Carried away by the emerging trend of ‘escapism’ and the idea of being ‘free-spirited’, the millennials today have lost their freedom to worrying about their next career moves or to the side jobs that don’t excite them but they take up anyway just to pay off their loans. As awesome as it feels to wave a magic wand and switch to a full-time self-employed venture, there is a brighter side to the time you spend pushing papers in a cubicle and running your fingers through a keyboard. The biggest reason people these days give to avoid a patterned job is how it eats away the time out of their lives which they instead could have donated in spending with their families or pursuing a hobby.
.The argument to me is a vague one because there are people who are happy about paying the bills through a 9 to 5 job and then do something they are really passionate about in the other 128 hours of a week. This not only diversifies the spectrum for them ranging from the work to the hobbies but also keeps them from getting bored of their own passion. The 9 to 5 is worth reclaiming as it stops work from bleeding into leisure time and actually protects your identity as a worker, a partner, a parent and a life-liver rather than making you spend that time with the laptop plugged in.
One of the key advantages of having a 9 to 5 job is the stable income with which it is always easier to plan personal finances. In the name of unscalable flexibility, the comfort of a stable income is much neglected by the millennials – thereby causing a constant disruption in their financial independence keeping them always on their toes. Starving artists can be romanticised in movies alone. The argument put forward by people against the so-called 9 to 5 custom of jobs is that being self-employed influences how much will they earn – which can be countered by how this works both ways. If you stop working or find hindrance in the same – you stop getting paid. When running a business, one might just be earning peanuts for a long time thus, many a time, leading to a very unsatisfying professional life.
Because there is a deadline every day at 5 pm, one gets to have a life outside of work, thus greater efficiency. Firmly holding on to the boundaries allows the employees to focus and prioritise tasks. Structure always means productivity with balance – just like a cherry on top of the cake. Another icing is networking. There is no better way to develop a career or find business opportunities than through networking. While one can attend as many local events as possible, the best way to build a professional network is through the people you work with. People refer and employ the people they trust. They all learn and grow together in their 9 to 5 pattern of jobs.
An employee, at times necessary, can get away with taking less responsibility than required of him but when you are self-employed, it is entirely on you. If a victory is to be celebrated because you made it happen, it also means that you are responsible for the failures. Being the boss doesn’t mean more freedom like the pre-set notions, but more responsibilities that one cannot ever get away from.
The notion of “one job for life” has pretty much vanished but it is ludicrous to let go of a disciplined life which is square scheduled for a compartment. Today’s generation Z is tomorrow’s generation Y which would crave for stability and security at some point in their lives. With the right perspective and the right frame of mind, a structured job can be a powerful means to end without compliance, rather than a feeling of being stuck somewhere. All one needs to keep in mind is to unplug as they come home.