So I work a 40 hour week.
Earn decent money.
The thing is that I have approx. 15 hours of the 40 hours free.
Most of the time I check facebook etc and just bludge.
Should I be looking for more things to do or just carry on doing what I do?
Kids are in privare school.
Mrs is working.
Happy as Larry at the moment.
I have a lot of time on my hands. I earn decently. Should I look for more things to do or just bludge?
grabngo on 09/02/2016 - 14:51
Comments
Hmm im guessing that busting out infectious test tube matter at your desk may be against the biohazard code
Cooking classes and start making awesome meals for family! Trust me, it's a great idea and a real winner for you.
Hmm im guessing that busting out the wok at your desk may be against the fire code
Or maybe troll on ozbargain for the lonesome keks. Whatever floats your boat LOL
Well that escalated pretty quickly…you need anger management class more than cooking class , LOL
@pointless comment: well that escalated quickly! See you in anger management bro.
PS. Wipe down your lips before turning up. HAHA
@supnigs: guess you dont need to sign up for creative writing or adult literature - sounds like u already attended that class with the other like minded trench coat wearing degenerates LOL
@pointless comment: dang. This is now getting old. Another pointless comment. Thank you sir for tonight's entertainment. It's been fun
@pointless comment:
ABC used to charge me 8c a day for this level of entertainment - pointless comment delivers for free. OzBargainers choice.
Do something for humanity and for animal welfare. The rewards exceed financial rewards, and are much longer lasting.
Hmm im guessing that nursing injured wildlife at your desk may be against the pest control code
enjoy it. sound like you're feeling a bit guilty, don't.
one of my friends worked in government, and he got so much free time that he ended up starting an ebay business.
Most people who have considerable down time in their jobs are in higher paid "creative" roles. I use the inverted commas to show I'm not 100% on board, even though I have been through it.
My role takes a fair bit of innovative thinking/presentation/ideas and I can't do that 40hours a week. I can really fire maybe 4 or 5 hours if I am bouncing ideas off the right people in a meeting, or wake up with something that has popped into my consciousness. The other 35 hours are ancillary work getting the ideas and things happening, and drudge work that I could get somebody else to do, but only has to be done this way once so it is probably about just as quick to do it myself.
Except probably one week a month when I have deadlines that require late night work, which I don't get paid overtime for.
Shrug
My employer would much rather employ a person who churns through paperwork at x forms every y minutes so they can measure their productivity, and such a worker could do 35 of my 40 hours - but they would fail to produce the results I do (that can thankfully be measured in dollars) that so far justifies my AUD salary.Ideally, of course, I would 'fire' 40 hours a week. But it is just not possible, for me at least. I need time for dumb stuff, even web surfing or photocopying between hard thinking time to get my ideas in line.
The trouble happens when someone in a "creative" role produces less value over time as others catch up, or their own ideas wane, but they still want the rewards as a high performer. I had lunch with a friend who is a partner at a law firm today, and we both agreed in the last decade the cadence of business has increased dramatically, with little lull over Xmas, and few of the social breaks and things we used to look forward to in December (like a Friday lunch that stretched well toward home time).
I see some of these people on Linkedin, who were made redundant a year ago and still have no new roll. And others who were made redundant 2 years ago and are now doing roles with lower status. I guess the message is it is OK to take it easy sometimes, but if it is routine eventually somebody else will find a way to bypass you.
If you depend on your work income, you need a plan B up your sleeve, and using some down time periods at work is a great time to develop this.
Find some bargains, post them on ozbargain
Outsource the other 25 hours of work to India for half the cost and work online for another company whilst at 'work' for 40 hours.
Bingo, early retirement.
Stop face booking and tinder instead
Your mind is not being challenged enough if the most entertaining thing your mind goes to is repeatedly opening Facebook. There are heaps of constructive activities you can do.
You could make the most of your internet. Read your employer's intranet pages. About your work place superannuation, co-contribution amounts, fringe benefits, novated car leasing… Read about complaints handling, harassment, performance reviews, 360 degree reviews, dismissal, your rights to re-review, external government ombudsman. Read about unions. Read privacy rules/laws and privacy commissioners. Read about your leave entitlements, leave at half pay, flex time. Read about corruption, whisteblowing, suspended pay during legal action…
If your employer has free online courses/exams then have a look at signing up to a few of them.
Read your employer's vision and mission statement. It can't hurt and may help your work situation. At the very least it will be handy at your next interview.
Read a few of your work places social bulletins/magazines. It may give you a big picture perspective about the work you are doing. Plus you see other positions that might interest you.
Take some coursera courses?
Lol so typical of a govt job.
When will they have a review into the ridiculous wages govt workers are on.
So 5 govt employees here show your faces.
That's right! You neg me because you can't stand the truth.
bludge, you can only ask for so much work, it sucks being under utilised…. get an ing card, load it with 1000 bucks, do 5 cash withdrawals of 200 and walk to post office and deposit it. 2.50 a day profit, something to do. Get lunch time massages, go home for a sleep if possible. Have 2 hour lunches,
make sure you only go to toilet at work
i once worked for the government, and started doing 5 hours work through day at another small company my friend worked at, remotely. They eventually fired me (the 2nd place), for not being committed enough, even though it was cash in hand work… so i just went back to my normal job… My boss at normal job didn't care, cos she ran her own ecommerce site at work, no one did anything there, it was mental…
algorithm for work
while (time<5pm)
{
ozbargain(rand(1,900))
news(rand(1,900))
realestate(rand(1,900))
facebook(rand(1,900))
youtube(rand(1,900))
checksuperbalance()
if (lunchtime): lunch(3600)
work(900)
}
Nobody here has mentioned getting a gym membership. I just read an article that talked about weight training being the single best thing you can do for yourself as it improves all area's of your life. Not only that but being dedicated can take up more time than most people can spare, something that doesn't seem to be to much of an issue for you. Once you start to get into it more as well it's surprising how many area's there are where you can continue to improve and learn. Goodluck : ).
My ipec driver used to do this, drop off at 9 as agreed, do the rest of his runs, i would often see him when i went to the gym at 2, he would then nap after his work out, drop by at 5 for arvo collection.
No one wants to work out in peak hour :)
I work 8-9 hours a day, 5 days a week. On weekends, I try to better my endurance skills and gamble $1000 throughout the course of the month. One time I made $12000 from a night of blackjack.
Only once ? That's bad odds. Better odds on scratchies.
Everyone talks about the wins. But really, how much you lost?
do something that will benefit the community, the city, the country and the world.
Be the first person on ozbargain to complete some udemy courses.
I just completed my first udemy course yesterday. Found it surprisingly good actually :) Very enjoyable to progress through it
Give to the poor.
Hmm im guessing that starting a soup kitchen at your desk may be against the visitors guidelines
Doesn't need to be a soup kitchen.
Lolll can't get fired for it; just go to news saying unfair dismissal
I would definitely consider learning a language! It's quite fun once you get the ball rolling.
My mate packs small lunches in containers and gives them to homeless people in the Sydney CBD.
I thought I was the only one..
OP; I'd be suggesting that you point this out to your manager, and ask for more work.
Managers love initiative, and by actively seeking this, you may have a chance for better things down the track.If you worked for me, and I found out that you were "largely idle", we'd be having a discussion about your continued employment - even if you had done all of your assigned tasks.
Why? If you were happy with his work, what reason would you have to dismiss him? If he spent more time working, would you pay him commensurately more? What if somebody sitting next to him did the same amount of work but took all 40 hours. Would you pay them more for working more constantly?
MsKeggs, great question!
In my opinion, it indicates limited ambition and initiative.
Would I pay "slow guy" more? Absolutely not.I'd certainly be looking to make best use of available resources. Maybe OP just needs more work allocated.
No dont nake that mistake
I once was seconded to help sort out a certain task in another dept
Took me a few eeks only
They ended up sending me back coz i was consistantly asking for more work
Sounds similar to when I worked in IT helpdesk.
As I was in a small business there wasn't much for me to do except bludge. So I spent most of my time doing things like web development tutorials, then when my position was made redundant (was a long time coming) I started up my own web consultancy.
Now I spend most of my free time doing online dating (Tinder etc.), because juggling ~5 girls at once is so time consuming. ;)
Pfft, there are 7 days a week, you should be dating at least 14 girls. No wonder you were made redundant
Does you workplace have a basement?
Why not start a fight club with the other idle workmates around the place
Hmm im guessing that starting a fight at your desk may be against the workplace bullying code
Haha yes it would…thats why you need a basement and mutual agreement to punch on
Buy some drones and have a drone fight
Idle office workmates = drones
@pointless comment: middle management would be far more therapeutic. No matter your current position everyone hates them.
Rub your fingers between your toes and sniff? I donno, do something… shrugs
I was in your situation 3 years ago. Comfortable 6-figure salary and plenty of spare time. I used it to write blogs, facebook, ozbargain :)
Then out of nowhere the company relocated to a different country and we lost our jobs.
In hindsight I would have used my time to do online training and certification to prepare for that next job - although I didn't have to at that time.
But then if company wouldn't have moved all the time you spent on certifications would be a waste. OZB is much better investment :)
He's "Happy as Larry", so all these people suggesting he speaks to his boss for more work, or adds value to his company by thinking of more efficient work practice need to wake up and re-read his post!
He is HAPPY.
That's half the battle with finding a job. To be HAPPY in it.
The bonus is that he is also earning a decent amount as well… so basically, he has the dream job.OP, you're happy. You have spare time.
Do whatever you like with it… but its not going to last forever, things always change.Take advantage of it, by doing things already suggested. Further self-improvement in online courses/study, is a good one.
Especially if you can relate it to work. A clever accountant might even be able to treat smaller course fees as legitimate work expenses.
I know there's different rules in relation to more expensive courses, but this is of double benefit. You can save on tax AND cover your ass in case work wonders what you are doing. Might even get promoted because of it due to initiative taken to do something productive (that would be 3 benefits if you've lost count) :).I'm glad your as Happy as Larry, I believe you can even be happier, seeing you have the time, if you can find something that you enjoy, that will also help others find happiness.
Warning: this thread contains traces of nuts.
Try out spare5.com You can make a few hundred dollars (US Dollars mind you) over half a year for doing mind-numbing tasks. The current webtasks (finding phone numbers (20c) and emails (50c) of US attorneys pays very well for the amount of effort).
Start an online business… Make an iPhone app,
lol how much you earning?
His kids are in "privare" school. Must be the good money.
I have the same "problem"
Honestly, after 4 years, you realize why not make the most out of it. So long you don't spend every penny you earn and leave nothing
Does your employer know they should be only hiring you part time?
Hey that is great to know that money is not too much of an issue to you any more. Indeed blessed :)
Personally I would suggest giving "Daily Audio Bible" a go if you have time. Found that is life giving. Transformed me as a person—- the words and the community gave a lot of hope in dealing with the emptiness of the world.
Thankfully though I am not rich but live comfortably and there was a time that stroke me with a feeling that I find myself very content, lacking nothing… then suddenly sadness hit me that nothing really excites me any more—-all are like that and sort of repetitive. Turned out that relying on the worldly success, pure entertainment and pleasure can be fairly meaningless at the end. I slipped into the black hole of negativity and desperation.
Eventually I walked out of year long depression by turning to the message I initially despised, yet truly everlasting—-God wants to give us more in the eternal and that is nothing like living on earth indefinitely as we can find no perfection and lasting joy in this imperfect/flawed world.
We know how much money we have but do not know how much life we have left..nothing more important than life and God wants to give us the gift of eternity—gazing into the boundless universe just reminds me of the fact there is so much more out there that God has to offer.
If you like, that is a bible story that has taught me a lot and to be grateful and vigilant of what I have.
Cheers
Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’
21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
God seems pretty mean spirited in this parable…that being said the rich guy probably pissed God off by not behaving in a way that pleased him.
Yeah I know exactly what you mean. Felt the same way a few times reading it. Later on it dawned on me that God does not want us to be lazy and lost in self indulgence that we lose our purposes on the earth. There are purposes and callings in our short life here to be fulfilled. The 70 80 years of life can be considered a trial to prepare us for eternity. The rich guy simply thinks that he has got that by storing up treasure for years to come and that is the purpose of his life…which regrettably falls short of what God would want us to have—-to Love each other not living isolated and self indulged. The power of being rich is to help—-as in the saying, more power comes more responsibilities.
Op is living the dream. Most of us spend our spare time trying to improve ourselves in hopes of it leading or landing towards a path to a better career. But you my friend, have made it! Congrats. I spend most my spare time doing errands, fixing or servicing things (because i'd save the money if i did it myself) and learning new skills so i can hopefully get a leg up. If i had the dream job i'd gym follow by sitting down and play video games all day.
Time is man's most limited resource, its constantly running out and you can't physically buy more per unit money. I would use it to find the meaning of time/life/death/morality/consciousness, because like it or not, you and I will be dead pretty soon (<80years), blink and you've doubled your age, blink again and you're dead, such is life on earth so make the most of it.
A story I once heard..
Some people spend life trying to be as healthy as possible, taking health supplements, health foods, gym etc.
The difference between them and me? They'll die being healthy. I'll die. Works for anything, eg. Money, hobbies
Really puts things into perspective..So true
I agree with you about time but I think someone who looks after themselves is going to enjoy life much more than someone who is constantly sick and/or dying from a degenerative disease. Not only that but I reckon living as healthily as you can gives you the best chance of getting to a future where science can keep you going.
Some things to think about:
"Enjoy life much more than" Using the analogy above: You'll die having enjoyed life. I'll die. So, is the point of life to enjoy yourself?
"Keep you going" - for what?
I think I've found the answers to such questions, but it's up to each person to find out the Truth for themselves, that's what the meaning of life is to me..
Like 2real4u said: "I would use it to find the meaning of time/life/death/morality/consciousness"
Well all that you need to start you off is available right here! I suggest you study Natural Law in your 15 hours of spare time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASUHN3gNxWo&list=PLnzMmEt4pI…
Once you've learnt it teach it to others.
I just read through this entire thread, and not one person suggested charity work. This is surprising given the recent charitable donations made recently by the Ozbargain website, setting a fine community example.
I would suggest spending your extra time on people in our society that could use a helping hand - learn to work and cook some food, or donate your time using some of your work skills if possible.
Take a page from this man's book - "Selfless migrant Sikh taxi driver who cooks up 30 kilograms of Indian food after his 12 hour night shift to feed the homeless in Darwin"
"Tejinder Singh and his three family members save $1 each a day so they can spend the last Sunday of every month handing out kilos of rice and chickpeas from a van."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-31/sikh-taxi-driver-feeds…
Someone suggested a soup kitchen
But worthy point , and link, regardless
If you have ambition for advancement in your current career, postgraduate study will pay-off greatly.
It will show current and future employers that you are committed to lifelong learning, and will pay off in higher salaries. Plus you might actually learn useful skills!In addition, many of the study costs are tax-deductible, and your employer will probably support you with study leave and/or fee-assistance.
Nearly finished my second masters now, whilst having senior managerial jobs and two young kids.
You've answered your own question with the your last statement - happy as larry atm - dont muck with a winning combo ;)
Im in a similiar situation. Get paid for 35hrs/week … only really here for 30 at most, and of that 30 i might actually work for 10.
But im a very fast worker and get an insane amount done in those 10hrs so management loves melol you almost just described me. happy days.
I divide the rest of my time equally between Ozbargain and TV. I'm sure I'll burn in hell one day but …
Too many people are stressed around me. I don't whether they're just poor at time/work etc mgmt or genuinely have a lot to do. I suspect it's the former.
I'm in the same situation. I listen to endless podcasts pertaining to sport, comedy podcasts, watch NBA through league pass or foxtel go. You just need a pair of bluetooth headphones. Enjoy it, I'm sure more automation will kick in over the next decade or 2.
You have 2 options
1) Bludge. Worst idea ever. Good jobs are hard to come by. There are alot of people out there willing to work harder than you to take your spot OP. NOTHING in life will be easy. Life is designed to s*rew you up. You will not sit on a nice little podium for long. Remember, the change usually occurs when companies go through an "audit" phase and realize they have over capacity. Nobody is immune, not even government employees. "Most of the time I check facebook etc and just bludge." My friend did this alot, he worked for government. It was good until they let him go due to budget cuts. If you think your jobs safe, you're wrong. Just look at all the city councils around Australia now, and even the ATO. They are eliminating thousands of Australian jobs and moving it overseas to the Philippines where the wage of one Australian employee = 6 Filipino wages.
2) Learn more skills. I'd do this if I were you.https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/
this will bring you to tears, and give u something to do for 10 mins
Might I also ask, is this bludging the reason behind the crappy long waits of nearly every government related service that we all deal with such as rta?
I have seen a few stupid pointless discussions but this is the most banal
I work for pretty much myself as an accountant, but find i need to let off steam most evenings.
Mondays = certificate in welding at the local tech college
Tuesdays = date night / movies / random jobs around the house
Wednesday = Tennis from 7:30pm - 11:00pm
Thursday = volunteering teaching kids with disability music
Friday = usually netflix marathon night, drive to Sydney or Melbourne.Saturday/Sunday are working on the house or travelling. If I'm at home, I make sure that I get up early on those days, and get a 3h hike, bike ride or go out with the dog somewhere before lunch.
I think the last time i veg'd on the couch and played my PS4 was 2 xmas's ago when it was a rainy day.
drive to Sydney or Melbourne
Are you in TAS?Canberra. 3h north or 6.5 south
My life is pretty full at the moment.
I am keeping fit and busy and always have stuff on at night and the weekends.
Spend plenty if time with the kids too.
Just needed to be re-assured that I am doing the right thing.Go ask your boss.
Really what you could be doing is finding something that your department or other deparments need. Build a company and what is required to fill said need, sell back to gov.
There are examples of private companies being sold to the gov. Although most were full time.
Volunteer for a good cause like medical research. It's always loads of fun meeting other selfless people and doing activities with sick people.
Im surprised you dont get to work late, leave early, and have a long lunch
Started a new job last month and in a similar position. I've been watching tv shows on my ipad. I expect this will get really boring fast if they don't give me more work soon. Left early today to go watch Deadpool.
Easy life, sounds like gov?
Government funded.
What is the focus of this job? IT, customer service? or even better name of the job?
Mix of marketing, graphic design and some Customer Service Rep on social media.
so? was it as awesome as I think it's going to be?
Deadpool? I liked it.
buy investment property?
Spend your time thinking up ways to bring world peace or find a cure for Zika virus!