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Stable income. Benefits. Job security. Retirement savings. Sunk costs (like that expensive college degree). These are some of the many reasons we’re told that full-time employment is a fact of life. A given. A necessary evil.
But what if it’s not? What if there are other ways — not fantasies, but practical ways you can earn a living, reclaim your peace, and actually find that elusive work-life balance everyone wants?
Let’s look at alternatives, including the real-world advantages, tradeoffs, and challenges of each. If you’re sick of being the person who’s always complaining about work, keep reading.
No One Wants to Work Anymore — Do They? Facts and Stats
Out of nearly 104 million Americans ages 16+ who aren’t currently working, only about 5.9 million (5.7%) reportedly want a job (BLS).
That means more than 98 million people don’t want to work — and aren’t. Of course, many are retired, still in school, or unable to work. It also includes folks who “were not asked if they want a job” (uh, ok).
But out of the 5.9 million who do want jobs, about 8.6% (509,000) haven’t looked for work in the last 4 weeks. They’re described as “discouraged workers” — those who say they:
- Can’t find work
- Don’t think work is available
- Lack schooling or training
- Face age discrimination (employers think they’re too young/too old)
- Face other forms of discrimination
These folks want work, but don’t believe they’ll ever find it — and seemingly, they don’t feel they can change that.
So, maybe you don’t have work and don’t want it. Or you don’t have work, don’t think you can get hired anywhere, and wish you didn’t have to keep looking. Or you have work, but hate it and wish you could quit.
No matter your situation, what can you do?
What to Do When You Don’t Want to Work Anymore
When you don’t want to work, you first need to figure out why. Is your workplace unsupportive? Do you not make enough money? Or do you hate the work you do? Or are you just not career-oriented?
This helps you figure out whether it’s your boss, job title, company, or entire industry that’s the culprit — or whether something else in your life is making work feel impossible.
If the reason is hard to figure out, start with yourself. When you have the overwhelming urge to quit your job and break free, what’s going through your head? What do you feel like? Are you irritable? Is it hard to stop thinking about work, or do you have difficulty concentrating? The specific symptoms you experience can help point you to the root cause.
Still unsure? Check out these 11 reasons you don’t want to work (and what to do about it). Because if you don’t figure out what’s really going on, you might feel the same way about your next job, freelance gig, or business — and end up right back where you started.
9 Practical Ways to Live Without a Full-Time Job
If you don’t work for someone else, how will you pay the bills? Can you make the same amount, or even more, without increasing your working hours? Here are some good ideas to explore if it feels like the 9-5 lifestyle isn’t for you.
1. Explore Side Gigs and Part-Time Work
Side gigs, multiple income streams, portfolio careers… whatever you call it, adding more than one income stream can help you buck the traditional 9-5.
The hard truth is that income may not be consistent at first (or at all). But if you create a diversified stream of income-generating tasks, they can help to balance each other out. When one earns less money, another may start earning more.
2. Set Up Passive Income Streams
You’ll see a lot written about “passive income,” but beware — most of the time, it’s not trulypassive. Typically, there’s a lot of upfront work and associated costs to launch physical products, digital products, courses, or other forms of passive income.
Eventually, there’ll be less hands-on work. Just don’t expect it to be passive from day one.
That said, there is one form of relatively passive income that doesn’t require much hands-on time: investing.
3. Optimize Your Investments
Investing doesn’t necessarily mean day trading (though it can!). Long-term investments made with brokerage accounts can help you earn additional income on a relatively passive basis. Most people don’t need to do more than occasionally check on performance and rebalance allocations to specific funds.
Your retirement accounts gain “passive income,” too, but you usually can’t withdraw your gains early without tax penalties.
On average, the stock market generates a 10% return on investment. This may vary widely from year to year, but remember: it’s a long game.
*I’m not a financial professional, and this is not financial advice.
4. Take on Consulting, Freelancing, and Fractional Roles to Make Money
Whether you choose to start on a platform like Upwork (full disclosure: I use Upwork!) or find clients in your network, being your own boss can be seriously empowering.
You’re the person in charge of your rate, working hours, the amount of money you want to make, the amount of work you take on, and when and how you get paid. When you want more work, go out and find it. When you want less, pause new work or drop a client.
You market the skills you already have, and you own your success! But it’s not for everyone.
There are no benefits. Without automatic paycheck deductions, you have to actively pay tax money out of your income. And for some, the worry about where the next client will come from is worse than regular work stress. Only you can decide if self-employment is truly right for you.
5. Start Your Own Business
Consulting, freelancing, and fractional roles are forms of going into business for yourself. But you might also start an online store, launch a marketing agency, or open a bakery.
So many people associate starting a business with racking up debt, working long hours, or being “cash-poor” (having many assets but not much spending money). It’s key to remember that the focus, product or service, scope, and physical manifestation of your business are all up to you.
For example, the requirements for startup capital, rent, employees (including employment taxes, PTO, etc.), production, and wholesale purchases will be completely different for a brick-and-mortar store vs. an online store selling digital downloads. But whatever your dream is, you just need a plan!
6. Reassess Your Budget and Lifestyle
This method isn’t about earning more money — it’s about spending less. Everyday expenses add up, and it’s not always easy to find room to cut back! But for most of us, there’s something we can reduce that would make quitting our jobs, taking a paycut, or taking a career break a lot more manageable.
Do you still go to that workout class 5 times a week — and do you still like it? When’s the last time you watched something good on that streaming service? Have you shopped around for car insurance lately? Maybe with your hybrid or remote job, you don’t even need a car (or that car payment) anymore.
Just don’t cut things you love, or things that make life noticeably easier (and still would, even if you quit). Leaving your job should make life better, not worse.
7. Save Up for a Career Break
I speak with folks from all financial situations. Some say they have enough money to take a career break, but want to create a plan for what’s next before quitting their jobs. Others worry they’ll never have enough saved to quit; feeling like a career break isn’t realistic prevents them from planning and taking action.
If you’re stressed about work daily, feeling burnt out and unable to enjoy other areas of your life, a break could be exactly what you need to find yourself again. The first steps toward designing a career break are:
- Determine how much money you need and want to live on per month — bills, food, and some wiggle room to avoid added stress
- Calculate any monthly income from sources other than your job (partner’s job, passive income, side gigs, investments)
- Consider how much time you’d like to take completely off — no thinking about or planning for your next move
- Add the number of months you’re comfortable with to pursue your next role and/or ramp up new income streams
- Include a few months of buffer for the unexpected
- Multiply that monthly amount by the total number of months (time off, time looking for work, buffer time) to get the total amount you need for your career break
- Subtract any additional funds you’ll have access to during that time
- Assess the amount of your savings you’re willing to tap into (excluding your emergency fund, for example) and calculate the gap, if any
- Create a savings plan to fill the gap
One of the few upsides of getting laid off is that, even if your savings are low, a severance package could help fund your career break.
8. Invest in Your Health
This tip may not directly generate income, but it will pay dividends for your mental health, energy, wellbeing, and ability to show up to work — in whatever form of work you take on next.
Start therapy — or, if you’ve tried before, start again. Invest in new workout equipment or try that new fitness class in your neighborhood. Get a massage every month or two. Take a spa day. Sign up for a 5k.
When every day is exactly the same, there’s not much to look forward to. Without things to look forward to, you lose energy. And when you just don’t feel healthy, it’s harder to maintain or regain any energy.
I’m not saying that you can self-care your way out of the wrong job — you really can’t. But in the space between where you are now and having a clear plan for what comes next, you need strategies to make it through. Prioritizing your health is one way to do that.
9. Get Clear on Your Career Priorities
Do you really want to stop working completely — or, if you didn’t hate what you do, could you enjoy a different job?
Most of us need to work. Even high earners who save huge portions of their income using early retirement strategies like Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) often find themselves in need of more income.
An independent study of FIRE retirees found that after just 4 years of retirement, 81% of those surveyed returned to income-generating activities (work or business).
And of those who did stay “retired,” 73% still earned a part-time income.
So, what’s really important to you about work? Would you take a pay cut if you liked what you did? How do you want work to fit into your world? What does “meaningful work” actually mean to you?
As a career coach, in my opinion, this is the best way to conquer the feeling of not wanting to work:
Spend some time and energy getting crystal-clear on what matters to you in work and life. You can’t set meaningful goals without clear priorities.
This way, you can intentionally move career paths into something that’s truly fulfilling.
Is It Possible to Live Without Working?
Yes, it’s possible — but to live without working, you may not have the lifestyle you want, or even the one you need.
In order to live without working, you need to have substantial funds that aren’t tied to active work, such as an inheritance, trust fund, investment returns, or savings. Many of us don’t have those — or at least, not enough to live off of.
Even if you properly invest the money you aren’t actively using, without other sources of income, you’ll likely need to spend more than you get back.
You’d also need to find ways to reduce living expenses, such as moving back in with your parents (if that’s an option) or finding extremely low-cost options, like a house with lots of roommates.
In short, while it’s technically possible to live without working, a lot depends on your circumstances. Also, you might find that the amount of cost-cutting and budgeting you’d likely need to do isn’t worth the trade-off.
So, for most of us, what’s more realistic is finding work that we don’t hate. Work that doesn’t burn us out, cost us sleep, and ruin our weekends with constant pings and Sunday Scaries. This might be a job, but it might also be self-employment, freelance or fractional work, or multiple income streams.
Not sure how to figure out your next move? Learn how career discovery coaching services could help.
