Usual weekday in the life of a corporate worker is divided into three equal parts, each lasting 8 hours, designated for work, leisure, and sleep.
There are certain advantages of working at a big corporation, like security, sustainable salary, and benefits.
Furthermore, after your work time is over you don’t have to think about your work anymore. Despite that, there’s a growing number of people who are not engaged at work.
Right now about 70% of American workers are not satisfied with their jobs, working only for their monthly paycheck, while the rest 30% are actually happy with their working conditions.
If you wake up every weekday with the feeling of burden and spend workdays just thinking about
Friday, then you should consider changing your working environment into something more dynamic. If your work feels like prison time, then it’s time to leave.
Your life is much more valuable to spend it doing things you don’t enjoy. Two very important factors that young people prefer compared to financial stability freedom and flexibility.
And those two are usually severely limited in a nine-to-five job. If a company hired you to do a certain job, you will spend your complete work time doing that job, without any freedom to work on the side projects.
Furthermore, it won’t be possible to maintain the job after taking a long break, so you are in the situation to choose will you let down your employee or your loved ones.
All the reasons for quitting your nine-to-five job boil down into the five essential truths about corporate life many people deny to acknowledge.
1. Job Security Is Disappearing
The generation of our grandparents had it quite easy concerning job security. The majority of them have had a job waiting for them as soon as they finish the army or school.
They would stick at the same company for 40 years, until retirement, eventually getting promoted or transferred to the better work within the company. Their children, our parents, enjoyed a similar job security features.
However, our generation has it bad, thanks to the development of new technology, the internet and new methods of doing business.
The projected values for the next 5-years period aren’t very bright since it is predicted that the top 15 global economies might lose over 5 million jobs because of the development of robotics and other inclinations.
If this turns out to be true there will be an abundance of unemployed workers trained for specific occupations. Furthermore, companies tend to hire part-timers instead of full-time workers.
Therefore, the recommendable course of action would be to improve your skillset and build yourself marketable so you don’t have to worry about sudden changes in the economy and getting declared the excessive workforce.
Building your skills and improving yourself will make you a master of your own fortune.
2. Stress Kills
With the advancement of medical knowledge, we started to recognize all the unhealthy behaviors that affect our lives negatively. Believe it or not, there was a time when people believed smoking isn’t bad for health.
Right now the focus is on unhealthy junk food and processed fast food, as diabetes and other related diseases became a new age epidemic.
However, people started to get aware of stress and how harmful it really is. It goes without saying that that stress has multiple terrible effects or the human body.
Stress puts people into a negative mood, which damages friendships and family relationships and inflicts poor decision-making or addictions.
Healthwise, stress leads to high blood pressure, which down the road can cause heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and heart attacks. Stress also interferes with sex hormones and accelerates premature aging.
The human body and mind are built to endure only a short amount of stress, during which a person goes into ” battle mode”.
Being stressed allows us to react quicker and be more efficient for a couple of hours, during the hunt or battle.
If you’re constantly stressed during your working 45 hours a week, that is a very unhealthy way of life and it’s logical to expect some consequences.
The worst thing about stress is that it’s not exclusive to work, you can have it at home too, even during the weekend.
So what are we supposed to do to lower our stress level? Except for usual methods such as getting enough sleep, eating healthy, working out and so on, the best way to deal with your stress is to find another job that will not overwhelm you in anxiety.
If you put in some work in the search for them, we are sure you will find an appropriate position.
3. You’re Your Own Boss
Quitting a job that provides a steady income seems like an absolutely crazy move, especially if you have substantial monthly bills.
Losing that kind of security might feel like pulling a rug under your own feet.
You have to prepare yourself for significant sacrifices and shortcomings once you decide to quit your daily job. But trust us on this, being your own boss is worth it.
Truth, it will be pretty hard in the beginning and you will have to renounce a lot of enjoyment before you make it big, but it is way better than getting stuck with the boss who makes Ebenezer Scrooge look like Mother Teresa.
Another thing no one tells you is that you will never get rich by working nine to five. We understand that money is not a priority when talking about the work you will enjoy.
However, we won’t pretend that money isn’t the main reason we are working in the first place. If your main goal is to become what they call filthy rich, you won’t achieve that as an employee.
Need proof? Check the list of the wealthiest people in Australia and see how many of them are working for someone else. That’s right, none.
Another interesting thing about those people is that they didn’t get rich by climbing the corporate ladder.
Instead, you may say that they have built their own. Truth to be told, you might become wealthy if you work for a great company, but still, your bosses will greatly surpass you in terms of the monthly salary.
It is possible you will earn millions if you invest your money wisely, but the real big buck will be reserved for people you work for.
4. Work Harms Relations
If it ever comes to, and it will, that work pours over way above your working hours into your leisure time then start to destroy your personal relationships, that’s the clear indicator you need to switch your workplace.
It is the fact that our careers often affect our personal relationships, and in extreme cases, they can even ruin marriages.
Bringing your work in your personal life can be stressful for both spouses, and it is important to recognize the signs that your job is starting to damage your personal relations.
For example, putting work priorities ahead of your relationship is a very bad move. Opting out of activities you would normally engage in with your significant other sends a very clear message about what’s important to you.
If you’re too tired from work to spend time with your loved ones, or if you constantly seek professional advice from your loved ones, you’re harming your relations in a great deal.
Another bad sign is if you have nothing to talk about with your loved ones other than work-related topics.The inability to compartmentalize work and personal life will lead you to constantly talk about your colleagues and projects.
Getting late to or canceling important personal events because of work create a slow build-up of bitterness from your significant other. They will, quite justifiably, think that your work is more important than them.
Your everyday office worries might make your partner stop talking about their troubles, not wanting to add to the drama.
This way, a gap between two people is created and trust is slowly chipping away. You will notice the symptoms of alienation between you two.
Both of you will have less patience for each other, you wouldn’t have the energy to socialize, two of you will argue more, and about new things.
In the end, you will notice your partner is not listening to you and when you’re talking they’re using sarcasm to convey their true feelings.
Those are major red flags, which means that you need to urgently reassess your priorities and change your job before your personal relations get ruined beyond repair.
5. You Don’t Love It
Although money is one of the most inadequate reasons to quit a job, enjoyment or lack thereof is one of the strongest motives to try and find a new career.
Someone once said that a man is a success if he spends time between morning and evening doing what he wants to do.
Considering that the majority of the day in the life of a modern worker is dedicated to commute and work, it’s easy to conclude that happiness in your work determines your happiness in general.
If you spend most of the week at a position that makes you miserable, that misery will follow you and start to affect your life.
Sticking in place that doesn’t make you inspired to try and be the best version of yourself will overwhelm you with the feeling of wasted potential, which is also something you shouldn’t stick to.
Life has to offer more than spending most of the week on the job that makes you feel depressed all the time, right?
Once you align your passion with your work you will see that was one of the best decisions in your life and you will scold yourself for not doing it earlier.
9-to-5 Alternatives
Now that we mentioned the main reasons for quitting your everyday nine-to-five job, it would be fair to show you some of the jobs you can do out of the 9-to-5 pattern.
Some of the obvious contenders are jobs in freelance and consulting, but they are also careers in Healthcare, media, and travel.
One of the most sought after jobs is a freelance web designer. There’s a constant demand for nice looking and practical web pages, so if you got the skills you can make the internet a nicer place to visit, at your own pace.
Another interesting business option is franchising. Instead of building your own brand from scratch, you can buy an already established business and further develop it. You can also try your luck as a real estate agent.
Selling homes business mostly depends on your clients’ schedule. That means you might work during nights or weekends, but nevertheless you will never fall into a routine.
As a social media consultant, you will help businesses stay in touch with the latest social media trends.
You could expect a lot of work in sharing your expertise, but after a while, you can enjoy the privilege of determining your own working hours and working in your pajamas.
If you like to invest 100% of yourself into work for short intervals of time then taking a long break, consider seeking the career of political campaign manager.
These managers work 24/7 during the election season and have it easy in between. The most lucrative but also the most responsible job that does not rely on traditional working hours is an air traffic controller.
Since planes fly all around the clock, this job comes with flexible shifts. However, this job is very stressful and it requires a constant focus on air traffic.
Conclusion
Before you do any radical cuts in your life concerning the employment, be aware that this article is not a blanket statement it’s you have to quit your nine to five job.
There are still people who are happy with their ordinary line of work, and who would end up miserable if they quit and begin to build their own business.
This article was made for people who are having doubts about their current job being the ideal for them, thinking they can do better. So, if you hate Mondays don’t blame the calendar but take your fate in your own hands.
