Hi. I’m Jessica. I quit a toxic job in July 2018 to design a life I love.
To be clear, I didn’t just quit and run off to travel the world. Instead, I rearranged my life so I could focus on what was most important to me.
I’ve designed my life around what I value most – health, relationships, creativity, adventure, and energizing work.
I didn’t have to retire early to start living my ideal life.
For the last two years, I worked in a nonprofit organization 3 days/week. This schedule provided me with 4 days each week where I could wake up without an alarm clock, make coffee, read, and work on my passion projects.
I was able to turn my passion projects into an income-generating business. I recently quit my job to focus on my passion projects full-time.
I’m truly energized by my work. I love that I can work at my own pace and take breaks whenever I need them.
I have so much energy now! In addition to my creative endeavors, I have plenty of time to focus on being physically and mentally healthy and building strong relationships.
It wasn’t always like this though…
Two years ago, I was completely burned out. Everyday was the same stressful routine, and I felt like I could never catch a break.
From the outside, my life looked successful and idyllic. People thought I was living the dream.
On the inside, I was completely miserable and burned out. It felt more like a nightmare.
Every year for the holidays, my husband and I write New Year’s Letter. It’s our most important gift to each other. We use this as an opportunity to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the upcoming year.
This is when I had a revelation.
I realized that in 2016, 2017, and 2018, I wrote the exact same thing.
Spoiler alert, I didn’t take steps to make a change in 2016, 2017, or 2018.
The point is…
…I thought about this for years, but I never did anything about it.
Then, all of a sudden, things got really stressful at work.
The burnout and stress I had experienced peaked. I started having severe anxiety and panic attacks. It was so severe that I needed to take 6 months off of work.
Since this moment, I’ve redefined my definition of success, and I’ve learned that there are so many more options available than I previously thought.
I wish I’d made significant changes sooner.
So, why didn’t I?
After speaking with lots of people, I discovered that my reasons were the same as the ones you might have right now.
When I realized that we all have the same things holding us back, I knew that I needed to spread this message.
Do you feel like you are living on autopilot? Like you are stuck in a rut? Burned out? Life feels meaningless?
…That there should be more to life?
I promise you – there is.
I could have made changes earlier, but I didn’t know that I could or how to do it.
Don’t waste any more precious years of your life in a situation that isn’t serving you because you:
Imagine a life where:
A 4-month group coaching program with everything you need to jump-start your lifestyle design process.
In the Design a Life You Love Program, I share all the best tools and resources to identify the building blocks of your ideal life, to dream big about what the future holds, and to take action to move you forward.
For the entire process, you’ll be supported by a like-minded community that wants to see you succeed.
Design a Life You Love is a 4-month group coaching program.
Once you sign-up, you will get your welcome packet and welcome survey. The information in this welcome survey will help me to match you with the right group and the right accountability partner for the program.
Over the course of 4 months, our small group of 4 people will meet 8 times (every other week) to discuss and apply the best lifestyle design frameworks and tools.
I will also provide discussion prompts that you can use to meet with your accountability partner between each session.
By the end of the program, you will know what you want and how to incorporate those dreams into your life today and long-term. You will learn strategies to help you overcome the barriers that hold you back. You will build a like-minded community that will push you forward.
When you pre-enroll, you'll receive a bonus 90-day Group Planning Session. In this session, you'll get clarity on how to set concrete goals for the first 3 months after the program.
You'll receive action planning and goal setting templates to help you take immediate steps toward your ideal life.
Jessica is an expert in training design, facilitation, and adult learning. Throughout her career in both Human Resources and Coaching, she has facilitated countless learning experiences through retreats, workshops, small group processes, and one-on-one coaching.
Jessica helps people discover who they really are, what they want in life, the unique impact they can have on the world, and the skills, strategies, and mindsets to feel good doing it.
In this program, you’ll:
After I worked through this three-step process, something really surprising happened. After focusing on designing a better life, I looked at my spending and realized that I had spent $17,000 less than the year before.
Life felt the same. Actually, life felt better. How did this happen?
I’d always considered myself fairly frugal, so I needed to dig deeper.
I realized that our spending in 4 categories had decreased significantly. It was not surprising that these categories could be described as convenience (groceries and restaurants) and escape (travel and general shopping).
When I was stressed out and unhappy with my life, I’d buy expensive, easy-to-make groceries because I knew I’d be too tired to cook.
When I was especially tired (which was much of the time), I would order take-out or go out to eat. That happened too often. Then, the expensive, convenient groceries went to waste.
I felt like I deserved fancy vacations because I worked so hard. Vacations were the thing I looked forward to all year. Don’t get me wrong; I do like a good vacation, but it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive.
I bought way too many random things. I’d go shopping online or in a store for clothes, shoes, books, games, kitchen gadgets, etc. In the year before I embarked on my lifestyle design process, I spent $4,000 on “general shopping.”
Sadly, general shopping is a catchall category, and I couldn’t point to what I spent the money on.
Now my values and priorities are 100% crystal clear to me, so I no longer need to spend money on things that don’t add happiness to my life.
Somehow, designing a better life for myself inadvertently improved my financial health.
Most importantly, my life is so much better. I’m no longer burned out. I feel energized and engaged by my work and passion projects.
Not only that, I have a healthy balance that allows me to also focus on having fun, building strong relationships, and improving my health.
Think about it. Do you spend money on things because it will help make life feel more bearable? Could you reduce or eliminate convenience or escape spending AND design a life you love?
I spent too many precious years thinking about making changes in my life. I was paralyzed because:
If I could provide any advice, it would be this. Don’t wait to start designing a life you love. You don’t have to know what you already want. You can still need to generate income. You can reclaim your time and your energy before achieving FI. Some people won’t understand your goals, and that’s okay.
I hope you join me to Design a Life You Love.