Age 56. Can't be arsed at work anymore.

[Whosaidthattt]

I'm a tired 56 year old. All these 'initiatives' and 'CPD'- I just can't be bothered anymore. Been there, did that 20 years ago. I have NO INTEREST in pretending to be excited/motivated by these 30 year olds and their enthusiasm! I get that they are young and excited about how they can change things but I just can't be arsed. Hoping to retire at 60 but that means another 4 years of excited puppies bounding about with their ideas. I'm not sure I can take it (or even care). How can I get through this final part of working life?? Help!!!

Agree that it's a change of job feeling for those nowhere near retirement. I spent 20 years in the corporate world and aged 40 had a complete career change and it made all the difference. Life is too short to spend years being in a job/career you hate.

That kind of thing is hellish, I’d had enough of that by maternity leave. I don’t know if you are ft/pt or what field you work in, but is there any chance you could go self employed with your skill set?

I am 39 and I've felt like this for years.

Whats become increasingly clear to me is there's a minority of people in the corporate world, for whom work is life. They love it. They give it their all. It defines them. They prioritise it without effort. They rarely switch off from it. They probably are very productive - because they love it, are constantly seeking to learn/improve their performance etc.t
They spend their lives and careers trying to coax/force everyone else to achieve this level of focus/interest.

But in reality for most people, a corporate job is there to pay bills and fund a life away from work that they value far more - raising/caring for their family, their hobbies, their home. They essentially seek a balance between earning as much as possible to fund life outside work, while devoting the least time & mental energy they can to work while still sustaining the job to an adequate standard.

I am definitely of this category. Its all so meaningless. We have not evolved to gain satisfaction and fulfilment plugging away at computers/clearing the inbox daily.

Rather than stopping work, can you look elsewhere?

At 55 I was plodding on. I liked my job and the people I worked with. But I had the feeling that the piss was being taken by senior managers. Lots of promises about my experience, extra responsibilities, technical knowledge being rewarded. But nothing actually happened. It was always 'jam tomorrow'.

Then one day an opportunity fell into my lap. Essentially the same job for 50% more money, much bigger pension contributions and bonus. And I could WFH.

I really was that underpaid. I left my previous employer saying 'but but but...'.

Now been in my new role 3 years and I love it. I'm hoping I can keep this going for another few years.

I think a lot of employers depend on their age 50+ staff not realising how valuable to the business they are. All that wealth of knowledge and experience. Getting on with the job, not distracted by trying to look keen and shiny.

This is the reason I left my long service job at 54 but I was the manager that had to do the annual appraisals and review the KPI's of my team whilst thinking in my head "what a waste if time it's not going to make any difference to anything". It finally got to me when I had to deliver to the them the corporate desire to put gender pronouns on emails and also name badges this was just a step too far in policy and I resigned the same day. No intention to work again but after six months was head hunted for a role within a smaller company where I can implement policies and design annual reviews that actually make a difference to staff development.

Good for you! Can I ask what your new profession is?

An interesting thread. How many of you ever really liked work, I wonder?

I have always loved work but a tipping point for me is when an organisation grows to more than about 1100 staff. I've always worked for organisations with less than a thousand staff. Big enough for some scale but not so big as to become ridiculously bureaucratic with people sitting in super specialist grooves.

I retrained at 43 after a break going back to the very bottom and sucking it up. At 56 I became Head of my department, at 60 the service Director. I like having younger people in the team, somenof my professional staff are only a bit older than my children but it helps keep my mind alive. What they can do with a spreadsheet is awesome except they still need me to help with the formulas or spot when a formula is wrong

I love work but at 64 I get more tired and have to pace more and have the spectre of an aging and increasingly frail mother in the background.

Planning to retire autumn 2025 at 65. It gives me a sense if satisfaction to reach the age men were presumed able to reach. I have a suspicion I might be persuaded to stay a little longer to steer through a prevailing crisis.

Except in my 20s, the money hasn't really mattered and I wonder if it's the shift to wanting to do it rather than needing to do it. Living to work rather than working to live? Having married a workaholic, I don't think I even work that hard although still often pull a 50 hour week.

I feel the same, at 42 having already worked for 25 years (on my way to 26), the thought of another 25 years (but possibly more if the pension age rises as planned) is utterly depressing. Worked hard these last few years to change the direction of my career and get away from the low paid jobs that were the constant through the majority of my working life. I'm now in a good job with good prospects but I've had enough. I'm tired of it all. I pray for a lottery win, doesn't have to be huge but a nice amount that would give me a monthly income so that I could jack it all in. One day maybe...

@Farmgoose I have just come back from 3 weeks in Sri Lanka & would love to spend more time there, but it has changed a lot in the 26 years I have been visiting.

I feel like this at 46 but know I can't retire until at least 60. I love my role but can't be arsed with the 'fluff'. So I don't participate in the fluff. I do what I need to get a good job done. I'm lucky in that they need me as I do quite a niche role. You just need to suck it up and bide your time.

This made me laugh, I'm 40 and feel the same!

Are you in a position to work for yourself op? None of this bollocks at all.

Totally relate. At 47 having started my Nurse training nearly 30 years ago I also have very little enthusiasm. I love my patients and actually hands on nursing (which equates to approx 30% of the job) but it is all the BS that goes with it. I literally do the minimum to get by (always give my best to my patients). I am lucky to have a decent pension, although had to start again mortgage wise when I divorced at 40 so financially will have to down size to retire then. 13 years and counting!!

I’ve never been passionate about any job I’ve had and I’ve been working for over 40 years.
I work for the money.
I think I’ve only met a handful of people over the years who genuinely love their job.
Most of us just plod on.

47 and feel the same, i can't bare to go to work (I do and i have a cushy job, don't really do much), I don't feel like there is enough time in the day and i'm too knackered on a an evening/weekend to do anything. Still got 3 grown ups DS at home and I just don't seem to stop - I would quite happy be a kept housewife right now but DH is having none of it (and doesn't earn enough)

Ah of course they are all excited and full of ideas - they're brand new! It is a bit cliche circle of life but I like it. I enjoy seeing it in my children of a similar age as well and I try and remember I was also that age once 😊

I think a lot of us in our 50's start to feel.this way.

My DH is 52 and has been in the same job for 35 years, he was always so enthusiastic about his work but management and newer work policies etc have taken the shine off it for him and it's just not the same. He plans to retire in the next few years.

I'd say that if you can afford to retire early do it. I care for my elderly mum and seeing how life and health can turn to shit so very rapidly makes you ponder life.

i think it is also the fear that there is no where else to work, no one else would have us!
we are settled as well as unsettled

Me too.

I mixed occasional 'freelancing' work for certain companies and being self-employed with my own clients from my mid 40s. In my 50s I added new training to broaden my options. I don't intend to ever stop work, even if it's just a few hours a month, as and when it fits with everything else.

Work keeps you young! (That 's a scientific fact) as long as you enjoy it.

Came to say the same thing....

Totally understand what you say about your previous company. Thats how I got in my last managerial role. My job just became more and more about goal setting, monthly appraisals (I had 21 staff so it was a nightmare having a monthly meeting with each of them, writing up the form we had to complete after each meeting, getting their comments etc) probably a week a month taken up on that alone. Then the meetings to discuss weekly plans, then the follow ups reviewing what went well/badly each week - honestly I was at my desk about an hour a day. My job was supposed to be managing the team but I barely saw them it was all admin, targets, goals and over analysis.

Getting made redundant when they offshored 70% of the work to cut costs was actually a relief

63 here and I totally get it! Worked since I was 18, no kids, always a job and not a career as such as I’ve never been very ambitious. I care less, which is both good and bad. And try to enthuse about ideas that seemingly come around every few years or so presented as being new and innovative. Already quietly quitted really.

I am younger than you and feel the same way. I got at least another 30 years to go - it sucks.

Well I'm at least a decade younger than you and in irritated by stupid ideas also.

I'm in the same boat OP - people are so different these days.

I only have a state pension with 4.5 more years to go. I can't wait even though it's not a great amount of money but it is enough to live frugally.

If I had another pension I'd go at the earliest opportunity - it might be less money but you are receiving it over a longer period & getting away from the madness of work today.