Habits I Picked Up When I Started My Full-Time Job

This past week marked my three month anniversary at my first job. I graduated in May and started working full-time in June. It’s crazy how time flies. These past few months have definitely been the biggest transition of my life. For your whole life, you know that September brings the start of school and June brings summer vacation and then all of the sudden that’s not true anymore. It can be overwhelming to realize that this is it for the rest of your life until retirement; You’re not on a set path anymore. That being said, it’s also really exciting knowing this next part is all up to me. I get to decide where my life goes from here. Having a full time job can be a balancing act and a learning curve and since it’s my first time at it, I’m working to develop a routine and wanted to share some of the things I’ve started doing since starting my new job.

Drinking 2 cups of coffee
One of the biggest changes from college to the workforce is the schedule. In college, I got to make my own schedule fit around my productivity peaks and lows, complete with breaks for working out and catching up with friends. That’s not the way it works in the real world – you have to go straight through 9-5. It can be exhausting, even if you love what you do. Coffee is arguably the easiest way to get an energy boost and since I’ve always love it, it’s no surprise I quickly found myself upping my intake to two cups a day. Since buying Starbucks is quickly adding up, I’ve committed myself to making more coffee at home. I just bought a milk frother so if anyone has any tips for making quality homemade coffee, that would be much appreciated.

Getting creative with my free time
This is probably the most important “habit” I’ve started. Working has made me realize that I have to prioritize and take action on the things I want to do. If I want to see my friends, an hour is not going to magically materialize itself where we’re all free. That’s not to say you can’t be spontaneous – it’s just something I’ve had to be more mindful of. Whereas before I might have been able to waste a week and still fit three workouts in and see four friends, I no longer live on campus where I can just run into people and walk 10,000+ steps a day. I now need to make use of my lunch breaks, hours after work, and weekends to do the things I want to do. Communication is key and I’m working on putting my energy into the relationships I want to maintain.

Going back to high school habits
There’s a lot of things about high school I never thought I’d be doing again like getting up at 7am, packing my lunch everyday in the same lunch box from in high school or living with my parents, but here we are. I am not a morning person so waking up at what I consider the crack of dawn is not ideal, but I do feel like I get more done when I wake up early. Packing my lunch gives me a chance to get creative and I love cooking. And living with your parents has its benefits, especially when adulting comes with things like budgeting, taxes, and healthcare – all things I am not so great at figuring out. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from adulting so far, it’s so enjoy the little things and savor the small victories.