Aristippus: “If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.”

Diogenes: “If you learn to live on lentils you will not have to be subservient to the king”

The social script

Our social script is that we start getting institutionalized since an early age. Someone has to take care of the kids while the parents are doing their time at their cubicles.

We go from pre-school to high school, to college, and even to graduate school or Ph.D.

By the time we get out of school, we have been lead to believe that the next stage of our lives is to work 40 hours a week, buy lots of consumer items, and retire at 65.

Some of us are opting out of the social script

We should work to live, not live to work. There are two ways to accomplish the working to live scenario.

1. Have a high savings rate and accumulate enough wealth to retire early
2. Have a small spending rate and make it so that you don’t need to work 40 hours to live.

How Cheryl opted out of the social script

Cheryl Williams is my friend and business partner for many years.

Cheryl followed the social script like most of us. She went to school, she graduated, and she started working a regular at a regular job.

After a few years, Cheryl discovered that she was not passionate about her job and started looking for other alternatives. She worked as a temporary employee at many organizations but none of them was a match.

Along the way, she discovered an opportunity to learn and teach partner dancing with a dance school. She worked as a part-time teacher for about 3 years and finally, she went into business on her own. Today, Cheryl has been a dance teacher for about 20 years.

The transition from employee to freelancer

For Cheryl, this was not a difficult transition. She had no choice. She simply hit a wall and she was unable to continue working for her current employer. She couldn’t go into her job one more day. She left without have a plan.

Eventually, Cheryl found another job which was more aligned with her values, but she started developing a side gig as a dance teacher. Eventually, she co-founded her school Dance Conmigo.

At the beginning of her business, Cheryl worked many hours, to promote the new business, but today, she works about 15 to 20 hours per week (about 2 to 3 hours per day).

Working 2-3 per day, Cheryl lives in the trendiest neighborhood of the city (Le Plateau), she has a spacious apartment, she has her basic gadgets (a smartphone, a laptop, etc.), she eats in restaurants a couple of times per weeks, she takes winter vacations to tropical places. In short, she is not missing out on anything, yet, her expenses are low enough to allow her to live on her 2-3 work hours per day.

Cheryl’s advice: if you are not happy with what you are doing. Consider freelancing.

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