A career provides a higher sense of purpose a job provides an income. If you are lucky enough to have a career - as opposed to a job - then you should embrace the work-life imbalance. People who have jobs, rather than careers, worry about work-life balance because they are unable to have fun at work. Technology has not only eliminated the boundaries between work and life, but also improved both areas. Reality is over-rated, especially compared to cyberspace. Did you ever try to figure out why it is so hard to stop checking your smartphone, even when you are having dinner with a friend you haven’t seen in ages, celebrating your anniversary, watching a movie, or out on a first date? It’s really quite simple: None of those things are as interesting as the constant hum of your e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter account. Technology has not ruined your work-life balance, it has simply exposed how boring your work and your life used to be. And if you don’t love what you are doing right now, you should try something else - it is never too late for a career change.

Do what you love and you will love what you do, which will also make you love working harder and longer. But when you find the right job, or the right person, no amount of time is enough. Work is just like a relationship: Spending one week on a job you hate is as dreadful as spending a week with a person you don’t like. Put simply, a little bit of meaningless work is a lot worse for you than a great deal of meaningful work. Unsurprisingly, the 10 most workaholic nations in the world account for most of the world’s GDP.Įngagement is the difference between the bright and the dark side of workaholism. Exceptional achievers live longer, and they pretty much work until their death. Every significant achievement in civilization (from art to science to sport) is the result of people who worked a lot harder than everyone else, and also happened to be utterly unconcerned about maintaining work-life balance. Workaholics tend to have higher social status in every society, including laidback cultures like those found in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, or South America. Indeed, once you are smart-enough or qualified to do a job, only hard work will distinguish you from everyone else. Hard work may be your most important career weapon. Maybe it’s time to redefine the work-life balance - or at least stop thinking about it.

By the same token, any amount of work will be dull if you are not engaged, or if you find your work unfulfilling. Overworking is really only possible if you are not having fun at work. When you hate your job, you will register any amount of work as excessive - it’s like forcing someone to eat a big plate of food they dislike, then asking if they had enough of it. If something bores you, it will surely seem tedious.

Most of the studies on the harmful effects of excessive work rely on subjective evaluations of work “overload.” They fail to disentangle respondents’ beliefs and emotions about work. They do not die of hard work.” This is especially true if your work is meaningful. As the great David Ogilvy once said: “Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. Why is everybody so concerned about work-life balance?Īccording to one urban legend, based on 1950s pop psychology*, workaholics are greedy and selfish people who are bound to die from a heart attack.

Work life balance books