5-to-9 thinking

The Doorstep Mile

5-to-9 thinking

One warm summer evening after work, why don’t you go on an adventure instead of flopping in front of the TV? When you leave work at 5pm, you have 16 hours of glorious freedom before you need to be back at your desk again. What adventures could you have in that time? My mind instantly turns to open space and the outdoors, but your choice might be very different. What would you go and do?

The 9-to-5, convention dictates, imposes a lot of restrictions on us. It prevents us from living as adventurously as we might like. But what if you turn that thinking on its head? The 9-to-5 working day is only eight hours long. What about the other 16 hours? Nobody ever considers that as a solid, priceless entity. Instead of being limited by the 9-to-5, what if we chose to feel liberated by our 5-to-9?

I know you have commitments and commutes to deal with and probably work much longer hours. But humour me, please, for this thought experiment.

Imagine how different life would be if society regarded the 9-to-5 as a minor hassle, a mere 33% inconvenience on 5 days out of 7. Imagine if everyone’s passion was instead focused on the 16 hours of (at least theoretical) daily freedom.

It would be a very different society.

If you were a bazillionaire what would you swap your 9-to-5 for? How then can you get some of that between 5pm and 9am without the luxury of being loaded?

What if you left your office, jumped on the train and headed for the hills? Even from London, you can be in the countryside or by the sea within an hour. I have also made this rush hour escape from cities as sprawling as Barcelona, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.

Head out of the office, jump on the train and relax. It takes a bit of guts and oomph to do this for the first time. The strong negativity bias in our personalities means we tend to focus on the bad things that might happen (rain! Sheep attack!), rather than the positive benefits (this might help begin to turn my life around).

So if you make it this far, congratulate yourself. You have done the hardest part (unless you get attacked by a sheep. Or it rains.) You have begun.

There is no map for ‘living adventurously’. You cannot unfold a map, flatten out the creases, point and say, ‘aha! Look, once I arrive there, I will have succeeded.’ Not only does this not work, but it is also a damaging way to think. The times I’ve assumed the end of an expedition would be the end of my problems have always backfired.

All you can do is follow your nose. It is the direction you walk which constitutes living adventurously, not whatever crock of gold you imagine lies at the rainbow’s end.

Anyway, pause your philosophical musings to get off the train. Look left and right. Then take a punt on the direction less travelled. Give your future self the best chance. Head towards beauty and wildness. Walk up the nearest hill to take in the view.

You’re out of breath from the hike. You still feel a bit silly. But you smile. You feel your nerves about this step into the unknown seeping away. What an opportunity. What an escape. A burst of freedom in the middle of the working week.

To appreciate a painting properly, you often have to take a step back. The same holds true for life. The 5-to-9 is a chance to step back from the hectic rush of work, the clamour of your family and the distractions of the internet. You will look at life with a fresh perspective from the vantage point of a grassy hilltop. Unroll your sleeping bag under the stars and drift off to sleep.

In the morning you’ll wake at sunrise to the sound of birdsong and the first warm rays of sunshine. (Disclaimer: if it is raining this entire experience will be miserable and will require filing under ‘Character Building’.) If you are a veteran at this camping malarkey, you might have brought along a little camping stove for a cup of coffee with a view. If not, enjoy the novel simplicity of temporary abstinence and delayed gratification.

Shove your sleeping bag into your rucksack. Run down the hill and jump into the nearest river. Then hop back on the train into town, ready for another day in the office. A little sleep-deprived, perhaps; twigs in your hair and bleary eyes.

When you get to work, and your colleagues ask if you did anything interesting last night, for once you don’t have to lie and make something up! They will laugh and think you crazy, of course. But a year from now you will still remember that night under the stars, long after evenings of TV and soft pillows have faded away. Squint a little differently at life. Bemoan the 9-to-5 or celebrate the 5-to-9. What memories will you treasure a year or five from now? That is the important stuff.

Over to You:

• What are your 9-to-5 problems?
• What are your 5-to-9 opportunities? What will your next 5-to-9 adventure be? Schedule it in your diary now.

★ Support this podcast ★