career drive and work life balance

boardie100

how many of you are very career driven to the point where your outside life suffers?.... As i get older I find myself more and more reluctant to do any extra work outside my 40 hour week as i value my free time a lot more now with having young child.
I dont by any means have a brilliant/highly paid job but the one i'm in at the moment is a lot less stressful than my previous one in that i can get my work down in the normal week plus i can remote work some days (saving commuting time)...
At some point i will probably have to move to get a bump in wages but to be honest it would have to be sizeable to give up the current position... I guess i value my free time more than money.

So what about you boardsies.... how is your work life balance?... do you work all the hours god sends or are slightly lazier like me

allibastor

boardie100 wrote: »

how many of you are very career driven to the point where your outside life suffers?.... As i get older I find myself more and more reluctant to do any extra work outside my 40 hour week as i value my free time a lot more now with having young child.
I dont by any means have a brilliant/highly paid job but the one i'm in at the moment is a lot less stressful than my previous one in that i can get my work down in the normal week plus i can remote work some days (saving commuting time)...
At some point i will probably have to move to get a bump in wages but to be honest it would have to be sizeable to give up the current position... I guess i value my free time more than money.

So what about you boardsies.... how is your work life balance?... do you work all the hours god sends or are slightly lazier like me

All depends, for me I am in a job now where I am doing about 90% of what I wanted to do all along and not killing myself for it, and its close to home.

I know other who work like 70+ hours a week and seem miserable, but dont seem to want to change cause of the buzz of work. I know a few who have lost significant others in their life yet work long hours and miss out on kids, and others again who take a backseat with work as life is short.

It all depends on what you want to do and how you want to live your life!!!

If you are comfortable with never owning a jet yourself then take the 40 hours and live your life outside of it.

Boom_Bap

For my first 8 years in my company I worked my socks off doing crazy hours and travelling around the world without hesitation. Because of that effort I've gotten myself into a decent position now where I don't work longer hours consistently and have more of a home life with the kids.

Moving forward, I know how to balance work/life better and know that I have a massive influence on being able to change that balance on my terms.

dudara

Like Boom_Bap, I've put in a lot of long hours and a hell of a lot of travel. It was great as I got to know many people in our organisation and I met many clients also. Plus it helped push me quickly up the career and salary ladder.

I'm still very ambitious at work but those promotions are going to be harder to get now, as there are only two more grades remaining for me in my organisation. So now my work is more strategic. I still work long hours, but at my choosing. I place a very high value on my personal life and I ring fence that from work. Once I finish on a Friday, I don't check mails until Monday morning. Emails are switched off on my phone when I'm off for longer periods.

Work hard, play hard

c68zapdsm5i1ru

The older I get, the less interested I am in office politics, job titles, prestigious projects etc.

As long as I'm earning enough to pay my mortgage and have a reasonably comfortable life, that's sufficient. My life and interests outside of work are far more important than my 'career'.

I'd say I'm typical of a lot of people. When you're younger you're more conscious of trying to keep up with other people, be seen to have all the right stuff and so on. As life goes on you learn to sort out your priorities and realise what's really important. I think, for me, that process started after my dad died. It was my first major bereavement and I started to look at life very differently.

kjl

I'm with you OP, doing 10 hours a day atm and it sucks, but the last few months before that I was on the bench and kinda took the piss.

I am only 1 week into it so there will be some adjustment.

boardie100

Aranza Attractive Beard wrote: »

The older I get, the less interested I am in office politics, job titles, prestigious projects etc.

As long as I'm earning enough to pay my mortgage and have a reasonably comfortable life, that's sufficient. My life and interests outside of work are far more important than my 'career'.

I'd say I'm typical of a lot of people. When you're younger you're more conscious of trying to keep up with other people, be seen to have all the right stuff and so on. As life goes on you learn to sort out your priorities and realise what's really important. I think, for me, that process started after my dad died. It was my first major bereavement and I started to look at life very differently.

I feel exactly the same but i sometimes feel guilty for not pushing myself harder....
Its just the way i see it, we're not around forever and as the old saying goes you'll never hear anyone saying they wished they spent more time working on their death bed.
The way i see it anyone working 60/70 hours for years and years a week cant be truly happy with life at that time...
I guess it can be hard to find the balance though

Mesrine65

Work to live...

_Brian

boardie100 wrote: »

I feel exactly the same but i sometimes feel guilty for not pushing myself harder....
Its just the way i see it, we're not around forever and as the old saying goes you'll never hear anyone saying they wished they spent more time working on their death bed.
The way i see it anyone working 60/70 hours for years and years a week cant be truly happy with life at that time...
I guess it can be hard to find the balance though

It all depends on the person..
I have a friend about 50 and his kids are late teens, he's always worked about 60/80 hours a week and loves it. Never feels like he wants more time at home, after 2-3 days holidays he's itching to get back to work, finds Christmas boring. I asked him about time off at home and his reply was "why, I'd just be hanging round the house with the kids".

I worked awful long shift hours for 15 years, but I intentionally left that life when my kids came along. Home time to me is the priority and if I could wrangle down to a 4 day week I would happily do so. Money is tighter now but you adjust your lifestyle quickly.

Mena

42 and live to work. Totally career focused and yes it's impacted my personal life but it's a decision my wife and I agreed to.

And it pays way over the odds :-)

I have specifically rejected numerous changes of job - salary - and promotion for fear of breaking the delicate work:life balance I have cultivated over the last years. I could probably be earning quite a bit more money than I am now - but at the expense of the hobbies - health and fitness - investment in my family, children and partners - DIY - friends - and much more that I try to fill my life with.

topper75

The OP hinted at the idea that working a MERE 40 hour week is lazy.

:mad:

_Brian wrote: »

.... I asked him about time off at home and his reply was "why, I'd just be hanging round the house with the kids".

Sounds like Jack did indeed become a dull boy.

Mena wrote: »

And it pays way over the odds :-)

Only makes sense if life is a game of accumulation, with St.Peter getting out his abacus to tally your pile on checkout day. I'll gamble that it is not.

uch

I gave up caring about work when my kids were born, once they were fed, I wasn't arséd

These days I'm definitely leaning towards the living bit. I don't get paid for days off or holidays but I can pretty much take time off whenever and that to me is priceless. Money is tight lately but I enjoy the freedom that not working for the man brings.

I will never be a person to chase a big position or pots of money. Instead I'm more likely to be day dreaming as I walk beside the sea or reading my books. Of course I still love going away for a few nights and eating in nice restaurants. These are things I can do but I'll never drive a BMW or live in a trendy area. My clothes won't be designer and I won't be getting regular facials.

That's no problem though because I'm all about the time and the freedom.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

5 figure post counts and raving how hard they work/worked. just seems a bit crazy to me. what are these jobs!? i suppose if you're travelling a lot, there's a load of downtime just waiting around

JohnBee

70 hours per week here. However, paid well, and worth it to provide good life for kids/family. Do they lose out?
I make sure free time is well spent.

Also, I know many 9 to 5ers who spend the evening on the couch. A Long working week just means you have to be wise, and spend your time doing good things and minimize the wasted couch time!

Of course, I do like my job. Otherwise it would be hell!

Mena

topper75 wrote: »

Only makes sense if life is a game of accumulation, with St.Peter getting out his abacus to tally your pile on checkout day. I'll gamble that it is not.

I don't really care about your St. Peter, it's far more about being independently wealthy and ensuring I can and do look after my family. That, and I enjoy the corporate life and love my work so it's not a sacrifice at all.

Each to their own at the end of the day.

boobar

I'm lucky in that I have a well paid job in an area that I really enjoy. Plus my work place is half an hour away.

I've worked the long hours over the years.

Now I make an effort to get home by 6, 3 evenings a week. Still check emails when junior is gone to bed and over the holidays I'd do some work to stay on top of things. So it's not like the minute I get home, I switch off, but I feel I have a good balance achieved.

caille

I have a very good work-life balance and I intend to keep it that way. I enjoy the work itself, conditions, pay is alright and time off is excellent. The one down side is that the company itself favours high fliers, people who work long hours etc and disregard people like myself, who do all their work in the required hours and then go home. It used to bother me, now I really don't care. I have a lot of interests outside of work and things to do and more importantly, I have the energy in the evenings to do them because I am not burnt out from work. I have been there with that and never again.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

PDCAT

43 years old. Used to work long hours and career was very important. Main reason, i focused on it was to make more money for the future. Managed to build house with no mortgage, good six figure sum saved for the future.....

Since kids came along, that's all changed. I'm finishing up in my job tomorrow for a new job in a different company located 5 minutes from my house. Working Compressed work week with 3/4 days off every week.

Taking a decent sized pay cut and job is seasonal (40 weeks per year). Will be signing on for 12 weeks each year. Hope within 4/5 years to make this job a full time 52 week position.
However, taking the risk as want a better work/life balance. Have twin girls (3 years old) and have hobbies (running,cycling, swimming) that i take part in 6 days per week.
Want to spend more quality time with the kids and continue to part take in my health and fitness hobby.

Looking forward to the change and pretty excited about the lifestyle change it will bring.