Having Work-Life Balance: More Than Just A Suggestion

The Ambitious Workaholic

It's easy to throw yourself into your work when you are an ambitious person. You're effortlessly the “A-Player,” and you are driven to the maximum if you are beginning in your career. Flying through goals and tasks is always done without question, yet where will the path lead at the end of the road?

You become so dependent on this lifestyle that you don’t even recognize who you are without your long list of job obligations. I’ve been there. And I think it’s important to emphasize the need to cultivate a healthy work-life balance.

When you're changing jobs, for instance, they ask what your strengths are. You reply, “I’m a workaholic.” In reality, this is your biggest weakness. Devoting all your waking hours to your work does not originate from being a well-rounded person.

Before you know it, you get withdrawal symptoms whenever you're compelled to take a break and focus on your personal life or hobbies.

You Don’t Have to Compromise

The reality is that in the end, you won’t relate to who is staring back at you in the mirror. You can be an excellent entity in the workplace, but this does not have to be your identity. I strongly believe that it's crucial to self-evaluate and consider yourself like you would a business. A bank, for example, is open from 9 to 5, and then it closes and is inaccessible to the public. Do you shut down when the workday is done? Or do you continue to pour into your work?

I found that breaking your career goals into different segments can help to create a more balanced work week. If you want to excel in your role, and move up the ladder, find ways to work on your goals and give yourself check-ins or deadlines to accomplish this. You'll have a much more focused, productive, and digestible workweek by making a roadmap that is conducive to maintaining balance after the workday is done.

Shut off during the weekends. It's so important to be completely turned off from work when you are home. I cannot stress enough that you are allowed to shut off after hours.

Hindsight is Always 20/20

People are social beings by nature. We all have the instinct to yearn for social connections to feel secure and happy. Being a devout workaholic does not allow for quality social connections. At the end of your career, what will be important to you will not be the succession of your work timeline; it will be the people surrounding you when you go through life’s milestone moments.

Being a workaholic takes hold of your future. Its effects make a colossal impact on your personal life, whether you know it or not.

I'm extremely grateful to have gone through a “wake-up call” that prompted me to look at what I was missing out on in life. I have missed my friend’s wedding, graduation ceremonies, and end-of-the-year celebrations because of late nights at the office. I learned the hard way that actively balancing out your life is valuable. You have the power to always reevaluate, readjust, and take action on your life outside of work.