A few months ago my friend was leaving for the day, about 2 hours late, and getting ready to head home. She popped her head in to her boss's office to say good-bye and he said, "what, leaving already?" To that she responded, "yep, it's been a long day, it's all about work-life balance." He replied, "are you sure it's not LIFE-work balance?" in a bit of a sarcastic tone. He said, "If you want to make senior (tax accountant), sometimes you need to put your career first."
Once home, she decided to tell her mom about the situation. Her mom replied, "you need to put your family and friends and yourself first or you'll never be happy.
Hearing the conflicting advice between two important people in life is confusing. Now, I don't have children yet, as I am certain that brings a whole new ball into this juggling act. How do you prioritize your goals in life? Is it more important to work hard, especially for those with a high achievement orientation, to get that promotion, or to work just hard enough to get your paycheck and spend time with your friends and family?
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3 comments:
I took the quiz before responding to your post. My score would have been completely worse about 2 years ago, but I made an effort to change that since family ALWAYS comes first. Remember we are all temp employees now. The CEO of Kelly Services was quoted as saying that.
Balancing your work and life is a hard thing to do. I was a restaurant manager for my first 2 years out of college. I had no life since I was always working. I chose to leave that field since my life was more important than work.
12 years later I work in a field where I can work from home when I want and I am very successful at what I do.
I am a father of 2 young kids and my wife works in the school system. It is easier for me to work from home when they are sick or having to pick them up from school if they get sick, etc.
Your friend has to choose for herself what she wants. I chose to have a life. That was prior to marriage and kids. If I chose work, I would probably still be in the restaurant field making a ton of money, but would I have anyone to share it with or anytime to spend it? The answer is no.
That's a ridiculous story, however, it is not surprising to hear! My perspective on work life: you have to do what makes you happy first in order to succeed in other aspects of life. Also, if you are able to consistently achieve your goals at work, then there is no need to work overtime.
You should either work for yourself or work for someone else. By working for yourself, you will decide how much you work you must do in order to make you happy. If you are working for an employer, then it is their responsibility to set the guidelines.
I think it is worth taking a few minutes and considering. And not just once...but every few years. We should remind ourselves why we are here. And what our motivation is. The whole LIFE-work balance is an issue that affects all of us, and I would imagine, has ruined more than a few families. Those who perhaps never took the time every so often, to remind themselves of their motivation and purpose. Those who never got the idea of BALANCE. I can easily envison the ambitious type, who has a family, but throughout the years, the family has taken a back seat to his career. Before you knew it, the kids are in high-school, the marriage is on-the-rocks, and he's working 70 hr. weeks. I think it sneaks up on you, if you don't tame it. Which is to say, tame yourself. Remind yourself. It matters not what your motivation is, life or career, or both, but we should all know where that "inner fire" burns. For me, sure I want to be successful. I want a satisfying job that pays well. And I'm willing to work hard to achieve that. But not at the expense of my woman, and our future family. That is my motivation, but I obviosuly need to work to get where we want to be. I will often remind myself to keep that balance in check.
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