I'm starting to hate my 9-5?

[TopHatFox]

Yeah, I figured this would happen. : )

I don't really understand how anyone can enjoy sitting down and staring at a computer monitor for almost 10 hours per day. After work, I don't feel like cooking, socializing, or anything. More like lying down and going to bed. Or worse, using my phone to watch a movie or something.

I don't really like that most work conversations need to be careful. Otherwise, we risk talking about a nuanced subject that can't be hashed out in passing. Or introduce a point of disagreement. Anything related to work in conversation is also constantly checked for accuracy.

I hate the unhealthy feeling of needing coffee to get through the day. It is difficult for me to get through so many hours of high productivity without it. I hate the routine of the Office lifestyle.

Meanwhile, I'm serving multi million dollar clients and their trust-funded children. An inspiration to look up to yes, but also depressing. I feel like I'm in high service. Just another pawn serving the wealthy. Our society is so skewed, and one of the most straightforward ways I can reap these benefits is to keep showing up and saving.

The truth is, I pushed through one of the hardest colleges in the world. I know I have the discipline to continue for years, but at what cost?

It's also possible this is simply an adjustment to the work world. You know, the "real world" everyone half-jokingly pokes fun at throughout the schooling process.

Thoughts? I can't be the only one to have felt this way. Otherwise, we all wouldn't want to be FI ASAP.

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P.S. This is Olaz. I decided I liked the whole fox caricature (;

[C40]

already!?

[TopHatFox]

What can I say...I know which way is up quickly. Haha, It has been almost two months already too.

I'm hoping you all might have the experience to share ways to fix some of the issues above. Or to at least acknowledge that they exist!

[jennypenny]

Learning how to function in a less-than-optimal situation is an important life skill to develop. It's not all kittens and rainbows ... even when you're doing exactly what you want in life. Read Grit.

I think happygarrett is still my favorite.

[TopHatFox]

hahaha, I had forgotten about that one~

[Tyler9000]

IMHO, constantly writing a movie in your head where you're a slave to the wealthy without appreciating just how good you have it is going to make you miserable. Try taking a break from that and focusing on the opportunities in front of you and the good things you can do with them. You have so much to be thankful for!

That said, I totally understand that transitioning from full-time school to full-time work is a big change. Give it time, and cut yourself some slack. The adjustment phase will eventually wear off and when you find your stride you'll be just fine.

[BRUTE]

welcome to the suck

[slowtraveler]

How did I know that name was you?

It took you 3-5 years to finish college. 12ish to finish grade. It'll take 4-10 years to buy your freedom. You're almost there.

I remember when I started working 40 hours a week doing service work. Lasted 2 or 3 weeks till I wanted out.

In the big scheme of things, you got a good lot. The Joneses comparison of yourself to the wealthy isn't going to help but it's the new environment. If you can avoid getting swept in it, you'll be free soon. It's the whole reason ERE was written. Welcome to the matrix.

[TheWanderingScholar]

Cheers!

Sooner or later we all have to bend the knee, put on the chains of indentured servitude, and yet how much we suffer, how long we suffer, and how that suffering affects us is something that we must all to grips to.

As Felipe said, you have a damn good hand. At most you have ten years to complete your journey before you can buy away your shackles and do what you want (within budget).

Remember that every morning, my friend.

[Did]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph9I-qPQ6FU

No serious, this place is the support group.

[wood]

You have been part of this forum for a good while before entering the workforce. Your mind has been primed for early retirement before you even had anything to retire from. How much of an effect do you think this had on your current feelings?

I began working in an office 9 years ago. I started hating it about 5 years ago. Shortly thereafter I discovered ERE and started hating it even more. I therefore believe the discovery of ERE has a negative impact on how one feels about working.

[TopHatFox]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph9I-qPQ6FU

No serious, this place is the support group.

I can see that! I feel better already. It's reassuring to hear a lot of you have been here too. The matrix indeed. I do also have tons to be thankful for. It's what I try to think about when things get stressful.

[Lillailler]

When I had a deadly dull job (production line), I used to amuse myself by calculating how much I had earnt in the last hour, minute, second...You could maybe calculate how much nearer you got to FI during the last week, day, hour, whatever. The point is, the job is a means to an end for you, not an end-in-itself or cornerstone of the self as it is for so many people.

[Did]

I think if you're just starting out it isn't great to countdown to ERE. Best instead to try and enjoy yourself, socialise, and get good at something while stashing what you can. But maybe pick what you get good at with an eye to being able to working part time for yourself later on. Being so specialised so as to actually he useless is a common theme around here. It then becomes much harder to jump and you risk instatutionalisation.

[IlliniDave]

Tyler is right. Recast your analogies and metaphors. Looking for reasons to be unhappy and throw the fault at the feet of who or what's around you is something you will succeed at--you'll successfully be unhappy and resentful. I would suggest cultivating a life outside of work. People go to great lengths to visit NYC from all around the world. Surely there's something there to engage your interest, no?

Thinking back it probably took on the order of one or two years for me to fully adapt to full-time work. But within six months I was most of the way there. From the beginning I enjoyed having evenings and most weekends free (unlike school which was more flexible in some ways, but where there were always assignments to complete or exams to prepare for that would encroach on evenings and weekends).

A mantra I use on occasion: "If this was supposed to be fun they'd charge me an admission fee to come in."

[cmonkey]

Then you should find something else to do. Like me.

I'm turning in my notice in 8 minutes.

[OTCW]

How did it go?

[cmonkey]

Excellent. He seemed a bit surprised but was supportive of the decision. I just framed it as "its an offer I can't refuse" rather than "I'm just hating it here and need out". Both are true though.

[SustainableHappiness]

I began working in an office 9 years ago. I started hating it about 5 years ago. Shortly thereafter I discovered ERE and started hating it even more. I therefore believe the discovery of ERE has a negative impact on how one feels about working.

+1 this. Unfortunate, because all the happiness understanding the limitations of my old system and opportunities to develop a new system has without a doubt been a net positive. But I can not deny that discovering FIRE as a concept has dulled my desire to work at my current job. However, this is more of a golden handcuffs situation as I choose to work for the time being as jobs I would enjoy are either unstable or not worth extending years to satisfactory FI by 2-5 years.

Either way, getting F-U money and deciding that I CHOOSE to be here helped a lot. I also whenever possible now work out at lunch, leave early, work from home, etc. etc. Enjoy Life.

[Loner]

Staring at a monitor for 10 hours would indeed be challengingly boring. But if you find pleasure and meaning in your work, it is very possible to work on a computer for a long time, and even to endure all that you find difficult.

Do you enjoy the process? Do you enjoy the end?

Personally, I feel energized after working 7-8 hours alone in front of my computer because I find flow/pleasure (often) and meaning (sometimes) in what I do (research, and also writing). But you may be a more social creature. I only worked in businesses while I was studying. Horrifying experience. I was in a government office. People slept. People talked and didn’t work. The work was useless (giving away public money to businesses). I did my summer’s (4 months) tasks in three weeks. They couldn’t find me more work, so they told me to read some regulations for the rest of the time. Most people were on breaks for a good part of the day. No work was done, because nothing really needed to be done. I couldn’t understand how people could go through 40 years of this. That, I would have found hard to do for a long time. The reason I could bear it was that I had something better to look forward to (work I enjoyed, money to increase my freedom at some point).

If you hate the politics, maybe you should consider self-employment. If you offer services to businesses, you’ll need to deliver better quality and be reliable because that’s what businesses give you work for given that nobody in there does the actual work. But you’ll mostly purge politics, small talk and the rest of the crap that comes with having to interact with people that you don’t care about and who are competing with you. You can arrange your day as you please, and work naked. You might not attain FI as fast, but the ride will be more pleasant (or bearable, depending). Also your income is in a way safer as you have multiple income streams. Keep in mind that succeeding as a self-employed is easier than you might think because most people are massively incompetent. In most domains, if you are able to deliver a product/service as it was asked for, and on time, you'll be assured to have work.

As for coffee, my personal philosophy is that if one day I need it to go through my day, it is a sign that something in my life needs fixing.

I’m not sure what you are experimenting is an adaptation to the work world. In a way, getting out of school into the real world, for me, felt like liberation. Like getting out of jail. No more testing, nor more schedules (I have been self-employed since before I finished school, 4-5 years ago), no people around me anymore, no more wasting time and money in getting a diploma to signal my IQ and ability to follow orders. I could finally work for income and use my skills.

In my case, FI is not a goal I would like reaching so as to run away from “work”, but as a way to ensure I can do the work I enjoy most. (Voltaire did this. He became independently wealthy through investments as a way to allow himself to work on his writing.)

As Robert Greene says somewhere in Mastery, you should consider the first work you’ll do as an apprenticeship, as a way to see how the game is played, as a way to acquire skills. But this, of course, holds as a given that you would actually like, later on, to do some work that is somewhat close or related to what you are doing now. Maybe you have chosen work you hate.

Going through a hard college is nice. You showed yourself you are smart. It’s great, and it will be useful as a signalling device later on. But maybe you should now think about what you would actually like to do, and use your smarts to find a way to do it. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be rewarding. FI is not the nirvana. How many people get there only to find out they’re miserable?

Meaning and enjoyment. That’s worth something.