I built a six-figure remote business and walked away from the 9 to 5 at age 46. Every Tuesday, I email a story, tip, or idea to help you climb down the corporate ladder and live life on your terms.
“That’s just how I am” (or is it?)
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Over the past month, I’ve confronted something that I’ve believed about myself for years... that I’m a night owl, and just not a morning person. I’ve said so many times, to myself and to other people, that it started to feel like a fixed trait. Just part of who I am. I stay up later, I get going a bit slower in the morning, and I’ve always structured my days around that. But recently I started questioning it. Not in some big, dramatic way. I just wondered what would happen if I stopped reinforcing that idea and tried something different. So I started going to bed earlier, usually between 9:30 and 10:00. That’s it. I didn't create a system. There was no life overhaul. Within a couple of weeks, things shifted. My total sleep hours improved. I started waking up earlier without forcing it. I had more energy in the mornings, and my productivity jumped. I'm the same person, same life... I just decided to rewrite the script. And it got me thinking… this isn’t the first time I’ve done this. When I was still working in the corporate world, I had a whole set of beliefs about myself that I just accepted. I told myself I wasn’t an entrepreneur, that I was wired for stability, that I needed the structure and security of a 9–5 job. I had a mortgage, a family, responsibilities, and in my early 40s, I was too old to start over. I also told myself that I didn’t have the right skills. I wasn’t technical, I didn’t know how to build an online business, and I wouldn’t even know where to start. At the time, all of that felt completely reasonable. But none of it was actually stopping me. It was just the story I was using to explain why I wasn’t moving. After rewriting those scripts and walking away from my 9-5, the same thing happened with my health. For a long time, I told myself that feeling tired all the time, being a bit overweight, dealing with aches and pains… that was just part of getting older. Middle-aged, busy life... Nothing you can really do about it. And I believed all of it, until I took a step back and realized it was just something I had accepted. A script that let me off the hook. Because if it’s “just how things are,” then there’s nothing to change. So I decided to rewrite the script. I hired a fitness coach, started lifting weights, and cleaned up my eating. I lost more than 40 pounds, and now, at 50, I'm in better shape than I've been since my early 30s. Not because something external changed, but because I stopped believing the internal script. So let me ask you something. Not the big, dramatic stuff. Just the everyday scripts that sound completely reasonable.
Because those are usually the ones worth looking at. You don’t need to flip your life upside down to change one of them. Most of the time, it starts with just noticing it, questioning it a little, and then doing something small that doesn’t quite align with it. If you’re reading this and it feels a bit too close to home... that’s usually a sign. This is exactly the kind of work I do with coaching. I help people see what’s actually holding them back and build a clear path forward. If you want help with that, book a free clarity call. We’ll dig into where you’re at and whether coaching is the right next step! Until next week, 💡ResourcesFREE! 2-Minute Side Hustle Quiz FREE! 7-Day 9-5 Escape Roadmap Video Course 30-Day Launch Playbook — Freelancer Edition Free 30-Minute Side Hustle Clarity Call |
9-5 Escape by Colin Graves
I built a six-figure remote business and walked away from the 9 to 5 at age 46. Every Tuesday, I email a story, tip, or idea to help you climb down the corporate ladder and live life on your terms.
Yesterday afternoon, while I was working away, I started getting messages from complete strangers on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Most of them started with something like: “Hey, I just read an article about how you turned your side hustle into a full-time business and quit your job...” At first, I had no idea why I was suddenly getting all these messages. Then I realized my 9-5 exit story had just been published by the U.S. edition of the Daily Mail and picked up by MSN as well....
When I was still at my 9-5, I felt like my time was completely controlled by someone else. Conference calls, emails, constant interruptions… by the time I got home, I felt too drained to do anything else. So I’d check out for the night and promise myself I’d start working on my side hustle tomorrow. Sound familiar? At the time, I believed that I didn’t have a choice… that my mental exhaustion was just the reality of the job. But looking back, that wasn’t entirely true. I didn’t have full...
Hi Reader When I first released the 30-Day Freelancer Launch Playbook a few months ago, I priced it at $9 to make it accessible and to get feedback from early users. Since then, I’ve decided to increase the price to $29, starting on Monday, March 9th. The good news is that you can still grab it for $9 until then. The playbook is a short, practical guide designed to help you take real steps toward launching a freelance business in the next 30 days. Inside, you'll find: • A simple 4-week...