for everybody, but it has been a perfect solution for me in in achieving the work/life balance that I always wanted.