Work to Live, not Live to Work

What is the purpose of working? Why do most people work?

Well, most people work, so that they can earn a living.

Now with that in mind, it is important to balance your work with your life. After all, you work so that you can have a life! It is all too common to hear of people working over 70 hours a week, or maybe even not go home for 3 days consecutively. A good question to ask them, is really, why do they do that?

I suppose that for many of us, this is inconceivable. But it is actually quite a simple thing. Well, two actually. One, is that they failed to recognize the priority. Work to live, and not live to work. Second, is that they worry about losing the job.

The second reason is rather hard to tackle. It really boils down to their confidence in their own skills. If they are confident that they can work anywhere, there is no such fear.

But is the second reason really a good enough reason to have a lack of life?

A slight side track for a moment. Working overtime? What can convince us to work overtime? What form of reward or compensations should we be looking for? I can identify at least 3. There could be more, but for now, I will point out only 3.

Point 1 would be job satisfaction. Love of job. Love of challenges. Whatever you want to name it. It basically could boil down to a sense of satisfaction, or in biological terms, a release of some chemicals in the body that causes you to go 'weeeee yes yes yes!' when you finish a task. A well-done job. This is actually a rather dangerous thing. Employers are all too skilled to take advantage of this, and get their employees to work really really long hours. Impossible deadlines are committed, employees are exploited. When everything is done, and the impossible is achieved, they feel really proud of themselves. To these people, that is living. They would most likely fall into the 'Live to Work' group.

But ask them when was the last time they hang out with friends other than their co-workers, and they might give you a blank stare. When was the last time they had a romantic getaway with their beloved ones? What was the last movie they catch? I have to admit I am really stereotyping this type of people here, and painting an extremely bleak picture. But there really are such people, and it is also really quite easy to become such people! This is definitely my personal opinion (what is a blog without personal opinion, even if it is biased!), but this is not living.

Point 2 would be recognition. This usually builds on top of point 1. People do work to be recognized of the work done. They want a pat on the shoulder, hearing the praise 'well done', or 'this could not have be done without you', or as simple as 'thank you'. Some likes to be praised, as it helps in their ego. Others simply liked to help out. Whatever the case, recognition is definitely an important thing that we deserve, if we work overtime. Even if the results are not totally desirable, we still would like to be recognized for the hard work put it.

However, not all the times are people getting their due recognition. Unappreciative employers aside, some of them make a very critical mistake. To the employers, it was not 'them' that 'did' the job. They were being taken advantage by their co-workers. They could be extremely productive, a person completing his own tasks, and most of his co-workers tasks. Yet, if his superior did not know of it, he is simply seen as completing a single person's worth tasks.

I am going to stress this. It is extremely important that if a co-worker ask for help in his own task, the upper management should be at least aware of it. It is all too common to see incapable co-workers promoted faster than themselves, because they need how to 'utilize' the 'resources' around them effectively. I suppose this will make me look bad or hard to work with, but it is better this, than refusing to help. That would be more 'unfriendly'. To be fair, asking for help is not necessary a sign of incompetence. It could be a sign of overload with work. If that is the case, letting the superior know about it allows them to prepare to hire more people. After all, if you took on the work, yet unable to deliver, that is a bigger blow to business. And if you cannot really take on that much work, then do not do it!

Of course, if you cannot get even such basic recognition, you really should not spend so much time working...

Lastly, we look at reward. This is definitely a translation of point 1 and 2, to a more specific area. Remunerations. We work, so that we can live. To live, we need a place to stay. Food to eat. Some basic living necessities like health, clothes, etc. If the work requires travel, then the work should pay for travel. If there is no transport allowance, then it should be factored in the pay. If it is not, then simply do not travel. Avoid paying them out of your own pocket. Paying them out of your own pocket would simply mean you have a lower take-home pay.

In some ways, remunerations is a direct indication of how much recognition we get. Pay indicate how much the company value you. And it is all too common for a company to value the Sales personnel more than the Fulfillment personnel, as the Sales bring in the money. But to be fair, the Fulfillment completes the sales, so they should not be overly neglected!

And of course, even among the same fulfillment team, some get more pay than others. Yet the amount of work they do are the same. At times, the one getting the less pay is working much much harder than the other one! This brings us back to the earlier point of recognition and being 'exploited' by co-workers. Beware of such situations!

To add on the last point, I am not really asking that we get high remuneration. The amount of remuneration each person desire differs. Some are content to get by. Others live a high class lifestyle. It all differs. Of course, I would advise on being content with life. There are various activities that are as fulfilling and yet does not require a 5 digit salary per month. Spend time with your beloved. Socialize with friends and relatives.

A last point that I would talk about, and it probably would not apply to everyone. Many people like to find a job, that is directly aligned with their hobby. I disagree. I did that before. It did not end up too well. When a hobby becomes a job, and when you are unable to totally control the job, it becomes a form of... disgust. Ok, so strictly speaking, if you cannot control your hobby, it is no longer a hobby. And that is precisely my point. Imagine if you loved to design clothes. And then you become a fashion designer. And then you realized... you are not allowed to design whatever you liked. You had to design for the market. Follow the trend. You grow disappointed... You... might eventually never design again. And took on a totally different profession. That is a sad day, for a part of you has died. Your hobby has died.

I would definitely advise this. Find a good job, that can give you sufficient time to pursue your hobby, and maybe even fund it.

I have definitely rambled a lot, and maybe even off-topic, but it feels good to get all these out :)