8 Reasons a 9 to 5 is Your Worst Enemy
“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” — Lily Tomlin
Is there anyone with a 9 to 5 who genuinely looks forward to Monday?
I cannot recall a single conversation where someone said, they couldn’t wait for the weekend to end, so they could head into the office.
Most of us would agree that getting up after the third snooze, breaking our fast prematurely and sitting in traffic, all by eight o’clock is not the ideal way to start the week.
Then, when you add the fact that we are rewarded with spending 8 hours sitting at our desk, in a position that is no good for our body, consuming sugar disguised as food that is also no good for our body, it sets a bleak outlook for the week.
Repeating this cycle five days a week, with a two-day relief, for 40 years is not what any of us dreamt of doing as a kid. However, once we hit a certain age, we are either told directly by our parents or indirectly by life itself — usually in the form of bills piling up — that the dream is over and it is time to get a job.
It is always done in a way that seems like it is the inevitable fate of humanity. So, why are we even asked what we want to be when we grow up? When did we become reserved to the idea of celebrating the middle of the week as “hump day” and then rejoicing at the end by saying “TGIF”?
Research suggests that the average worker over the course of a 8 hour work day is only productive for around 3 hours. We only have to check our social media feeds to confirm the accuracy of this study.
Which brings us to the elephant in the room — the 9 to 5 does not seem to be working very well. If you desire to become financially independent, then the 9 to 5 can be no less than a death sentence for all your dreams.
The fact that an individual with unlimited creativity and potential to innovate would settle for a cycle that unravels their true self each day until there is nothing left, is simply sad.
It is safe to say a 9 to 5 job is not the path to reach your full potential, but rather a road to mediocrity.
Here are 8 reasons why 9 to 5 jobs are bad for you:
- Your creativity is at RISK.
If you’re an entrepreneur by heart, then you are no doubt powered by your creative mind. A 9 to 5 job will rarely excite you because it only offers very limited stimulation to your overall intellectual capabilities.
As the saying goes, “you lose that which you do not use”, in this case it is your ability to be creative, which is the foundation of any entrepreneurial endeavour, so without it a 9 to 5 is the only choice.
2. You’re paid LESS.
A company employs you specifically for you to help increase profit. Therefore, you will always be paid less than your worth. The owner of the company essentially utilizes their employees as ingredients to bake their money pie.
This does not mean the owner does not care about his employees, it simply means when the money pie is baked he will only give each employee a tiny bite of the pie in the form of a salary or hourly wage.
3. It is detrimental to your HEALTH.
A number of studies show that a significant portion of 9 to 5 workers turn to alcohol or drugs (yes, sugar is a drug) in order to release the workplace stress and tension. This is evident with “happy hour” at bars, where they usually offer some type of discount during the hours right after work.
It has led to alcohol being a necessary evil at any social gathering because the underlying affects of the work place must be drowned away with a substance.
Not just that, you sit on a chair for 8 hours a day — it inevitably gives you a bad posture and damages your muscle and bone health. All leading to a decline in both mental & physical health.
4. It gives a false sense of SECURITY.
Society tells us a 9 to 5 is the safer option so you can provide security and financial support to your family. However, as we are seeing right now during the Covid-19 outbreak, both your job and your 401k can be turned on its head over night.
Black swan events are indeed rare, but a company can be bought out or you can lose your job for a number of reasons. This brings about an underlying stress that you carry with you for the duration of your career.
5. You lose your most valuable TIME.
A 9 to 5 rarely leaves you with any free time to stimulate your partner on all levels and connect with your kids on a deep level. Let alone have time for yourself to be creative or pursue your own dreams.
Once you enter the cycle, next time you look up your kids are in college and you have lost the vitality that once fueled your pursuit of happiness.
6. It limits your MOBILITY.
When you work a 9 to 5, the world becomes a much smaller place. In most cases you will have 2 weeks of vacation, but it has now become common for people in the US to not even use their vacation time.
Most people retire at the age of 65, so it doesn’t leave much time to move around to see the world.
7. Your progress is DECELERATED.
With a 9 to 5, there is always the hope for a promotion, but rarely will the promotion even keep up with inflation. So, your potential is limited from the beginning and progress in all other areas of your life suffers because of it.
8. You’re building another persons DREAM.
“Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” — Farrah Gray
Working a 9 to 5 job means you are a tool being leveraged to build someone else’s dream. Just remember it takes the same amount of time to build the dream of others as it does to build generational wealth for your own family.
When you retire after working 40+ years, you will not even have the power to give your son or daughter a job at the same company, because you do not own it.
