Making the most of working a full-time job when you have other pursuits

If you’re reading this and you’re working a dull-time job, sorry, full-time job then this is for you.

If this masterpiece is too long for email, you can read it here in Substack. Or download the app.

As I write this I’m currently in the toilet. Too Much Info? YES! But I’m labouring the point in real-time.

I’ve wasted [too much] time moaning about my job to myself and my colleagues. They share my dissatisfaction but then nothing changes. So I’ve knocked that on the head and now I’m making the best use of my time in gainful full-time employment.

I’ve been reflecting on where that dissatisfaction comes from, more so what is it exactly. I don’t love or hate my job, I think it’s ok, it’s the best job I’ve had, so then why the nagging feeling for something different?

Let me tell you. For me, it’s the lack of freedom and the subject matter of said employment. I’ve tasted freedom as a younger man when I was doing freelance web design, it is an absolute miracle how I kept afloat with the amounts of anxiety I had, but on the whole, I was content with the freedom equation of it all.

One time I decided to do some work from the OXO Tower Cafè in London, I sat there watching over the river Thames, high up on the 6th floor, drinking a £6 pot of Earl Grey (that was extortion back in 2009, well for me anyway) and in that moment I was so grateful not to have a boss.

I hadn’t really experienced much full-time exploitation employment other than contract work, and jobs in warehouses and building sites, but I had relative time freedom. I’m ignoring the fact that I was highly socially anxious and found it hard to get a job for now, as I often regret not doing more with my life in my twenties.

So fast forward to 2016, I’m employed in a proper job, I start to feel secure work-wise, I have regular money coming, I pay towards our wedding, things are great, and I got out of debt too. Fast forward to now, 8 years later, I’m buying my first home with my wife and I’m making my escape plan from 9-5 work, working towards my life as a highly paid professional artist (Note: This is the whole point of my Substack).

I went off on a bit of a tangent there but it’s all related, I’ve experienced both employment and self-employment and they both have their pros and cons which I won’t list here. But if you’re working full time, please at least try and tolerate it for now, rather than loathe it. Do things towards your own pursuits in those little moments. You own a device you couldn’t even dream of having 20 years ago (if you’re old enough to know the internet sans mobilè).

After reading ’s books, I make so much use of my work time to do other useful shit.

What I now do in lunch breaks at work*

• Pay bills

• Do the online food shopping at Asda

• Work on Crypt art exhibition planning

• General life admin

• Book Holidays

• Plan my weekend

• Write my Substack

• Have a Power Nap or meditation session

• Print postage labels for my latest sold eBay items

• Create graphics on Canva

• Print letters and place them in envelopes

• Renew my car insurance

The thing is, we’re so focused on work when we’re at work, that we don’t think we’re allowed to do anything else. Sounds silly, of course, we are supposed to work at work, but dear reader, we are in 2024 and the world is different to when my dad was a painter and decorator in the 1980s. Especially if you work in an office now.

When you start to realise how precious time is (I’m not being smug, I always forget) you can make the most out of your working day to do other things. Of course, this mainly applies to office workers, but even in other industries, you have a toilet and a smartphone, it’s just the case of knowing what to focus on and when. (I do hope you do have a toilet at work, unless, you are employed by a kebab van).

It’s all down to the context, if you have something creative or important to work on combined with the self-permission you might need, you can do other things in between times at work. I’m back in the toilet now and writing a few words whilst I poo, just kidding, it’s number 1 this time but I’m just getting a few words in while I can.

and have both been my muses for making use of my time as a ‘wage slave’ as Rob calls it. He’s become free from employment for years now and helps others to do the same through his brilliant writing.

Everyone has time, even the busiest of the busiest people who have the most kids. You don’t feel like you have time is the truth if you really think about it. It’s having the headspace to say to yourself “I have 2 minutes, let’s send that email proposal off” instead of spending two minutes auto-scrolling on your phone. You don’t have to have something to work towards like me and your exhibition, you can just have a simple list of errands and life admin (some twat ex-colleague called it “Ladmin” one, and the idiot booked a day off for Ladmin! What a waste! will hate the term Ladmin, I will tell him about it).

I’m now eating a Brie & Cranberry Sauce Wrap by UpperCrust, sitting in a blue pod, looking out the window at a bush that’s obstructing my view of the car park full of Teslas. Thank you, Bush. I was so engrossed in coding today that I forgot to eat lunch, my colleague exclaimed my craziness but I totally forgot myself and the idea of food didn’t appear in my interiority. It’s not the same ‘losing myself’ as when I’m painting but it’s still a ‘losing myself’ all the same. Coding for me is more like a “fuck fuck fuck fuck” followed by some “yay it works” but it’s a fun, mentally engaging exchange. Painting has a fluidity to it, devoid of any tension, and total freedom.

A 2023 study by Gallup found that a whopping 66% of UK workers are spending more time daydreaming about lunch than actually caring about their jobs. And if that’s not sad enough, another 18% are so fed up they might as well come to work with a giant “I Quit” sign strapped to their back. Now, they didn’t quite say everyone “hates” their job, but let’s be honest if you’re counting down the minutes to the weekend by Monday lunchtime, it’s not exactly love, is it?

My closing point is this: make the most of your work time at work to do other things, so you can free up your spare time. This includes doing things that are small steps towards your own pursuits or another job you’d truly love.

If you want some other workplace-related reading by yours truly (that you can read while at work), check out these two posts.