My take on goals in life and work-life balance
2023-07-15
For several years now, caring about your work-life balance and thinking about YOUR true goals in life has been a big topic not only in the productivity/personal development scene, but society and media in general. Nonetheless, most seem not to truely have understood what this is actually about, so let me explain my humble take...
Don't get me wrong, there certainly have been many good developments in recent years. Many younger folks have shifted away from the Boomer dream of a 40 h middle-class office job, demanded more flexibility for the way they work from their employers (home office, flexitime, 6 h days or a 4 day week) as well as established the idea of switching professions (even late in your job life) as something completely normal and sometimes even beneficial. Yet, the basic idea of arranging your life around work, only really being productive in your job while following mostly unproductive hobbies (like watching television or streaming content) and therefore focusing on consumption instead of creation in your free time has stayed the same.
Personally, I truely believe however that we shouldn't live to work, but use work to live . What I mean by this is that once you are in a somewhat comfortable position at work and can (easily) keep your head above the water from the earnings, you shouldn't strave for a higher position, work overtime to impress your boss or treat lower-level employess badly to foster the hierachy, but instead reduce hours and focus on the things around your job more. Essentially, I want you to use work to enable you to do what is actually important to you, because frankly most people don't really see a higher meaning in what they do for a living and this often leads to nausea or even mental illness. Obviously, there are jobs that immediately show off their sense and usefulnesss (mostly in the medical, police/security, nature preservation sector as well as craft professions) and this is the ideal situation, but sadly these only make up a small percentage of the available positions these days.
All of this is important, because it creates the framework for you to do the right thing and be beneficial to society . Regardless of what this means for you, it is just way more fulfilling and therefore gives you a more positive attitude in general, since doing bullshit at work and earing lots of money isn't important in the end. People won't remember the wage you earned, your excellent position at a company possibly no longer in existence or your once brand new gadgets. They will remember what you did and whether or not that was something good, which is the only way for us humans to become immortal for sure. You might believe in some religion that promises a great after-life, but you can never be truely sure about it actually working out. What you can be sure about however, is people doing great things staying in public memory - in your local community, your country or even all over the world.
Last but certainly not least, I also want to encourage you to be advanterous , try new things, take risks and most importantly live your dreams . Life is just too short to do things you hate and you will need to settle down early enough. So use the time you have wisely and don't waste it in one of the countless hamster wheels society has (unintentionally) created to keep the citizens within easy to manage boundaries. Explore your surroundings and the world in general, be brave enough to ask unusual questions and especially don't let anyone stop you from doing what you believe in!
To wrap things up, here are my most important points again so that I can be sure you will remember them. Work isn't the most imporant thing in life - build your work around your life, not the other way around. Making as much money as possible isn't the goal in life - focus on doing what feels right and generating a benefit for society instead. And remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS. With that said, I am very curious about your personal opinions on this topic, so feel free to leave a comment down below...