I Thought I Was Too Cool For a 9–5 Job — Now I Know Better

Dreamers loathe jobs. But paradoxically, a job will help you achieve your loftiest dreams.

The author (center right) pictured with his colleagues after work.

There has been much hoo-hah about work recently.

Early retirement. Remote working. Quiet quitting. And look, I get it. Wages have been stagnant for years, and more and more, it seems like working solely working at an ordinary 9–5 isn’t the answer. It sure as hell isn’t going to allow us to retire relatively affluent like our parents. Times have changed.

I wasn’t a big fan of regular jobs, either. After I dropped out of Uni, I started my own business. This business was moderately successful. It allowed me to travel the world for two years and become a digital nomad.

And then the bat virus hit, and the world went batty.

Events were shut down. I had to go back home and take a white-collar job. I absolutely detested that job. I got fired from it, and it was the best thing that has ever happened to me.

And then, surprisingly, I got a job that I loved, a quirky job that involved teaching soldiers the art of unarmed combat in the Singaporean Army. Ever since then, my mind was irrevocably changed.