2034: [Part 1] I Was Never Really A Very Good Employee by Kevin of Financial Panther on Work Freedom

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Work Daily. I was never really a very good employee. Part one by Kevin of Financial Panther dot com. As someone who writes in the personal finance, financial independence space, I've read a lot of stories about people pursuing financial independence and then leaving their careers. One interesting thing I've noticed is that people chasing financial independence often characterize themselves as being good at their jobs.

[00:01:28] You very rarely see someone say they want to reach financial independence and get out of the workforce because they're doing a bad job at work. I sometimes wonder how true these characterizations are. I know for me, as much as I'd like to think I was good at the jobs I had, the truth is, I wasn't very good at them. Most of the time, I was just going through the motions. I imagine if I was actually good at the jobs I had, I probably wouldn't have been in such a hurry to leave them.

[00:01:55] To be honest, I doubt I would have lasted very long at my jobs if I hadn't left them first. It's not a matter of me not being able to work hard either. I've always had a bit of an obsessive personality, so putting in hard work and long hours has never been an issue for me. During my first year of law school, for example, I likely worked harder than anyone in my class, working seven days a week for 10 to 14 hours per day. I did it because I wanted to do well at school and I liked studying law.

[00:02:22] But I could also work hard because of the way I controlled my schedule. Even though I had to work a lot, I still generally could do it in a way that made sense to me. The working world was different. I struggled as an employee because the way I liked to work didn't mesh with the nature of the corporate jobs I had. The regimented schedules, the office politics, the constant status reports, the bosses looking over my shoulder. I didn't fit well in this type of system. And so I was a middling employee.

[00:02:50] All I was really doing was doing just enough to not get fired. For me, financial independence wasn't just about getting out of the workforce because I didn't like my job. I needed to get out because I simply wasn't that good at the jobs I had. Here are some of the reasons why I think I just wasn't that good of an employee. 1. I'm not great with set schedules. The most obvious characteristic of basically any job is that it comes with a strict, regimented schedule.

[00:03:18] Sure, some schedules are more flexible than others, but the vast majority of jobs are based around general working hours. You start working in the morning, you work all day, and you end work in the evening. I've always struggled with the regular 9-to-5 work schedule. It's the main reason I enjoy what I do now, working for myself. I'll likely never make as much as I could have made as a lawyer, but I control so much more of my day-to-day life in a way that I never could have with my normal jobs.

[00:03:44] The problem with normal jobs, for me at least, is that they forced me to live my life based on the needs of my job. I get it. Jobs need us to work at certain hours because other people rely on our work. But it's a reality I always struggled with. I think it's one of the reasons I enjoyed college and law school, and why I was able to do well in a school setting. Other than the few hours of class each day, the schedules were always pretty loose, and I could generally craft my day to look the way I wanted it to look.

[00:04:12] In an office, I always felt cooped up. I had to be there by a certain time in the morning, which meant my mornings were always terrible as I woke up and rushed to the office. I hated that I had to stay in the office the entire day. If it was nice out, I wanted to get out and bike and explore. The best hours of my day went to my employer, and I only got to use what was left over. Some people thrive on schedules. I'm just not one of them. Work schedules always felt so arbitrary to me.

[00:04:40] And indeed, the last push I needed to quit my job and go all in on myself was when I got a talking to at work for getting into the office too late. Two. Hear that on tomorrow's episode. You just listened to part one of the post titled, I Was Never Really a Very Good Employee, by Kevin of FinancialPanther.com. This episode is brought to you by Indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate.

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[00:05:36] plus up to $500 off select appliances from top brands like Samsung. Get a fridge with zero clearance hinges so the doors open fully, even in tighter spaces in your kitchen. And laundry that saves you time, like an all-in-one washer dryer that can run a full load in just 68 minutes. Shop Spring Black Friday savings, plus get free delivery on appliance purchases of $998 or more at the Home Depot. Offer valid April 9th through April 29th, the U.S. only C-Store online for details. And thank you to Kevin, who, as you heard in the post, is an attorney

[00:06:05] and also the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just two and a half years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer. Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy, and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports. You can check out all of his great content at financialpanther.com.

[00:06:34] Hope you're continuing to have a great weekend if you're listening in real time. And if you liked part one today, definitely tune in tomorrow where I'm going to have part two of this post and where your optimal life awaits. So let's finish this post um with us. Okay. Let's go. All right.