This past week, I did something I thought I’d never do—I started working a full-time job. It’s definitely been an adjustment since somehow I’ve managed to get away with playing hooky the last 7 years since I’ve been out of school. Here’s 11 things I’ve learned during my first week:
1) I’m hungry during the day. When I work from home, I can go to my kitchen and eat whenever and whatever I want. Working in an office building, I need to make sure I bring enough food with me so I have enough to eat all day. I need to do better than this:
2) I have much less freedom with my time. This is the biggest issue when having a full-time job. There’s much less time during the day for my own projects. I have to run either early in the morning or in the evening and do my outside work outside of my job.
3) If you’re on the road during rush hour, it sucks. A lot of time is wasted sitting in your car in traffic. At least my commute isn’t as bad as when I was in Jakarta, Indonesia this summer:
4) There’s a comfortable feeling about having guaranteed income. Although I like living life on the edge, never knowing what’s coming tomorrow, I admit that it’s nice to have the stability that comes with a guaranteed income.
5) I feel like I have to get up from my desk chair every couple of hours and walk around the room, much like on an airplane. Not surprisingly, research has shown a strong relationship between sitting and cardio-metabolic risk biomarkers, type 2 diabetes, and premature mortality.
6) People love coffee.
7) Some companies are more laid back than others. I like how my company cares more about the work getting done than about the exact amount of time I spend in the office. That’s the way it should be everywhere. Most jobs really don’t need 40 hours per week every week to get the work done.
8) Everything is computer-based. There’s a lot of software to learn when you get a job. And there is a different username and password for every portal.
9) There are great perks having a job at a company that values physical activity, including a gym and a pool on the premises. This is my company’s gym, pool, and backyard:
10) Even when your co-workers are sitting at a desk a few inches away from you, they all communicate with you by email. We are slowly losing that personal connection that is so vital to us as humans.
11) I really like being a senior editor. It gives me the chance to filter and sculpt the content that is shared with the public and offer them something new and insightful and exciting.
On to the second week…