Your 9–5 Is Not Your Whole Life

This one is for the young ambitious woman out there.

The one who wakes up early, shows up, delivers, gets the “well done” in the meeting, and still goes home feeling like something is missing. Usually, what’s missing is a purpose outside work.

I know her. I’ve been her.

So here’s what I’d tell you if we were sitting across from each other on a train with a cup of coffee: never confine yourself to your 9–5. Or to work, full stop.

Your job is not your identity

Work matters. I love what I do, and I’m not here to tell you to quit anything.

But somewhere along the line, a lot of us were taught that ambition means climbing one ladder. Your title. Your appraisal. Your next promotion. Your whole sense of worth tied to an org chart someone else drew.

Then the job changes. A restructure, a new boss, burnout, a role that ends. And you’re left asking: who am I without this?

That’s a dangerous place to live.

What purpose outside work looks like for me

For most of my career, I’ve worn more than one hat at a time.

Marketing roles across fintech, healthtech, music streaming and mobile. But alongside that: presenting on TV and hosting red carpets. Leading ADMARP. Building free resources like the PMM Toolkit Africa and The African CMO Playbook. Running a training programme that equipped 260+ African professionals. Mentoring younger women coming up behind me.

None of that was in a job description. Nobody appraised me for it. And honestly? Some of it gave me more joy than any KPI I’ve ever hit.

Here’s the part people miss: it also made me better at my job. The stage made me a sharper communicator. Teaching made me a clearer thinker. Community gave me perspective no office ever could.

It doesn’t have to be big

Purpose outside work isn’t a side hustle with a revenue target. You don’t need a brand or a business plan.

It could be mentoring one person. Writing. Volunteering. Singing in the choir. Running on Saturday mornings. Learning to paint, badly. Showing up for a community that needs you.

The only question that matters is this: what makes you feel like you, when nobody is paying you to do it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg3C-KY6FW0

How to find your purpose outside work

If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself three questions:

1. What did you love doing before anyone paid you for anything? Childhood hobbies are clues, not nonsense.
2. What do people come to you for, even when it’s not your job? Advice, a listening ear, help with their CV. That’s a gift you’re already using.
3. What makes you lose track of time? Not what looks good on Instagram. What actually absorbs you.

Pick one answer and give it one hour this week. Not a five-year plan. One hour. Then notice how you feel afterwards.

Find it. Then actually enjoy it.

That second part matters more than we admit.

So many of us find something we love and immediately turn it into another obligation. Another thing to optimise, monetise, post about, be “consistent” with. Before long, the thing that was meant to refill you is draining you too.

Don’t do that. Let it be yours. Enjoy it without needing it to look impressive to anyone.

So, to the young ambitious woman reading this: go hard at your career. Chase the promotion. Build the thing. But build a life that would still stand if the job disappeared tomorrow.

Find your thing. And enjoy it.

I’d love to know: what’s yours outside work? Tell me in the comments.

— Elizabeth