‘Work-life balance’.
This ‘buzzword is something you’ll get used to hearing when you start working and tbh rightly so. Work-life balance essentially becomes one of the most important things you have to manage for the rest of your adult life once you finish your education.
However, the main issue around work-life balance is what is the balance.
Some people will say that early on in your career you should focus more towards work on the work-life balance scale while some say your job is just a ‘job’ and you should always aim to maintain a balance.
Now my view is that it’s complex (I know, cop-out!)
But really it depends on your career field and personal career aspirations. As someone with high hopes for my career, I believe that your work-life balance should be slightly unbalanced in your early career years as these are the years which will form the base and trajectory of your future career. Now yes your career is never linear and you can’t always control it but I believe you can definitely give yourself a better path by putting in the graft early on in your career. The compounding effect from putting in those extra hours or taking on that extra responsibility at work is so large in your early career as they can open doors you may not be able to later down your career.
Also If you think about it, the early years of your career are probably the only time you can have such an unbalanced lean towards work in your work-life balance as your commitments will be at it least across your life.
Now this is not that you need to work 70 hours a week in your 20s to get ahead and completely negate your work-life balance, but think about what your personal goals are and act accordingly. Delayed gratification is a powerful tool and it works the same way with your work-life balance and what you’re willing to delay for future benefit.
So after all this rumbling, you’re probably thinking - how do I know what the right work-life balance is?
To me, ask yourself,
How early am I in my career?
How much learning do I have to be competent in my career?
What do I want to get out of my Career?
Your answers to these 3 questions should help you give you a rough indicator.
This week’s newsletter probably felt more like a rambling but I just wanted to share my thoughts on a subject I’ve wrestled - and struggled with - across my career to date.
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