I have to go to an empty office 3-4 days a week while my team works from home. I'm tired of this shit. How do I motivate myself to show up for a paycheck?
I wnet back to school, doing a Masters online. Id go into my office and it would be empty expect for another person...he too was doing an online masters, and appreciated the quietness. Work was trivial and proje t related, so only ended up doing 2 hours of actual work during 8 hours.
This allowed me to go home and spend time with family.
I was going to say OP should use the time to advance their career, study for industry certificates, do online college programs, etc. Then say sayonara when ready to move onto a higher-paying gig.
I second this. I work night shift in a nosc and I get tons of studying done.
What type of master's? And what is your current job? That is a nice arrangement... your boss doesn't care or doesn't know ?
I went back to get my masters in Statistics. Boss knew, and company even paid for it.
Nice. What is your job? I can't imagine getting a free master's and full time employment at 2 hours wotk per day. Lucky you
yup, boring soul crushing jobs are great for gaining new education and skills
If OP goes to empty office everyday I don’t see why they couldn’t. Who’s gonna tell them no?
Some micro manager, who might literally be micro sized, or at least Umpa Loompa sized.
Exactly whenever I'm doing something I shouldn't, at work, I always ask myself who's going to say what?
Tell me about it. For a while I tried to be a “Stand up Employee” and realized my co workers get away with anything and my boss also just doesn’t give a shit I think. If the company is a joke I’ll treat it like a joke. Gonna go take a nap in my trunk in a few hours with the pillow and blanket I brought because nobody notices I disappear for 3 hours once a week or they simply don’t care.
That's fire, I have my own ways of whooping the clock but they would know if I was gone that long. Plus I get weekly bonuses on productivity so once I hit my numbers for the week weds Thursday and Friday I'm chillen.
This..
Don’t think of your coworkers as WFH. Think of them as having outside sales or field jobs. Enjoy the quiet. It’s actually more disruptive when coworkers disturb the quiet with the latest [whatever you’re not interested] news and what they did during their vacation.
100% wish my coworkers would shut tf up lol
The issue is they aren't complaining about the work, they are complaining they can't sit around having a chat doing nothing.
If they were busy they wouldn't be noticing what their coworkers are doing at all, they would be in meetings, filling in documents, writing reports, talking to customers etc. etc.
I've worked many jobs where I was checked out. Assuming you cant easily change jobs, what's the alternative?
I had people I am responsible for feeding and housing so that was the motivation.
You're getting paid to do what you agreed to do, including show-up in person (if required).
At the end of the day, a job can be just a paycheck--it doesn't have to be your calling in life.
While this is true, I find that I have to find a way to enjoy it, or I will go mad and then quit whether I have something else or not.
Enjoying your work makes allll the difference. Literally night and day difference in my mental health.
You spend a lot of time at work. If you hate it, it will affect you.
Same… I don’t understand that attitude. It never worked for me
You don't have to enjoy it.
You have to tolerate it, the idea that people "enjoy" going to a box to do largely menial tasks is just their own delusion.
There is a reason the term living for the weekend exists. What most people need to understand is their work doesn't matter in the first place and they might as well just do thing weekday evenings as well and be pretty tired and bad at the work.
No one is paying attention enough to notice the difference between 90% and 65% in the first place.
I am not most people, in either sense you describe here.
But, I was the same way when I worked at Subway, McDonalds , or Suncoast Motion Pictures as I am now. If I didn’t find a way to legitimately find enjoyment in the work … I quit.
I’ve had so many jobs … 😮💨
You are exactly most people.
If they stopped paying you, you wouldn't turn up to work tomorrow. You are in a delusion that it is enjoyable, you are present because they pay you to be present, that is it.
Reality is you should focus on that, and work out somewhere that will pay you more to be present, because if you can delude yourself that those jobs are enjoyable, you can do similarly at a higher paying one.
It wasn’t an “I’m different” kind of post. I clearly articulated these are my views and experiences. You’re welcome to experience work any way you wish.
And no, I wouldn’t necessarily show up if I knew I wasn’t being paid.
But there have been instances where I showed up, and didn’t get paid as agreed and had to fight for it. Once with a large corporation that ran a bistro as an experiment and closed one day without notice. The other with a software startup I was brought on to.
Still, these were jobs I enjoyed. I found ways to look forward to the work and not just show up to exist or be a body in a seat.
Once again this is just delusion. You were there for the pay cheque...people do things they enjoy for free, in fact they pay to partake in them at their cost.
You are literally describing the opposite.
I tolerate my job because it is better than other options, I wouldn't be there for a second if they weren't paying me though, and I have spent a lot of time and money to be educated to do it. All while there are plenty of people around me who are essentially paying, unpaid, or on compromised terms and conditions, to be there for the experience. Do they even enjoy it? Plenty it is the sunk cost fallacy and assuming there is success around the corner, whatever that even mean at this point.
Plenty end up giving up on this nonsense 3-5 years later, myself included at some point most likely, and I have one of the better deals going, a lot have a fixed term contract and are having to up route their lives 2-4 years later to do it all again, until they are bored of it.
Well, good on you buddy.
Two things must be true for me to stay at a job: I must get paid, and I must enjoy the work.
I know myself better than you think you know everyone. Have a great day.
You must get paid.
You must delude yourself into thinking you aren't just there for the pay cheque.
I think I already covered that quite succinctly but here I am repeating myself...
The term delude is used for a reason. I wasn't expecting you to have some epiphany.
I’m in office with a totally in office team. I live for the days my direct boss and coworkers are all out. It’s so peaceful. Even on normal days when we’re all present I still get up and move to break up the monotony. I’ll find a stand-up task that needs to be done in my space, take a leisurely trip to the shredder, go to the bathroom several times a day and take my slowest time messing with my hair in the mirror, walk outside for a few minutes, walk across campus, or even just walk down the hall and back once. I start to feel trapped and I’ve found these small things help me to get rid of some of that energy.
I honestly would not mind if I had the office to myself lol. Do the bare minimum and just fuck around all day. Close to holidays, theres days where its just me or a few of my coworkers with upper management all on vacation and we both just spend the day doin basic work and havin a movie on our other screen. I do work a job where its pretty active now so theres always work to do which is nice in a way but my past job, half the time was spent finding more shit to do which made it very nice when I was the only person in the office
Ditto also don’t forget filling up water bottle. That shaves off at least 10 min of interaction a day.
Yup.
A paycheck.
Magically deposited in my bank account every pay period.
My job is not who I am, and trust me boss, the next great opportunity is right around the corner.
Loyalty is for football teams.
My job is to make that magic happen.
Your job is something that probably takes up 1/3 of your current life, though. :) Why not make it worth something more than that paycheck.
My former coworker and I used to say that some days weren’t about moving forward and crossing things off our to-do lists. Sometimes it’s just about keeping “the train on the tracks.”
I used to work Friday afternoons in the office while everyone else had it as a WFH. I couldn’t leave early, and I had to shut down the office for the weekend. On those days, it was hard to stay motivated, but it was about keeping “the train on the tracks.”
I have bills to pay, no choice but to work.
Get real comfortable with the environment, maybe walk around or do pushups. If the actual work is easy, fidgeting a bit is my natural response to downtime. Can you think of any places you'd like to drive to on the way to or home from work?
If you don’t want to change jobs, find a way to make it bearable. I listen to audiobooks all day to survive my boring desk job. Buy a plant and trim it at your desk on days that feel meaningless.
Work sucks but there is no reasonable alternative for most of us. You can find something else or you can deal.
I am in the same position currently. I hate it so much, I spend my time there looking for a new job. Since the office is empty, I book myself a room with no video surveillance and send CVs from my personal laptop. I have nothing to do in the office anyway, my job is boring but I have bills to pay, so I will participate in this madness until I find something better.
To spend time nicely, download a book and read. Listen to podcasts. Watch Netflix. Listen to music. Go for a walk if you can, order some nice food if you can afford. That’s what I do and weeks pass one by one. Good luck there ☺️
Wake up, get ready, drive, work my 8 hours and leave.
Don't go home for a couple of weeks, live on the street and only eat what comes from what you can scavenge or handouts. If that is not enough to motivate you I don't know what is.
Having had to do just that, I can confirm the motivational power of this experience.
Motivation for a paycheck: think of life without one and decide if you really need it. Maybe you don’t?
I’m sorry to say this but be happy that you are fortunate enough to have a job!
There are some of us that have been applying for jobs for over a year now who have to do work they don’t exactly like but something is better than nothing.
So please just be happy that you have something to go to each day. It sucks that no one is in the office but you. So try and see if you can work from home too. Hey, if they can work from home why can’t I work from home?
I hope that helps.
choose between 0 income and a paid sht job.
Have you considered periodically just yelling? If you're on your own, who gives a fuck? Start off with I HATE THIS! Then move onto just unhinged nonsense GEESE ARE THE TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
FUCKING GEESE !!!!!
Penjamin
For myself, I break the long hours into smaller bits and insert some life in between.
I have a portable loudspeaker linked to my phone and play fun music (never use my office computer for anything but work). I do some dancing and stretching every half hour or so, just because it feels good and it can be fun, or walk around during a phone call just because I can. Yes, dancing is silly, that is the whole point, silly is fun and cheering me up. I also goof around, applaud myself when finishing a task, this kind of thing. The team calls are always on cam, because I like to see a few faces during the day. The first minutes are given over to chatting and catching up because we all feel the need to recreate our bonds. It does help allievate the boredom and gloomy feeling of being all alone and cut off from the world.
I also give myself a half hour if I have the time to do homework (accounting, appointments...) This helps me slog through the boring days of working three days in a row at the office while the whole staff is WFH.
What you should do is ask yourself if you can find something to insert some life back into your office time. If the job is worth the effort. And if the answer is no then use some time to polish your CV and start looking around.
When I feel checked out, I remember that I need to get paid.
I mean... I REALLY need to get paid. As in, I process the company payroll. If I don't show up to work, I literally don't get paid.
I'm pretty sure everyone else in the company is happy that I showed up to work too.
Headphones and coffee
That sucks, bro. It also undermines the whole 'teamwork at the office is better' narrative. Fuck that.
Start doom scrolling on your phone and going for frequent smoke breaks, shit breaks and coffee breaks on the job. See if you can make your lunch hour 'variable' from day to day. Leave early. Come in late. As long as you get your work done on time and with precision they can't really get you, at least, not right away.
Do this until you find a good WFH job, which is what I hope you are doing while you're floating on the spaceship by yourself.
BTW, I take a vape loaded with my favourite THC strain. CandyLand strain is fucking great for slam coding for hours. I live in Cali and you have to take a smoke/vape break outside. The shit I buy doesn't smell like herb...it's been distilled so the skunk smell is gone. People just think I'm vaping odorless nicotine...LOL!!!
Pick yourself up and start the commute. Once you’ve started the commute, the path of least resistance is to commit to the commute. When you arrive, do an average amount of work so you can keep your source of income.
Show up anyway.
Plot out your long term goals. View your current job as a stepping stone to accomplishing the things you’re excited for in the long run.
Helps me stay motivated. Mileage may vary.
Personally I'd self study or browse jobs to see what skills are needed and once a good offer presents itself, I make my move
what is the reason you’re still there other than the paycheck? for me is that one my job allows me to not live pay check to paycheck and i know what my end goal is, which is becoming an entrepreneur! so what that being said fake it til you make, you got to get through the hard part before good comes!
Best things I ever learned were, “you are paid because work sucks” (as in: all the jobs that are highly personally rewarding and/or “fun” are the ones that pay very little) and, “embrace the suck”.
By telling myself I can put up with it for one more day/morning/hour
The threat of homelessness and starvation are great motivators.
If I must go into an office, I prefer it be empty. An empty office isn't as good as remote work but is the next best thing imo. The less folks I have to be around, the better.
As far as staying motivated, get your work done and focus your free time on learning new skills that can help you land a promotion or a new job.
I remind myself of the days I worked on my feet 8 hours in shitty warehouses while 7 months pregnant. I have micromanagers at my work but I’m afraid the goldilocks job doesn’t exist. Perspective perspective perspective.
That sounds like such a bad experience. Sorry you had to go through it :(
Perspective only helps as long as real depression does not start to set in though...
This is also true. Mental health is very much a big part of our health, and not to be overlooked. Thank you for highlighting this fact!
I will admit I quit that warehouse job and made meager income after a point during my pregnancy because of that exact reason. But today, years later, as irritated as I am to fix mistakes/missteps from my well meaning but micromanaging boss, I am just glad I don’t have to go back to physical labour.
Having children probably is a big help for perspective as well. In the sense that having a toddler or an active kid probably tires you out physicially so much, that going back to a physical job would... not be optimal. xD
Big time!
I have to go to an empty office 3-4 days a week while my team works from home. I'm tired of this shit. How do I motivate myself to show up for a paycheck?
Needing that paycheck usually does it for me.
But while you're there, find ways to upskill yourself so you can get a new and better opportunity.
You're getting paid to do what you said you'd do, even if it means being there in person sometimes. At the end of it all, a job can just be about getting paid. It doesn't have to be your passion or purpose in life.
Also, Instead of seeing your coworkers as working from home, think of them as having jobs that take them outside the office, like sales or fieldwork. Enjoy the peace and quiet. Sometimes, it's even more disruptive when coworkers interrupt the quiet with news or stories you're not interested in, like their latest hobbies or vacation adventures.
I mean why else show up but for a paycheck? Its rare people love their jobs.
I treat myself to something small ever paycheck to keep my moral up. Find ways to enjoy the solitude. Play you're own music, get a new chair. Set up pictures and reminders im your space as to why you get up and do the job.
I worked a job for several years and was 100% unable to do the work due to the company not giving me the ability to do the job. I had meeting after meeting with the head of the project and they knew, understood, and told me to carry on.
I just showed up and sat in my office, literally all day. I would walk around and chat with other departments, sit in on meetings (no input, just observation), surf the net, watch movies, play video games, training, ect. My performance reviews were always positive.
When expressing my disappointment to management, I was asked if I was getting paid on time. To which I responded, "Yes." Then I would be dismissed with "Carry on then."
Finally, I had enough, I put in my notice and left. They hired another person, and they continued on doing the same thing I was. 🤷♂️
I hate working while being watched. I would enjoy the empty space, play music, do push ups, stretch, breathe, enjoy it or negotiate your way out of it or quit…
You better believe friend. When I work I go hard. Sometimes that leads to misunderstandings…..
In that situation right now. I don’t hate all aspects of my job, so I focus on the ones I like and do the absolute minimum on the rest.
I also focus on building myself up in the areas that I know will help me get my next job, and whenever possible, refuse projects that don’t teach me anything new.
I drag a model kit set with me to and from work every day. I put some earbuds with music in while I work on my models.
can you listen to music, podcasts, watch YouTube videos, etc when you're in the office?
How good is the paycheck?
I'm in a similar situation. I'm not allowed to have wfh time in my """""essential """"" position. Most of the other employees are aren't there. So, Leave early, come in late /don't show up at all. My work, non-essential employees are allowed to wfh 2 days a week, but everyone is an administrator, so it's all chiefs no Indians. No one tracks echothers wfh time, so many actually only come in 1 day a week. If they pull the bs AND get wfh time, I'm gonna try shit too. So instead of using sick days I just don't show up and wait for my boss, who comes in once a month, to ask.
I have no interest in my job and hate every second I'm there, but that's how you get health insurance for your family.
why even go in if you’re the only one there lol who’s gonna know?
Go to work. Get your money. And come on home.
Toni Morrison
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/05/156666/toni-morrison-career-life-advice
Bring some entertainment/ watch Netflix or YouTube
I would just work on my own project if there was nobody there monitoring you
Bring in your own computer and study for a cert or learn a tool
Have something planned to look forward to and save money to enjoy. Mine are a music festival later this month, visiting family out of state in June, and two local concerts in July. Also, while my car is very reliable and has no issues now it does have 220k miles, so I'm saving up to have a 40% down payment for a newer car in November. I'm burnt all the way out right now with work, but knowing this will service me in the short and long term future helps a lot. Also, music. That makes all the difference in the moment.
An AirPod in one ear with shitty reality playing TV on your phone. 80% of it is just conversations and once you learn the characters you can absorb majority of it through sound alone casually.
It pays da rent
Discipline
Is the risk of starving to death not enough?
watch Office Space over and over again in my head
You obviously do not enjoy what you do.
Figure out what do enjoy doing, then go find a job that will allow you to do what you passion is.
I snack throughout the day. I motivate myself with snacks and it keeps me engaged, especially during meetings.
Visit a soup kitchen.
When motivation lacks, you need discipline. As an adult you just do what you need to do. There isn’t really another option.
Look at your bills and then look at your bank statement.
I go for long lunch breaks outside and walks because nobody checking for me
Just show up.
“Sometimes you are not prepared for adversity and when you have that kinda problem you just don’t know what to do”
Don’t? Ha, I love surviving off 3 days a week. Eventually they’ll get tired of my shit. But not today.
In my case, the paycheck is the motivation.
Usually needing to pay bills, wanting a roof over my head and food on the table are my biggest motivation to work
Why don't you work from home too if they get to?
Why do you have to go when they wfh
Try not eating for a week. Hunger is a strong motivator
Go for a job u like and study for it lmfao
Play golf in an empty office.
Scroll Reddit for 8 hours
Imagine what your life would be like if you don't get that paycheck
Look at your bills, then look at the paycheck again...
Why do you have to go if most others do WFH though?
In the past whenever I'd be alone at the office (be it just a few hours in the morning or just majority of the day) I'd just use the time to walk around the office a bit, grab coffee or such. Not very productive but there's also no1 else to judge you for that 🤷♂️
But yeah - I'd just talk with management about doing WFH as well
3 or 4 days a week, oh the humanity. Try 5 days a week and loving it. I love it when there's nobody in the building - got my tablet queued up with audio books, documentaries, lessons, tv shows, movies - coffee's all mine :) And I order pizza delivery :) Very nice.
Imagine being unemployed, homeless and dying on the street from hunger and cold. It's all the motivation you'll need.
Why do you have to go to an empty office?
If it's empty, you can probably watch shows or listen to music or podcasts. Keep yourself occupied.
I put several "meetings" per day in my calendar and walk in the park on my own, with work friends or non-work friends. I work at a university and there's another one right across the street I used to work at as well, so I can always say I've met with an old colleague to pick their brain.
Start making a budget and see if you can live off unemployment. When you realize that's not happening, start looking for another job. It's a pretty bleak job market out there. I've had over 300 applications and no offers yet. Appreciate what you have.
Food n a place to live are nice
Dude I took every opportunity to be rid of management by working outside their hours. Got my work done, was a model employee but then I had downtime to learn stuff I WANTED to or goof off (podcasts etc).
We don’t have any other choice
My hamster dies if I don't get my paycheck. Lil homie keeps me going.
Buy some the cheap version of airpods and watch netflix on your phone while you “work”
Like I'm being trafficked.
I get you, so 100%, albeit in a bit different way. While WFH has many benefits, it is so bad for us as a society...
Like, you never know, if you actually have a correct read on a colleague since most communication is via teams, zoom, etc. Very rarely we actually read communication over internet correctly.
I pride myself on reading people over text fairly well (i'm in my 30s, so - a millenial well versed in technology) but often people are very different in real life vs. how they make themselves seem while writing. For example, if I have screwed something up or done something well, I would rather hear it from my boss in person than receive a message. Since my boss potentially thinks that it is a huge mistake or a huge success, but by writing could be very much minimising it...
This new WFH system is messing with our people skills so bad.
And secondly, other comments are saying that if you don't like your job then WFH makes it much easier to do the work and just work for your paycheck and nothing more. When CLEARLY op is someone who needs contact with colleagues to be productive...
IDK, I used to work in a similar type of thing (worked the hours after everyone else went home for the day - only person on staff)....I had a lot of free time to play Switch on the staff TV, blast my music as loud as I wanted, and well, do anything I wanted in that space when there wasn't any work coming in....sometimes miss it aside from the night hours lmao
I'm not sure if your problem is that you miss others working alongside you in the office for the team-feeling (which I am going through currently...). Or it's a feeling of unfairness, because you want to wfh, but cannot due to your job specifics.
First case - you need to look for a new job, even though it will be hard to find a workplace that doesn't mainly do wfh. Second case - change/upgrade your skillset, so that you can also do wfh.
Best of luck :)))
I had to do the exact same thing in my previous position. I originally had another coworker that was new with me but she left very early into the position.
Idk what your work environment is like but at my old position I was part of a few fun group chats where we would message throughout the day about mostly non work stuff.
I would take the time to work on my trainings and practice working on specific tasks.
I would look up the best ways to organize my emails, notes, etc and would do it.
For me I knew it would be the slowest time working in that position so I took advantage of that time and kept up on different things. I even asked to shadow my coworkers.
Do linkedin learning, coursera, Google cert, or an online degree or certification to help you get out of a job you hate. If you have a degree see if your university has career services for alumni.
Would you rather be a broke ass bum making nothing like so many others whining on Reddit these days? Suck it up junior and get back to work so someone higher up than you with less skills and less intelligence can have a better life just because they look better in a suit than you.
Read the countless posts on Reddit about how shit the job market is and count your blessings?
Oh no, I have to do something slightly inconvenient for work. How cruel and unfair.
"Don't wait to buy real estate, instead buy real estate and wait." 😁
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Find shit to do keep your mind engaged or even learning can you throw an earbud in and listen to audiobooks podcasts it makes my day go way quicker through work even though I technically shouldn't have one.