I’ve just finished my first week at a new job. I like the job, but it’s the first time in several years that I’ve had relatively standard 8 hours a day, 5 days a week as my schedule. The last time I did was in 2019 or so, and then I went and got back into graduate school for the interim.
Now that I’m back to standard hours, the commitment of time and energy seems to be quite a lot, more than I remember from prior ft experience(It could well be that this job is actually mentally demanding, whereas my prior full-time job was pretty brainless) and I’m not sure how I will make room in my life for anything else.
I like the job I’m doing, and I don’t feel as if I’m being unreasonably pressured at work (Boss even said to go out of our way not to work overtime, and it’s a salaried position so I know they’re not trying to skimp on hourly pay), so I guess I’m mainly wanting to ask how the rest of you full-timers do it.
And does it get easier to manage as you start to get used to it and make a routine?
Maybe it feels like quite a basic or rudimentary to ask… But these are things I’ve forgotten in the interim since last working 40-hour weeks.
That’s the neat part, you don’t.
There’s culture shock and then hopefully you settle into the idea that this is your life now.
I should mellow this a bit.
Right now you’re experiencing some degree of culture shock so that’s going to take ~6 months before that is fully settled. “This is weird.” “Yes, that’s something people experience in a variety of contexts”.
But outside of that in the long run you really have to think about what’s important to you and carve out time for that or you will be lonely and miserable. Something with regularity. I play board games with friends once a week. Sometimes I can’t make it and they do it without me. But there’s still way too much of my time that ends up being me staring at Lemmy or the TV, thinking that I really should <some chore>. And you can end up like that whether you are single or in a relationship. School was simpler.
School wasn’t simpler. It rewarded you for efficiency and intelligence by returning time back to you for completing the work quickly and correctly.
There is no reward in the corporate world. You slave away endlessly and the reward is you either get to slave away more or sit there for your 40 hours + commute.
This is how it worked for me. Followed by just fucking get up. Tired? Slept like shit? Don’t want to go? Just fucking get up and go, I don’t want to be late or lose my job, I’ll be homeless. I don’t recommend this attitude as you’ll burn yourself out but it’s how I get up.
My problem is everything else. Where do you find time to tidy the house, clean, do laundry, shower, brush your teeth, now the lawn, etc, etc and then have energy for hobbies?
This is the part I can’t wrap my head around. I’ve been a productive member of thr workforce for over 20 years but the idea that this is what the rest of my life consists of horrifies me.
Personally, I find that if I work in a day, then I’m drained. One great thing I was able to do was find a job that has longer hours, because working 8 hours and working 12 feels the same to me, but now I get 2 extra days off. With 4 days off I can have a recovery day where I do nothing, a productive day where I catch up on life’s demands, and 2 days to spend however I choose.
I went from 3/4 twelves to 5 8s and it sucks ass trying to do anything after work. I have 6 ish hours to do anything. I used to have two days off in a row during the week plus 3 day weekends every other. It sucked working weekends and getting home later.
I can’t speak for everyone, because I fundamentally believe that the increases in productivity due to technology should have been applied to flexibility for the working public instead of pure profit for the capitalist owning class. But for me, sometimes I can’t stand another MOMENT of my work shift, and other times I find myself lost in the work for 14 hours before I even realize it. It’s purely a function of what you’re working on and what it means to you. Or doesn’t mean to you.
Nah man, it’s 50 years of this and then you die
Exactly, and think of the value your work generated for someone else!
You ain’t kidding. Looking forward to that final break.
Im still hoping to get good enough at drawing to be adopted im as a live-in hermit artist by some rich furry, so I can live out my life with no societal expectations /j
I don’t. At least not anymore. I used to have a 40 hour, Monday through Friday job, but I had to find something else or I would’ve ended up having a breakdown. I’m autistic, and my life has been a series of periods of trying to be the person society wants me to be, failing, and then spending several years burnt out and unable to function before repeating the whole process. If I hadn’t been able to live with one of my parents during those burnout periods I would’ve likely ended up homeless.
I’ve found that I simply cannot work 5 days a week. Even 40 hours over 4 work days will eventually burn me out. So I found a job that offers 12 hour shifts, and I work weekends. I pick up one or two shifts during the work week when they’re available. I average 32 hours a week.
It’s unarmed security, and it works for me, even though it doesn’t pay well. I’ve just accepted that I will be poor, and my life is much better this way. Capitalism has brainwashed us into believing that money is more valuable than time, and there’s something wrong with you if you can’t match what is expected of you.
For me it was finding joy in work.
I, partly, became a manager to help others develop. I’ve been fortunate and worked for a few companies that believe the company can’t be at its best unless we’re training others to do our roles, train up mentality. I found that it’s a major kick to see someone succeed in something they never thought they could achieve.
I’ve helped a guy making decent money, make a lot more, raise his credit substantially, and fulfill the dream of owning a home. That’s something he never thought he’d be able to do. He was stuck in the mentality of born poor, die poor. He just needed someone to show him how our capitalist systems work and how to take advantage of that. Not only is he making more money but he’s happier and therefore more productive and does better quality work. No other sense of accomplishment has come close for me than directly affecting others lives. It’s really something.
And echoing what others’ have said, you do build endurance to the hours and grind the more you do it. I can basically work all day and not feel tired until I finally relax. I’m fortunate enough to have a job that has shorter days to balance the longer and I’m not stuck in an office all day (which I HATE). Not all jobs are office only / physical labor only. The great thing about COVID is that it forced remote work and a lot more flexibility in a lot of industries. I’m more of a hybrid work is best for me person.
It also helps to build a solid daily, weekly, monthly routine or “battle rhythm” as the military puts it. This helps break up the monotony of the days while keeping you on track to succeed. Consistency is the major thing that separates those that accomplish their goals and those that don’t.
Some of us never get used it it, because there’s nothing normal about it.
So okay here is what you do.
You get up, go to work, spend all day there, go home, stay awake too long, sleep too little, do it 5 days then try to catch up on lost sleep in the weekend.
This way you will get as little out of all your free time as possible, and eventually get depressed and/or have a mental break.
Good luck!
Im not joking here, working from 7am to 3pm feels sooo much shorter than working from 9am to 5pm. If you have the ability to decide your own work hours, then try to start earlier. Even starting at 8 instead of 9 is already a big difference in my experience.
When i was starting at 9-9:30 i always hovered around 0 in terms of overtime, now i switched to starting at ~7:30 and im easily racking up 4h of overtime per week, that i can then freely use to get off early from work on other days, and it doesnt feel like im pushing myself.
These working conditions are a privilege for sure so if you arent lucky enough to have that freedom just ignore what i said.
You’re still in bed at ten, your work began at eight.
You’ve burnt your breakfast, so far, things are going great.
Your mother warned you there’d be days like these.
But she didn’t tell you when the world has brought you down to your kneeeeeees!
That
I’ll be there foooor yoooooooou!
Nah, I’m done with 5 day work weeks. I get 3 days off and 4 days to work, that’s perfect to me. When I had only two days off, I felt two days wasn’t nearly enough. Now with three days off, I can take the third day to sleep it all away if I want and then I’ll have two whole days to do with as I want.
Try not to think too hard about how most of the evidence points to shorter work weeks being better on pretty much every metric.
Or that most of the “return to office” mandates are counter productive cruelty.
I think I saw an article that claimed most office workers in the UK do like 3 hours of work a day, and the rest is puttering and looking busy.
Our system is stupid and it’s stuck stupid because of people. It’s not physics. It’s not biology. Like there’s not much you can do to fix like humans need to eat and sleep, but the workday is just made up.
I’ve been at my job for less than a year, so I’m still learning new stuff here and there. I’m salaried too. When I’m working on processes I am familiar with - my job is cake. This week I took on a complex project and suddenly felt like you - why is this week so long and exhausting?! Give yourself a few months to get comfortable and your days will go by quickly.
It does get easier as you adjust. I went from Uni Art classes, to full time Industry trade job at 55 hours a week. It feels like you have no time for you. You adjust to the me time being late evening or weekends only. A 4 day (40h) work week is a better life balance. A company I worked for out here started that after COVID
