Work/life balance often is just a word that companies throw at you during the interview phase as a way to try to convince you to join. Companies often laud the fact that they don’t require as much work as other companies and promise you that you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy life. In an era of the new hires and others younger employees working 60+ hours a week, young professionals should take a step back and ask themselves if it’s worth it.

The old mantra goes as follows: work really hard when you’re young, get promoted and work your way up and finally, work less, but for more money. In reality though, I’m afraid we never quite make it to the point where we feel ‘senior’ enough to back off working so much, and by then the long work week that has been a staple of our younger years has now become ingrained into our work habits. Before you know it, that 60-hour work week you’ve been working has become the new norm.

Figuring out the balance you need

To achieve a good work/life balance, you first need to understand what you consider a good balance. Just like with sleep, some people can live a healthy life with a lot of work, while others will need to work less. With your current workload at work, are you happy? Do you have enough time to nourish your social, spiritual and family parts of your life? If not, try to find ways to cut back at work. Work efficiently and effectively while at work then be done with it when you come home. My job requires I work 45 hours per week and I try my best to keep it at that. Sometimes that means leaving a bit earlier at 5pm instead of at 5:30 when others leave. 

Learning to maintain that balance

Once you’ve got what you believe to be your ideal balance, work hard to maintain it. Sure, none of us mind putting in a little extra at work when the big project is due or staying late to help a coworker out, but learning when to say no is important. If you’ve put in a good day’s worth of work you should feel free to go home and not worry about what that coworker sitting in the next cubicle thinks. Work should be about your performance, not the perception. Get your work done and be done with it. One of the toughest things for me to learn at work is to say ‘no.’ I’ve never liked disappointing people, but I’ve learned that sometimes a ‘yes’ employee will get the world asked of them. I’ve learned to say “I’m a little busy right now, if it’s not a priority, I’ll get to it later.”

Life is so much more than work

I’ve been learning that work isn’t everything recently. I look around at people who are so wrapped up in their jobs that they let their job define them. That’s not something I want to be. I want people to know Ben as a fun, outgoing, active young professional who also is a good worker, not the other way around. Work to live; don’t live to work.

Buck the social norm

Adopting a lifestyle of putting your life first before your work will be tough. You’ll get dirty looks from coworkers; people will question your ‘motivation’ at times and perhaps you might not make CEO as quickly as you’d hope. In the long run though, you’ll be a lot happier and those other workaholics will be jealous. Ultimately, a happy worker is a good worker and it’ll be reflected in your job performance. We’ve only got one life to live, and I don’t want to spend any more of it at work than I have to.

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