I was scrolling through Facebook the other day, and an opening for a job opportunity popped up. This came from our local university that I followed online.

Granted, the position was only part-time, but it piqued my interest. I’ve always loved school and universities, so when the job announcement came up, I immediately clicked on it. The position was for a part-time research assistant, and the pay was really low–at least compared to teaching positions.

However, it made me really excited and anxious at the same time–and I haven’t even gotten the job, much less even apply for it!

But just going through the details made me feel excited. Despite the low pay, it would be an exciting opportunity to work in research and education. Again, it’s only part-time and they required just three days out of the week. I can easily squeeze that within my schedule. The pay is lower than my current teaching rate, but I thought there were other benefits to this job. Namely, it would be in a university setting and I would be able to get some experience doing some actual research.

I liked that I felt excited about it and that I am seriously considering it. If I really do it, I think I can fit my life around the opportunity to work in a proper university and be involved with higher education. I would love to be able to do it so I am taking my time to think this through carefully.

And then I realized that I have trip scheduled in March when my parents will come to visit me here in Japan. This made me realize that at my current schedule, I have a lot of freedom and a lot of free time to do what I want. If I add this other job to my plate, I would lose that freedom.

And that is what makes me anxious. I wonder if I am too addicted to this free schedule and if I can really become an entrepreneur? The appeal of the job is great, and I really am thinking that I can manage having two part-time jobs. I’ve got this image in my head that this research position is strictly an office-type of job where I go in, do my thing and then it ends there. I get to go home and do whatever I want with my free time.

It wouldn’t be like my other part-time job where I would be doing extra work at home–time that I won’t get paid for. I think of those hours I worked to prepare my lessons and I shudder because I don’t want to lose control of my time. If I get the job, I do have to work over time on some occasions, but I would get paid for it. That’s according to the job posting, but who knows, though?

Even at this point, I am actually working on some reports for my current job. I have to write assessment reports for my students. I am not getting paid for the time it takes to do it, but it is part of my job. It’s inescapable. The way my salary is set up, I get paid for the hours that I teach–that’s it. I do have a few hours of training, here and there, and they pay me a little bit for that. But as in teaching, there are so many things that require so much time.

So now I am reflecting on the past year of not being full-time. I really enjoyed the freedom of it all. I liked that I was still working part-time and making an income, but I also had time to work on building passive income. I was planning on continuing that this year, as my goal was to add another stream of income. I need time for that, though.

However, this research opportunity is making me re-think the original plan. I wonder if it’s a good thing or a bad thing? After all, I know that having two part-time jobs will put a constraint on my time, so I wouldn’t be able to put as much effort into creating those passive income streams. But I do think that the research opportunity will give me other options, too.

I’m not so sure.