Lifelong Lessons You Can Learn From a 9–5 Job

You can learn a lot from this stage in your life

If you’ve ever worked a 9–5 job then you know there’s a spectrum of how much somebody actually enjoys the job. At the end of the spectrum, you have someone who may hate their job and on the other end, you may have someone who really likes their job.

Regardless of whether you like your job or not, there’s a lot to learn from the environment, the people, and the everyday tasks you have to do. When you walk into work, you probably already have a routine of what you want to do in order for the most time to go by and to keep yourself busy.

You’re used to the job and you know how everything goes. It can be hard to walk into work with a positive attitude but at least you have a job. Having a job is an opportunity that not many people get to experience, use this experience to learn more about the world inside and outside of your job.

If you feel like you’ve been working your 9–5 with no purpose whatsoever then you may need to be reminded of why you got the job in the first place. This “why” is what made you motivated to find a job in the first place and gives you the fire to walk into work when you’re scheduled.

The lifelong lessons you’re experiencing at your job can help you work with more purpose and focus. These lessons are here to teach you what you’re capable of and why you’re at the place you’re at.

You may have not been hired from your preferred place but God led you into another job for a reason. At this job you’re able to learn more and build certain skillsets that you need for future opportunities that He has for you.

Using the job you have now as a tool to help you get to where you would like to be in the future is a good way to think about your situation. This gives you a little bit more motivation than usual when clocking in. Your situation could always be worse and you could be unemployed. Even if you hate your job you still have the opportunity to get a paycheck.

You won’t get along with everyone

As you’ve been working this job for some time now or even if it’s your first day, you probably already understand that you’re not going to get along with everyone.

This is completely natural, some people have a different perspective than you do. They may have grown up with a different set of morals than you as well. There are so many factors that go into you not getting along with someone.

You shouldn’t be too worried about the people with who you don’t mesh with. You have the option to put energy towards them or not. Protect your energy and keep it moving.

If you’re having an issue with a customer at work, remember that you’re at your job. Do your duty as an associate and help them with whatever they need. If you can’t help them then let them know and direct them to someone else.

Often, we tend to waste our energy on people like this trying to convince them to like us or to feel bad about themselves. What good does this do? If you take the same situation outside of work with a stranger, are you really going to waste your energy on a negative situation like that?

This lesson from your job is there to show you that sometimes in life there will be people who you don’t get along with, it’s not smart to try and convince them to. Use your energy elsewhere like on someone who you do get along with.

That way you can have more productive conversations and you get to be happier as a person in general. Don’t fight the natural connection you have with someone, if it’s meant to be then it’s meant to be. If it’s not meant to be, then it’s not meant to be.

Life will bring to you a lot more people who you don’t get along with as a test. You can either learn from your previous mistakes of giving a person like that too much of your time or you can neglect what your past has taught you.

Be patient and wait for life to bring you people who have good energy. Also, if you’re constantly putting negative energy out into the things you do like your job. Then you will attract negative people, which will make you less productive and more likely to get fired.

Being on time is crucial

You probably haven’t noticed the benefits of being on time for work soo much but it impacts more people than you think. First off, being on time for work makes that day a lot less stressful, you don’t have to worry about a manager yelling at you for being late or getting a disrespectful look from your co-workers.

When you’re on time, people are able to clock out from their shift on time and leave work with a sense of peace knowing that they don’t have to stay for more than they’re scheduled.

When you’re on time, your manager doesn’t have to stress about calling someone else in to take your spot. Being on time anywhere is crucial and you are respected a certain way when you’re on time wherever you need to be.

Even being on time to lunch with your friends makes your friends less stressed about being the first ones to show up or them being late. They know that they can rely on you to show up when you guys do make plans.

You probably learned how important is to show up to a job interview on time as well. This is usually the first impression that you make on an employer. When you’re late for your job, there are consequences.

You can get written up for not being on time which makes your chances of being fired even more likely. Now when talking about life outside of work, if you show up late to a date then the person who you’re meeting up with may have already left by the time you get there or it puts off the whole mood for the date.

Being on time is one of the best skills you can have in today’s world, especially in virtual meetings. The fact that we can’t meet up for in-person meetings makes it harder for everyone.

So, if you were to show up late to a virtual meeting then you’re already making that person even more frustrated with you because they don’t even know if you’re getting ready for the meeting or if you fell asleep on your desk before the meeting even started.

You’re representing your brand wherever you go

People look at you when you’re at work whether you realize it or not. How do you act towards people when you’re at work and how do you treat them? This all goes into your brand as a human being.

This is what separates you from other people, this is what helps you to get a job when you go unemployed. If you want to start getting recognized whether you’re at work or outside of work, you need to think about what you represent when you walk out of the door each day.

Take into consideration how people view you, whether it’s the presentation of your dress or how you talk. This is what makes people want to come back to the store you work at and support more revenue for the company. Managers will take notice of this and see that you have special talent to yourself that not many of your other associates don’t have.

There are many things you can learn from your 9–5, things that will help change your life outside of work as well. It’s important that you take these lessons into consideration and use them to help you grow. I’ll leave you with a quote from John Jantsch that says

“Personal branding is the art of becoming knowable, likable and trustable.”

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