You graduate college and land that first job. You begin start getting paychecks every two weeks. Suddenly, life is exciting and every day there is something to do. You are making new friends, hanging out with coworkers, and living that new fast life that every college student dreams of experiencing once they finish their undergraduate studies.
I am here to tell you that this described lifestyle is not the way to go. It is a total trap that causes its victims to ignore the important principles in life once they finish college. For the young professionals infiltrating the work force, the whole idea of having a good work/life balance should be a low priority. I am 25 years old and have been working for almost 3 years now in a large corporate environment. If I could do it all over again I would change it all.
When you get your first job out of college, or any position at a young age, your goal should be to dedicate yourself to that job. You may think I am a fool for stating something like this, but there are many young professionals out there whose lives revolve around their social life and not their job. I was one of them.
I was always quick to put in my 7.5 hours of work required of me every day and then dart out of the door at 4:15 PM everyday. That mentality is mimicked by many other young professionals out there who do not have their priorities straight. Again, I was one of them. It really hit me when I started seeing company correspondence every six months and the names of coworkers on the list of those receiving promotions. I started with many of these people and they were just flying by me up the ladder.
What was it that they were doing that I was not? Simply put, they were around the office much longer than I was and people were noticing. They were the ones taking advantage of the extra time to get tasks and projects done quicker, while I was just trying to get them done on time. Well let me tell you that getting something done on time does not get you ahead in this world. Those who get things done in half the time as other workers are the people that make moves in life and get ahead of the pack. I urge you to take advantage of such opportunities when they present themselves.
What else do you have in your life that is more important than work? The only things I can think of are God, family, and your health. Kill yourself during the work week. Put in the extra hours to get things done or even get ahead. Take work home with you to try and gain a different perspective on an assignment in a environment. The more time you spend on your work the more mastery you will be able to demonstrate on a daily basis and that is extremely important.
We are given many opportunities in life and right now there millions of unemployed people out there who would do anything to be in our positions. It is imperative that we take advantage of every opportunity possible. I have always been one to state that I want my career to be on a certain level as I get older, however, its extremely sad that it took others getting promoted to make me realize what I needed to do.
I hope you learn from my mistakes before its too late. The next time someone states that they wish they had better work/life balance, share your thoughts and experiences from you life with the goal of having the same impact on them. Who knows, you might be the one promoting them one day!
3 Comments
Yikes! I could not disagree with this post more. While work is important to reach other goals – like paying for travel, funding your retirement, paying off debt, buying a home – I don’t believe for one second that you should devote your nights, weekends and every other spare minute to your work just so you can get promoted. If you love your job, if it fulfills you, that’s one thing. But even then, there are more important things in life than work – like your family! What’s more important? Busting you ass for a job that will never love you back or spending your evenings with your family? I’m not going to neglect my family or husband to get ahead in my job, no matter how much money I could make. (And I know, from having a mother who worked all evening and then came home and did more work, that it is NOT the way to take care of your family. Being there emotionally is much more important than being able to buy the latest and greatest toy for them.)
Hmmm… let the debate begin. My direction with this post was focusing more on those individuals fresh out of college and new to a company. I really do feel that new hires can make huge progress early on just with face time, asking questions, and showing initiative beyond their basic job function early on.
I agree that I would not spend my nights and weekends away from my family for work, but not many people right out of college are in that situation.
Thanks for the comment and I applaud you for digging through some of my archives!!!!!
I guess this topic is touchy for me because I worked for a year at a place that did expect its employees to give up their nights and weekends for the job. I missed out on a lot of celebrations with my now-husband, and I started resenting the job early on for that. So I ended up decided that field wasn’t for me specifically because of the amount of time it required.
But I do agree that you can make huge strides in your career if you commit to the job in the way you describe here in this post. I just think it sets a precedent that your employer is going to expect you to live up to from there on. If you get promoted because you put in a lot of at-home time to the job, they’re going to expect that from you after your promotion.
Then again, I’m of the camp that believes you can make enough money. And if a job isn’t fulfilling (most of them aren’t), I say go that extra mile and make sure they realize you’re an asset. But don’t sacrifice the rest of your life to work, even in the early years, because your job will never love you back.