There seems to be a negative connotation with the phrase “9 to 5 job”. This negative vibe we get when hearing “9 to 5” has been around for a few decades now. The song above came out in 1980, so the ideology that it sucks has got to be at least 40 years old. I mean, just take a look at the reasons why Andrea (random person I found with a great answer on Quora) hates the thought! If you didn’t click the link, let me summarize it for you:

• People love freedom. Being a kinda slave 40 hours a week is not freedom!
• 8 hours work is too much. It often involves commuting that makes these 8 hours even longer (so, your obligations last longer as you have to get to the workplace). Commuting often means peak hours and involves terrible traffic.
• It kills your productivity, your creativity, your dreams, your aspirations, your beliefs.
• People hate being limited, hate restrictions, hate unilaterally adopted rules they do not understand and do not accept.

Trust me when I say, she’s not the only person who feels this way! Take a look at this AskReddit thread. It’s 4+ years old now. Hundreds of people talking about their 9 to 5 jobs. The mass majority of them are just as negative, if not more so! And the select few that were positive had people commenting underneath something like “Hey man, everybody here is talking about hating their jobs okay? Get with the program!”

All of this got me thinking… What happened? The 9 to 5 lifestyle used to be something that people would strive for. It was a way to show that you made it. You escaped the factories, the awful working conditions, the manual labor, the even longer days of work (which usually included weekends). For a time, it was the pinnacle of jobs. Let’s look at a couple pros to a 9 to 5 job:

• You are able to avoid work accidents, and the physical toll on the body is nonexistent.
• The hours are understood. 8 hours… 9am to 5pm… That’s a wrap. To go along with that, you’re usually guaranteed every weekend and major holidays off
• Creating a routine for your day becomes immensely easy due to the nature of the schedule.
• That paycheck of yours is consistent. It’ll be the same every time you check your bank account, without fail.
• There’s guaranteed to be people around you to get know and hang out with. It’s essentially a continuation of school life. A bunch of people who are all there for a set time every day during the week.

Now, let me extend an olive branch. I get it. A monotonous routine every day, every week, every month is not for everyone. Coming into work, seeing the same people, doing the same thing day in and day out can be mentally taxing. It could feel like you’re trapped in a simulation with no end in sight. People get depressed at the thought of being stuck in a rut. I mean just look at this:

Just doing a quick check at the results when searching “9 to 5 job” and “9 to 5 job depression is the fourth result. (By the way two out of the top five results includes “meaning” and “definition”… Are we really that far gone as a society to not remember what a 9 to 5 job means? Hmmmm… I smell a topic for another day). Upon clicking on 9 to 5 job depression leads you to literal hundreds of posts, all following the same lines as what’s shown below.

Josh… You’re rambling on and on, going back and forth on the positives and negatives. Just take a look! You’ve made your way to depression… Let’s move on to the point of this post.

OK! Here’s what I’m getting at…

At the time of writing this post, I currently have a 9 to 5 job. I graduated from college and dove right into the now standard working force. Never gave it a second thought. I knew I needed a job to start paying these student loans because a degree is essential today, and this 9 to 5 job was within the field that complimented my degree. And I gotta say, I don’t mind it!

• Yes, there are days where I’m dreading the idea of waking up and going to work.
• Yes, there are days where it’s boring and I feel like my time could be better spent else where.
• Yes, there are days where I’m scrolling through Instagram and seeing everyone being an “entrepreneur” or “self made millionaires” with the caption saying “You can too! Escape the 9 to 5 prison. Swipe up or click the link in my bio!” and I’m just sitting there thinking “Is it really that bad?”

It really stayed in the mind all day which lead to me writing this post. I feel like it’s safe to say that everyone wishes they could be doing their own thing, on their own terms. However, to hate on 9 to 5 jobs to the degree that we do today is absurd. They are a necessary cog in our ever churning companies.

The 9 to 5 job may not be the most glamorous job by today’s standards (as compared to the days of old), but it’s definitely still a job, and a job can benefit a lot of people in a lot of different ways. We should all look at it from a positive perspective. Look at the 9 to 5 job as the tree of stability, with it providing branches of opportunity to do calculated risks. The possibilities could be endless if you think about it in a positive way.