Work Hard, Fish Harder

I once asked a colleague about what her answer was when she was young, on the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" With a smirk, she said, I do not recall, and honestly I do not even have the answer now, I know I'd like to do something different than what I am doing today. Yet minutes later, she mentions if her current situation will allow, she'd quit her job and do something she is passionate about (yoga). When asked why can't she do both, she answers her bandwidth does not allow it, with her being an on call individual contributor working on flexible shifts.

Then I thought about another colleague of mine who loves fishing. He'd go on weekends to enjoy this hobby, catch a fresh fish or two, share it with his family and give the catch for his wife to cook (he never eats them though, he'd have red meat instead). He received a lot of career offers here and there, "greener pastures," I would say, but his usual question is- will that new job role provide him the life- work balance he now enjoy?
 
Having been a corporate employee for 15 years, I would observe "workaholic" people being celebrated and those "clocking out on the dot," standing beside the biometrics door at 5:59 PM laughed at. I am not saying this to instill change in  how we view hardworking people staying late at night (I am one, I guess), it's just that we'd like to be that person who can do what he is passionate about then at the same time, have that job that will help pay the bills and provide more. When you clock out, do you actually shut down "work thoughts" after shutting the workstations down? Or are you the type whose mind is restless thinking about the possible answer to a query, stressing over a meeting which has not occurred yet, revisiting a visual map of tomorrow's calendar.

 

It's not that we should not care after business hours, the focus will need to shift to the other facets of our lives - kids, hobbies, food planning and other things we are passionate about. This pandemic has emphasized on the fact that employees have things to do outside work. On virtual meetings, leaders would hear kids' voices in the background, voices of partners asking "What do you want for dinner?", hearing riders shout "Delivery." Those background noises were not bothersome, as everyone understood the importance of the employees' different focus areas.
 
As you work on the tasks listed under your To Do list, I'd like you to ponder and not be too hard on yourself. Different situations calls for different decisions. The early stages of one's career could be more about working hard and providing for loved ones, the middle part is where one can enjoy travel and other leisure activities in between. Whichever phase you're in, we all deserve a breather. We all deserve to be that guy enjoying fishing on a weekend, unbothered by work thoughts on weekends, enjoying beef steak while his family relishes a home cooked meal out of the great catch he fulfilled for the day. #work #pause #friday