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7 Essential Steps You Must Take to Afford a Career Break
I recently wrote about the transformative power of having the time and space to think as one of the most unexpected benefits from leaving my job.
Having this time and space to focus on your dreams instead of doing the bidding of others is admittedly a privilege. However, I think everyone could benefit from having this time and space at least once in their careers. Reflecting on the choices I made to get to this point, here are 7 essential steps I took to prepare myself for this life of freedom.
1. Delete your debt
If you have crushing student loan debt or are weighed down by credit card debt, the first thing you need to focus on is paring down this debt so you can actually start saving money and building wealth.
I’ve been fortunate in that the only debt I had to conquer on my journey was an auto loan that I finally paid off before moving to Chicago 4.5 years ago. There’s a lot of advice out there in terms of which debt to tackle first. The math would suggest paying down your highest interest debt first, while the “snowball” approach would suggest paying off the lowest balance first to build positive momentum like a snowball rolling down a hill while making minimum payments on other debt.
