Six Reasons Full-Time Work Is Not for Me

It’s funny, in a time of material abundance, we are working more than ever before. In this video, I’d like to discuss six reasons why I don’t like full-time work, and consequently why I don’t fit in with modern-day society.

Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time: https://ebay.us/7fWVLn (affiliate link)

“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla. This is less than we ask of factory workers.”
~ Elon Musk, South African American Business Magnate

0:00 Introduction
0:38 Massive Time Sink
2:46 Never Switched Off
3:52 Office Politics
9:00 Mental Health Decline
10:06 Lack of Freedom
10:35 Life Becomes a Blur

This is not me saying that everybody dislikes full-time work – I’m sure there’s somebody out there who likes working all the time, but I’ve never met him.

1. Massive Time Sink. And I don’t use that term lightly. Many people I know spend most of their waking lives at work. Not only do they spend 8 or 9 hours at work each day, they spend an hour in the morning getting ready for work, and then spend an hour or more getting too and from work. Their day is already full by the time they get up. This obviously impacts their personal life.

2. Never Switched Off. Even though you might only spend 8 or 9 physical hours at work, most people I know cannot stop thinking about work even when they’re at home.

3. Office Politics. This is a bit of a catch-all term for all the social antics that goes on at the workplace involving people striving for personal power and authority. Luckily, due to the recent events of the last couple of years, I no longer have to go into the office and therefore don’t have to deal with it anymore. However, even though I work exclusively from home, I still get all the emails from work acting as if I’m still in the workplace. One such example was this one regarding the use of personal heaters. Another example of office politics that I was lucky enough to witness happened a couple of years ago, back when I was still in the workplace. I remember one lady who’s desk was positioned near the office kitchen. People would leave their dirty cups and spoons in the sink, and she took it upon herself to remind them of the office rules.

4. Mental Health Decline. Some of the full-time workers I know, they literally torture themselves by going to work. They hate it so much, but they can’t find a way out. Of course, most of them are there for financial reasons. They’ve got themselves into a lot of debt, so they either have to continue working, find a new job, or win the lotto or something. If they quit, they’ll lose everything. So they put themselves through untold anguish just to keep a roof over their heads.

5. Lack of Freedom. Have you ever tried to get holidays when you work full-time? I’ve always found it funny that you have to “apply” for holidays, and then somebody has to “approve” your application. To me, that sounds like modern-day slavery. I only work casually, so I don’t get all those extra full-time perks like sick leave, or whatever, but at least I can refuse a shift whenever I want to. Sure, I don’t get paid if I do that, but at least I have my freedom intact.

6. Life Becomes a Blur. Whenever I’ve worked full-time, life just seemed to race by. I can barely remember anything from my full-time working life (except for some of the more memorable negative events that I have mentioned previously). I’ve seen interviews with hospice nurses and the like who often deal with elderly patients who are close to death. The patients always have the same regrets. They regret not spending more time with friends and family. They regret not looking after their health. They regret not taking more time off work and travelling more. Not one person ever says, “I wish I spent more time in the office!”.

Anyway, that’s the end of my list. What do you think? Is full-time work not all that it’s cracked up to be? Should we actively do more to enjoy our life rather than just spend all our waking hours at work? Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever work a full-time job ever again, even if that means I’ll get a lot less money, so be it. It’s just not worth it in my opinion.

MUSIC
Melancholia by Godmode

#fulltime #work #fulltimepermanentjob #fulltimer