Remote rebels, workplace wanderers, and flexibility fanatics – welcome to your escape hatch from traditional work! This week, we're blowing up the old rules of where, when, and how work happens. 

Forget everything you know about the 9 to 5 grind. We're diving deep into lifestyle flexibility: the art of designing a life that works for you, not the other way around. 

Grab your laptop, your sense of adventure, and let's rewrite the rulebook together.

— Ric Pratte, Shellie Sullivan and Jenn Urso

Please don’t keep us a secret: Share the email with friends

LIFESTYLE

From Cubicle Prisoner to Lifestyle Architect: Unleash Your Remote Work Freedom

Buckle up, digital nomads and work-from-anywhere warriors! Remember when "flexibility" meant adjusting your chair's height? Those days are toast. Welcome to the era of lifestyle flexibility – where your workspace is wherever you want it to be, and "office attire" is whatever doesn't have food stains on it.

Breaking Free from the 9-to-5 Prison

Working remotely isn't just about swapping fluorescent lights for natural sunlight (though, hello vitamin D!). It's a radical reimagining of how we live, work, and define success. Imagine crafting your day like a personalized playlist – some deep focus beats here, a midday meditation track there, all while crushing your professional goals.

The Flexibility Toolbox: More Than Just a Laptop and Wi-Fi

Lifestyle flexibility is your secret weapon. It's about:

• Designing your workday around your energy, not an arbitrary clock

• Choosing environments that spark your creativity

• Balancing professional achievements with personal passions

Less Grind, More Shine (in Super Comfy Pants)

1. Holistic Well-Being

Lifestyle flexibility isn't just about where you work – it's about designing a life that nurtures your entire self. By breaking free from rigid structures, you create space for:

• Mental health restoration

• Physical wellness

• Emotional growth

• Personal passion pursuits

2. Personalized Life Optimization

Your lifestyle becomes a custom-built experience. No more one-size-fits-all living. Instead, you:

• Align work with your natural energy rhythms

• Prioritize what truly matters to you

• Create meaningful connections

• Develop a profound sense of personal agency

3. Expanded Personal Horizons

Flexibility becomes a gateway to:

• Cultural exploration

• Continuous learning

• Diverse life experiences

• Personal reinvention

The Intangible Wealth: Personal Transformation

Lifestyle flexibility isn't a perk – it's a philosophy. It's about understanding that your potential isn't confined to professional achievements, but encompasses your entire human experience.

🌟 Thrive Remotely Challenge: Reimagine Your Life as a Canvas of Infinite Possibilities

Now that you've seen how flexibility transforms the way we live and work, it’s your turn to take the reins. Your lifestyle is your masterpiece—why not design it with intention? Take a moment to reflect on how you can make your workday, surroundings, and personal pursuits align to fuel your passions and growth.

Let’s get intentional and make every day a canvas of possibility!

THE VIBE

And in Today’s News…

• Workplace flexibility is helping people take longer trips this holiday season

• I ran the Appalachian trail while working remotely. Here’s what it taught me about work-life balance

• The independent workforce is here to stay and growing

• Having a 9-To-5 Job Makes It Hard To Do The Basic Tasks Of A Quality Life

• 22.1 million more reasons to take employee requests to work from home, very seriously

LAST WEEK’S POLL RESULTS

How do you use the freedom of working remotely to level up your lifestyle?

SKILLS & THRILLS

Breaking Free: My Personal Roadmap to Lifestyle Flexibility

Hey Thrive Remotely tribe – Ric Pratte here, and let's get real about remote work flexibility.

The Flexibility Mindset: Who's Really Working for Whom?

Picture this: You're working remotely, but you're still chained to the same old 9-to-5 mindset. Sound familiar? Most remote workers are prisoners of their own outdated work habits.

The Permission Slip You Never Knew You Needed

Here's the truth bomb: Flexibility isn't just a perk – it's a personal transformation. And the first step? Giving yourself permission to rewrite the rules.

My Top Strategies for Unleashing Your Flexible Lifestyle

• Redefine Your Workspace: Forget the home office. Your boardroom could be a sun-drenched café, a mountain vista, or that quirky co-working space with the killer espresso.

• Customize Your Work Rhythm: Not a morning person? Ditch the sunrise hustle. Night owl? Embrace your late-night productivity surge. Your energy, your schedule.

• Integrate, Don't Segregate: Work isn't a separate universe anymore. Blend personal passions, family time, and professional goals like the life ninja you are.

• Quality Over Rigid Hours: Deadlines matter. Arbitrary work hours? Not so much. Focus on crushing your goals, not watching the clock.

The Real Success Metric: Your Well-Being

Here's my founder's secret: The more holistically healthy you are, the more of a rockstar you'll be at work. Mental health isn't a luxury – it's your professional superpower.

🚀 Thrive Remotely Challenge: This week, do ONE thing that breaks your old work habits. Prove you're the architect of your life.

Flexibly yours,
Ric

ACTION

Learn & Live

✅ Working Well: Improving Your Mental Health While Working at Home– The nudge you need to do more for your mental health while working from home.

✅ How To Get Ahead If You’re Working Remotely– Here’s how to ensure job security when you want to work from anywhere.

✅ How to Create the Perfect Resume to Land a Remote Job- Creating a remote-friendly resume is all about proving you have the skillset to work from home.

POLL – NEXT WEEKS TOPIC

Next week, we're diving into Life<>Work Sovereignty. It’s about remote workers taking full control of their time, work, and personal life—all while crushing those professional goals. Think: designing your dream lifestyle, working from anywhere, and balancing career wins with personal freedom like a boss.

THRIVE LOCAL

Are remote workers still chaining themselves to work?

In 2016 I sat on a beach on Koh Lanta Island, Thailand contemplating my life’s direction. 

I had recently been promoted to Vice President at the insurance lobbying association I worked for in Washington, DC. I felt excitement but also a sense of dread. 

I sketched in the sand three words, “Truth. Wisdom. Freedom.” 

I thought about the growing number of my career-centric friends that were overextended and  mightily frustrated due to work. I sat with my own frustration, not at my company or role, but rather at the work system. 

A system that’s linear and limiting, with a rigid definition of work success that doesn’t always equate to life success. I didn’t feel free, I felt chained. I longed for a model of work that was as peaceful as it was powerful, and that molded to me vs me having to mold around it. 

And so began my curiosity, and concern, about the way we work. 

In 2018, I resigned from that VP role and set out to find my version of work freedom.  

After traveling for six months around the world, I heard many stories of how professional life was painful, but also full of hope, purpose and necessity. The world seemed to be awakening to the need for work to feel and look different. 

Fast forward 7 years, our workforce has certainly shifted with an increasing number of remote corporate workers, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and gig workers. This community is a beautiful representation of people doing work differently. 

And yet…

I still see people chained.

As a coach and founder of the Nourished Leader Project, which helps people break free from old ways of working to develop their unique work blueprint, I still see remote workers suffering with the same symptoms…dread, rigid structures, frustration. 

Have we fallen back into old, engrained patterns even within flexible work? How can we unchain ourselves further? 

I think it starts with designing the right work structure first. 

1. Have you clearly articulated what you want your LIFE to look and feel like? 

2. What is your legacy and impact in the world?

3. How do you work best? 

4. How free and fulfilled do you feel with your work life?

5. What are the macro and micro changes you need to make?

6. Am I succumbing to old work ways that I have control/influence over and if so, how can I shift?

As the CEO of your Career, you get to decide what work looks and feels like. You decide if a portfolio career is best (a mix of different companies and projects), a full time gig, entrepreneurship, etc. Then you get to create the right containers inside of that to have the lifestyle and work day that align to who YOU are. There will always be circumstances we need to accommodate- employers, clients, collaborators. But when we design with freedom in mind, we get closer to a peaceful and powerful version of work.

Learn more about Thrive Local Chapters

🗳️ Suggestion Box

Enjoyed this newsletter? Forward it to a friend and have them signup here.

Until next Thursday! 🕺