To absolutely HATE corporate life/work?

[FishOnTheTrain]

Humans were never meant to work as much as they do. I feel totally trapped in the constant cycle of waking up, going to work, rinse and repeat. It’s so so so boring and I don’t feel I’m living any kind of interesting life.

I work to buy all this crap I don’t need. And to impress people I don’t care about with said crap I don’t need.

the corporate lingo really makes me
cringe. The way we sit in a grey office all day with no natural light looking at a screen. It’s just awful and so unhealthy. The way we feel anxious in meetings.

anyone else? I would love to start my own business one day but need money behind me to do that. Problem is, I’m so unfulfilled that I keep spending my spare money on STUFF just to feel something.

and I do realise how, on paper, lucky I am to have a job and an income. I am truly, truly grateful for that. But my physical and mental health is suffering.

Absolutely.

I second looking into dropping a day - I work a 4 day week and it's brilliant. I generally don't work Fridays but I'm able to change the day so I can have 4 day weekends without using any leave. It makes such a difference having that extra day to just do the things I want to do. For me the financial hit was completely worth it. Like you I can't stand the corporate bullshit, pointless goals and micromanaging but I agree with pp saying stop spending on pointless shite and put that money in a savings pot, it'll give you much more flexibility in the long run

@FishOnTheTrain me and my adhd are not suited for corporate work. Every few years I try it and nope. Nope.

im self employed and have been since 2004. I now have a second business that lights me up - training charities and the organisations that work with them in ‘business practices’. Operations, strategy, marketing, finding and managing volunteers and funding or resources etc.

Will it ever make me rich. No. Does it full fill me yes. I travel in our very old camper van for August and just work here and there on my iPad.

im happy. It’s simple but does take some work for my marketing, admin and socials and networking - but I love that as well.

Yes again to this

You are absolutely right

look up acceleration theory

You really do

You're basically taking the spare cash that you could use to improve your life, retire early, go part-time, do something different... and handing it over by buying goods that you don't need. Which ultimately props up a system that you don't like. And someone else is working in crazy corporate life to produce the crap that you buy. And much worse.

You really need to stop and think about this. I'm not completely unsympathetic. I was sick of it by about 25. I'm interested to know how old you are. Age 25, Friday night was probably the only night I'd get out of the office at 8 o'clock or something. And I'd pop to Selfridges and see what I could buy. Fortunately, I am naturally frugal so it was never more than about 20 quid. It didn't last long.

My plan was to retire early. Have you costed out all your different options?

Pay yourself first. When you get paid, have a set amount that gets diverted straight into your savings account.

Honestly OP, there’s not much you can do unless you have other means to support yourself. Just try to save as much as possible so you can retire early.

In the meantime, find some nice hobbies to occupy your free time and focus on the positives of a corporate job (usually good pension, bonus, health insurance, paid parental leave, employer accountability etc.). Believe me, it can be worse. My DH has a corporate job, and yes, he has to put up with office politics and silly corporate lingo, but he also has lots of benefits. I work in a field that is made up of small and medium size companies. I have to put up with a lot of the same shit and annoying clients, but get none of the benefits a corporation can afford.

True , we go to school for 18 years 830 to 330 mon to Fri ,in a structured educational system, only really have the Saturday off. Sunday feels like the day before school again where everything needs to get ready. Constant homework that takes over your evenings and weekends . Even school holidays are very much that , your free/family time is limited , it's a school holiday. Then you go on to more study university or what ever , for the next 4/5 years. Then you are spending your whole life working. Get some annual leave . Retired at 70 and spend the small bit of free time , elderly. If you are lucky enough to still be fit and healthy then.

I went from this rat race to a low paid but incredibly fulfilling job helping people, and now I can’t buy much crap but I don’t need to. Life feels real now

Great work @MaryOBlige. I am trying to retire early, but it’s looking like 55 is the earliest I can realistically do it. I’m 49 now and that seems like an awfully long way away.

how old were you when you retired? What does retirement look like for you now?

Yay, another FIRE devotee! I would love to FIRE!

What do you do op? Can you say

https://www.gov.uk/business-finance-support

Good luck!

Thanks so much!

Agree with @scaredofdinosaurs Dump TV, shopping and alcohol and you'll find that you do have time

Your job or career is not your reason to be. It's not supposed to fulfil you! You have to make your time outside work count for you. You can pursue outside interests, join committees, go to talks, an evening class, army reverses, book club- plan interesting trips in the uk and abroad.

Work provides you with the means to enjoy life. Perhaps you need a new job or career plan, or to move to a new area of the UK which you love.

Corporate life isn't the issue imo. It's thinking what do I like about a cafe life? What does that tell me about me? You must be very social then. So look at joining a netball club or something social. Or canal dredging or stamp collecting or am dram!

I get you OP. I also feel like I work too much, rinse and repeat etc.

I ran my own business for a number of years, having become completely fed up of corporate life. It was incredibly stressful.

I ended up going back into normal employment, in a different business (culturally and size-wise - high hundreds of employees rather than tens of thousands) - so it’s less corporate which I prefer, but I still laugh and eye roll internally at all the corporate bullshit lingo, that seems to be inescapable!

In between all that though, I did a stint of interim work. That’s the best. You can do something intellectually fulfilling, take time off when you want, and not have the stress of running an actual business. I would do that again if my circumstances were such that I didn’t need to be in permanent employment.

So, my advice to you would be to try and go the freelance route if that’s something that you could do and that you could charge enough for that you don’t actually need to work all the time (otherwise you’ll just have different sorts of stress to worry about).

Oh sorry I meant to say, above all else - find something more fulfilling to do than sitting on the sofa in the evening. It needs to be fulfilling and meaningful to YOU and you need to do something of that sort each day, so you’re not leaving your needs unfulfilled. Random examples might be reading, book club, gym, team sports, painting, walking - something that feels like it nourishes and fulfils YOU.

I'm lucky enough to have my dream job. It's mostly corporate, but with an added element that is so much fun it makes the dull stuff worth doing. I hate the corporate side of things with a passion, but there's no way I could do the fun, dream job bit without it and maintain any semblance of my lifestyle.

So that's how I view the dull part - a means to an end.

And I completely understand the buying stuff thing. I could be putting more in pensions etc, but fuck it. I work hard, so if I want a pair of shoes, or a bit of tech, or a trip away, I'm going to have it. It's not 'pointless'...the point is that you're rewarding yourself.

I understand some of what you're saying a few years ago I was climbing the management ladder in a corporate environment. I stepped down and took a large paycut. However I now have my life back, when I leave work I'm able to complety switch off. I don't miss the money I just buy less crap.

Thank you. It currently looks great! I’ve rented an apartment near the beach in southern Spain and I’m here for a month with DH and DDog. When I’m home I grow vegetables, paint, read and take long walks.

I retired 2 years ago at 42, we were both offered redundancy which we snatched their hand off for and this cleared the last of the mortgage.

I had to do a double take as I thought I had written this post! I have experienced exactly what you described. Been back in work 3 weeks and yep the bullshit starts!
my strategy is to keep quiet, and leave work outside when I walk in the door

I'm the minority I guess, but I love corporate life. I feel it helps escape the never-ending drudgery of home and parenting but it probably helps that I'm in a position with total flexibility.

Corporate is an awful, destructive mindset and I think you’re right that it sets up unhealthy patterns that infiltrate the non working hours.

But it’s a mistake to think it’s about working hours, or even work. It’s company culture.

In corporate environments, you have to constantly watch your back; it’s not wise to excel, because it attracts jealousy, backstabbing and the best case scenario is to be promoted to lead people who don’t work as well as you do. It’s all about seeking the perfect balance between not working too hard and not getting fired. Even at top levels, massaging the figures to keep a steady growth is more important than maximising growth or profits,

In leaner companies, people who work hard are valued, and in smaller companies the job can even evolve around talent. Loyalty and trust are important and work both ways. Productivity is imorrant. Working in a job that doesn’t feel pointless makes a tremendous difference to mental health. Seeing your boss work longer hours, or shouldering responsibilities you’d rather not, can make you appreciate being PAYE 9-5.

where you really see the stark difference is in the transition period of a small company being bought out by a corporate. Productivity, and passion decline and anxiety shoots up despite the fringe benefits and job security often being better.

Rather than thinking of striking out on your own, just look for a job in a different environment. If you were going to be an entrepreneur you’d probably already be one. It’s not the answer, or at least it’s not the only answer. But working for a good one might suit you much better.

I did 27 years in Corporate. I took VR and started my own dog care company. I basically do doggie day care and boarding in my home. I have no overheads, no commuting costs, no boss, and can take my holidays whenever I want. I earn more than I did before. I spend my days feeding and walking dogs and then when they crash out, I can mess about on the internet, do my garden, plan my next holiday, or whatever.

There's no way I would have quit my job and just tried this on a whim, it took me being pushed out of my Corporate job to do it. I'm so glad I was offered VR! I have absolutely no regrets.

@Whitegrenachesolidarity! I'm seeing people sending emails before 8am and late at night and thinking fuck that, I'm not taking part in any of that nonsense. I still have quite a bit of redundancy money banked so if it all becomes a bit too much, I'm outta there.