The 9-to-5 grind, it is what you make it
Everyone seems to want a 9-to-5 job, until they have it that is. From the beginning it’s great, the hours allow you to go to dinner with friends and even fit in that early morning gym session, you get the weekends off, the office is air conditioned in the summer and cozy in the winter. So, what’s not to love?
The commute.
From please mind the gap to cancelled trains and sweaty armpits in your face I think that we can all agree that the commute definitely sets the tone for the day and your train being delayed on the way home isn’t the greatest way to top your day off either! And until you are actually in the mix of 9-to-5 life you don’t realise that everyone else works 9-to-5 as well, everywhere is busy, rush hour is a real thing and you spend most of your time getting to work waiting.
Weekends off, are they really all that great?
Have you tried pushing a trolley around a supermarket on a Saturday morning? Everyone else is too, now, when you were working in retail you were working while everyone else was out shopping, meaning while they were working you could push your trolley around an empty supermarket and always get served first. Again, until you realise that everyone else gets the weekends off it isn’t until then that you realise that having the weekends off aren’t all that great.
Who decided that school starts at 8:45?!
Who really decided that would be a good time to start school? To get the kids to school you are either going to be rushing around in the morning and end up being late to work anyway, thanks rush hour. Or, you’ll be paying the expensive fee for breakfast club, not to mention after school club because the same person who decided on the start time also had a say on the 3:15 finishing time.
Where can you find value?
There’s no doubt about it everyone is chasing the 9-to-5 dream and it isn’t until they actually get it that they find out that it isn’t really all that it’s not all that cracked up to be. But! It really is what you make it, you can either let the downsides beat you and you’ll be un happy or you’ll start adding value to your day in different ways.
For example, instead of resenting the commute why note strike a conversation with someone on the train – now how daunting does that sound? But you could meet someone who takes the same journey as you do every day and end up sitting next to them than sitting next to the sweaty armpit guy, let’s call this “networking on the train” you do it at all of the events that you’re sent to so why not improve on those skills on your way to work? And if you get to know them really well, possibly a Two Together Railcard is on the table?
If networking on the train still sounds daunting, take up a new hobby, baking cakes to take to work and impress your coworkers and get in the bosses good books through their new found love of your Victoria sponge. Try your hand at writing and illustrating your own children’s books or you could actually go to that early morning gym session that you have been putting off for a few weeks.
Or, if it’s the job itself that is the problem maybe it’s either time to move on or start the conversation to improve the situation where you are. Although a job is a job and you’re not really supposed to love it, having said that, I can definitely back up that it’s a damned sight better if you do.
What it really comes down to
9-to5 life, some people love it and some people hate it, you can either embrace it, be unhappy or move on. You’re either going to find value elsewhere, or start finding the little things that make it all worth it while you’re at work (believe me, they are there!).
Anyway, the likelihood of you being in a 9-to-5 job in the first place is due to wanting to get into one or you really wanted to leave your last role. So, remember why you’re there and how you got there and then simply just get on with it?