One of the 8 pillars of wellness is ‘occupational’ wellness which is finding the balance of work requirements with personal time. It often means working through your larger purpose in life and ensuring alignment with your daily activities. 

Over the years, I have changed my occupation and went through 3 distinct phases along my journey (which I can only articulate now looking back in time). I wanted to share the phases I have gone through (thus far) as well as a list of books that you may find helpful.

My personal occupational journey

Phase 1: Climbing the Corporate Ladder

I was the type of student who always wanted to get an A. It didn’t come naturally to me (although more so than others) so I had to work harder. Spend more time studying. This type of focus and mentality helped me get into Undergrad and again into Graduate school. 

However, first starting out in my career, I applied this same approach (I can honestly say I did not know of a different approach necessarily). It served me well. Work hard, play less. Move to the next rung of the corporate ladder. There was always a golden carat waiting for me on the next level; enticing me to continue the journey I was on.

Overtime, I extended the hours at my job. Working really early in the morning, having days upon days of meetings, working late into the evening. Rinse and repeat. I got to a place where I thought – why am I doing this? Naturally, one of my next questions to myself was: How much is enough?

Phase 2: Diving into a Small Business

The next phase in my occupational journey was when I started my own photography company. I was excited. I started by taking portrait photos of people on the beach in Florida. I also worked up the courage to work with local stores in the tourist areas to sell my photography. Being my own cheerleader was new (& thankfully I had the full support and encouragement from my husband). It was such an incredible experience to see that my efforts, my work was something that people would pay their hard earned money for. What an ego boosting experience!

I missed working with a team of people. I missed the camaraderie of the office and bouncing ideas off of one another. However, I can say with certainty that my lifestyle was overall healthier during this phase. I made the time to cook a healthy lunch, exercise each morning and get outside and enjoy the breeze.

Phase 3: A shift to retirement 

I started thinking about retirement in my early thirties. There was a movement called FIRE Which stood for Financially Independent Retire Early. Sadly, I didn’t apply that concept early on in life. Essentially, living a meager lifestyle, save as much money as you can and use the time value of money increase to live from. I started to take more meaningful steps towards retirement. 

During this phase, I doubled down on selling artwork, starting a blog, creating a tea shop. My goal was to diversify my income streams, even if the progress was slow and the results felt limited. For a time, I dabbled in real estate; renting out extra space in my house, renting out a separate house, etc. 

Top 10 Recommended business, leadership and time management books (and 1 blog!)

Throughout each phase, I was accompanied by books, journals and blogs of great thinkers. A few of them are more philosophical – meaning, here are a few theories that you can apply to how you think about things and others are more practical – meaning, here are a few ways to start saving today. Call me old-school, but there’s something about having a physical book that I absolutely love (I also listen to audio books and local library!).

• Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your life (check out here)
• The Last Lecture: Rand Pausch (available here)
• Outliers: The Story of Success (available here)
• Mr. Money Mustache (Blog available here)
• Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout (available here)
• Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders and the Rise of Social Engineering (available here)
• Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win (available here)
• The Corporate Athlete (available here)
• Your 168: Finding Purpose and Satisfaction in a Values-Based Life (available here)
• Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen (available here)

As you can see, there are a lot of resources out there to help you achieve your success (however you define it). Have a recommended book for me? Drop it in the comments and I’ll check it out!

Think about it,

MJ