Tuesdays used to be the worst day of the week for me.
I worked at a 9-5 job, in a cubicle, and Tuesdays were the days that I felt the most desperate for a change.
You might think Mondays would be the worst, but for me, Tuesdays were the most difficult. You see, since Monday fell right after the weekend, I had just had 2 days off. I had some emails to catch up on, a few meetings to attend, and maybe a client to respond to. And, I felt so good after the weekend that I could blast through a Monday without too much dread. I could distract myself for 8 hours with my weekend high.
Then Tuesday hit.
It was always on Tuesdays that I felt the most down and out. Because when Tuesday came, I knew I had 4 full days of doing work that I didn’t enjoy, being bored, and being in an environment that wasn’t a good fit for me. My weekend motivation had burned itself out and it was only Tuesday. I had 4 full days left of wishing for the weekend.
It’s incredibly painful to work at a job you hate. Having to get up every day and go into that office, wishing you were anywhere else… that’s a feeling I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
And, the most nagging part about those Tuesdays? I didn’t know what to do about it. I didn’t know how to get out of that cycle without causing myself additional pain.
Maybe I could wait for a promotion and things would change? But, I could be waiting a long time…
I could find a similar job with another company, but who’s to say it would be any better? I could find an entirely different job in my industry, but again, there’s no guarantee it would be a better fit.
And I couldn’t bear the thought of jumping from job to job dissatisfied. Because, how long would it take for me to find a job I really liked? Months? Years? I couldn’t stand waking up Tuesday after Tuesday with that same feeling.
What bothered me most about my situation (and those awful Tuesdays) was that I had no control over them. Working for someone else meant that my boss would make a lot of decisions on my behalf. My boss determined my Tuesdays. He decided whether or not I worked on those days. In fact, he decided my whole week.
Really, when you stop and think about it, my boss determined every part of my life:
- The time I had to be at the office in the morning
- The time I could leave the office and go home
- The time I woke up
- The time I went to bed
- How many days I could take off work
- How many days I could be sick
- The projects I could work on
- How I spent my time at work
- The type of environment I worked in
- The amount of sunlight I could get each day
- How much time I got to eat lunch
- How much I got paid
- What types of things I could afford to buy
- Where I could afford to live
- The types of vacations I could afford to go on (on those specific days off)
That was the most irritating part about working for someone else. I felt I had lost control over my life. The day I came up with that list, and really let it sink in, was the day I decided I wasn’t going to work for someone else the rest of my life. It was just too suffocating.
Someone else had all that control over me, simply because I needed to pay the bills? There had to be a better way to make money.
So, I decided to figure it out. I was going to start my own business, and I didn’t really care if it was hard. Because nothing is harder than sitting by while someone else (and maybe somebody you don’t even like) makes all your important life decisions.
I wanted to decide how I spent my days.
I wanted to decide what kind of work I did, and the types of clients I worked with.
I wanted to decide my work schedule, and my work environment.
I wanted to decide how many days off I would take and how to spend them.
I wanted to decide my income.
And, I think you should decide those things for yourself too.
I thank God every day for putting me in that painful situation. If I had been placed in a cushy job, with a larger variety of fun projects, and a nice 6-figure salary, it would have been very hard to make the decision to start something of my own. I might still be without the freedom I have today. My discomfort helped me realize what was truly important to me. I moved more quickly because I was so unhappy.
To me, entrepreneurship has meant freedom, creativity, and fulfillment. And when I think back to my 9-5 job and the harsh absence of those 3 things, that Tuesday dread fills my gut and tightens my throat.
Today, there’s nothing sweeter than waking up to a life designed on my own terms. I can go to the grocery store at 11am on a Monday because I hate the weekend lines. I can take a 2-hour lunch with friends on a Thursday and not explain it to anyone. I can even take a random Wednesday off for a Netflix binge, simply because I feel like it.
Entrepreneurship presents challenges, of course, but for me nothing is more challenging than those Tuesdays used to be. Now I’m proud to say I love every single day of the week the same.