Work to live or live to work?
I was with some friends down the pub the other day, having those conversations that only a few pints and a large slice of self righteousness can bring about. The topic wandered briefly on to trying to get a 'work life balance' but was soon changed as the answer 'fat chance' was proposed and no one could come up with a counter proposal. The perennial question "do you work to live or live to work" falls into the category of sentences that has become endowed with a level of wisdom far greater than it deserves. Other such sentences (and I can feel my blood pressure rising as I type) include the statement "yes, but rent is wasted money" (unlike of course mortgage interest) and "you should use a bus because it's cheaper" (not if you are talking about the incremental cost of that journey). I am sure I will come back to both of these personal bugbears (what is a "bugbear" by the way?) but in the meantime back to the point.
The answer for most people to the 'live to work, work to live' question is very simple, 'I work because I have a job, which I got some time ago because I needed the money'. Very few people I would suggest go to work 'accidentally' or deliberately got a rubbish job even though they had enough money to see the rest of their days out in comfort. The reason I don't like the question is that it assumes there is an adjustable scale of work, with infinite flexibility of the hours you work, the stress of those hours and the pay you receive for the work you choose to do. It would be wonderful to lie in bed on Sunday and think "this week I will do 4 days of a medium stressful job, but use my specialist skills to aim for a higher hourly rate". That may be the option of a freshly graduated student in a world of abundant job opportunities, but for the rest of us it is not even a dream. And the reason it is not is simply that most people have financial commitments (children, a house, desire to eat) that mean we have to work. The job we have is the job we have and there is very little we can do to shift the balance the question alludes to. Or maybe there is?
What most people miss is that there is an invisible 'gravity' at work in the employer employee relationship and unless we are aware of it and react we end up past the 'event horizon' and unable to escape. An employer will naturally over time give more work to a good employee. With more work comes more money and promotion. This is accepted as goodness (you can even get 'congratulations on your promotion' cards, so it must be a good thing). I have no problem with this at all, except for one tiny little thing, the 'gravity' which makes the reverse journey, should you wish to make it, so difficult. The natural order of things is that most of us start of wanting to 'work to live' but end up 'living to work' without ever seeming made a cognisant decision to do so.
There are options for the reverse journey, but it is a much more difficult trip. Working part time (if your employer offers it) is great, but watch out you don't end up being asked to do the same amount of work, for less pay, in a compressed timescale. Changing roles to a less stressful one is an option, but again you need to make sure you work hard to ensure that gravity does not suck you right back again. You can probably get a job with a new employer that pays less money, but make sure it comes with less stress and watch out for that tugging sensation again! But maybe there is a better way...recognise that the gravity exists and start to move against it. Start taking your lunch hour, don't stay late because you think it is fashionable, say no to the attending that meeting that starts at 8:30 on the other side of the country. I'm not talking about militant action, I'm talking about perfectly reasonable reactions to get you back to where you want to be rather than where you have drifted. Take control of your journey, recognise the forces upon you and react against them if the impact the route you wish to take. And take heed from your childhood physics lessons; every force is expecting an opposite reaction.
The answer for most people to the 'live to work, work to live' question is very simple, 'I work because I have a job, which I got some time ago because I needed the money'. Very few people I would suggest go to work 'accidentally' or deliberately got a rubbish job even though they had enough money to see the rest of their days out in comfort. The reason I don't like the question is that it assumes there is an adjustable scale of work, with infinite flexibility of the hours you work, the stress of those hours and the pay you receive for the work you choose to do. It would be wonderful to lie in bed on Sunday and think "this week I will do 4 days of a medium stressful job, but use my specialist skills to aim for a higher hourly rate". That may be the option of a freshly graduated student in a world of abundant job opportunities, but for the rest of us it is not even a dream. And the reason it is not is simply that most people have financial commitments (children, a house, desire to eat) that mean we have to work. The job we have is the job we have and there is very little we can do to shift the balance the question alludes to. Or maybe there is?
What most people miss is that there is an invisible 'gravity' at work in the employer employee relationship and unless we are aware of it and react we end up past the 'event horizon' and unable to escape. An employer will naturally over time give more work to a good employee. With more work comes more money and promotion. This is accepted as goodness (you can even get 'congratulations on your promotion' cards, so it must be a good thing). I have no problem with this at all, except for one tiny little thing, the 'gravity' which makes the reverse journey, should you wish to make it, so difficult. The natural order of things is that most of us start of wanting to 'work to live' but end up 'living to work' without ever seeming made a cognisant decision to do so.
There are options for the reverse journey, but it is a much more difficult trip. Working part time (if your employer offers it) is great, but watch out you don't end up being asked to do the same amount of work, for less pay, in a compressed timescale. Changing roles to a less stressful one is an option, but again you need to make sure you work hard to ensure that gravity does not suck you right back again. You can probably get a job with a new employer that pays less money, but make sure it comes with less stress and watch out for that tugging sensation again! But maybe there is a better way...recognise that the gravity exists and start to move against it. Start taking your lunch hour, don't stay late because you think it is fashionable, say no to the attending that meeting that starts at 8:30 on the other side of the country. I'm not talking about militant action, I'm talking about perfectly reasonable reactions to get you back to where you want to be rather than where you have drifted. Take control of your journey, recognise the forces upon you and react against them if the impact the route you wish to take. And take heed from your childhood physics lessons; every force is expecting an opposite reaction.
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