Why It Matters
Work life balance: it’s an issue that’s just about as controversial as politics or religion, and only a thousand times more pressing to talk about in day-to-day living.
Think about it: when was the last time you had to miss work because someone in your family passed away? While you may have used the opportunity to ponder on God’s plan, or battle with local judges in court over who-gets-what from the deceased, you also most certainly had to deal with who? Getting time off from work.
More reasons to consider (maybe even reconsider) your work-life balance:
It’s the reason your parents missed out on watching your basketball games as a kid.
It’s the reason for when your family member realizes she has a disease, and you’re not there for her comfort.
It’s the reason we miss time for play. It’s because we’re spending time on work.
All this being said, I (and presumably a lot of the people reading this) am not going to pull back their ambitions to enjoy life more. Love it or hate it, work-life balance seems to be an issue we treat like underage drinking, or mental health: it can irk your daily routine, but most of us won’t take drastic action until something truly terrible impacts us. For example, when I was a high school freshman who was teased by a couple of seniors, my experience was the mental health effects were relatively easy to shrug off. However the same cannot be said for later on in my high school years, when someone I personally knew took her own life, most likely because of pressure to succeed in school and extracurriculars.
Meet Edwin
So how does one manage their work-life balance? I am not sure, but that’s why I asked people I reached out to Edwin Smith to come on my podcast.
Edwin Smith is an engineer at Google. One of the reasons I started The UPStarts Podcast was to create a platform where average people like myself could learn how people like Edwin manage to lead successful professional careers, and still somehow manage the ups and downs of their personal well being, as well as handling their roles and responsibilities in family and community life.
Case in point, as a show of his mental maturity Edwin Smith actually had a family member pass away while I was preparing this episode, and requested we hold off on the interview until after he had reached closure.
What I’ve Learned: Work-Life Balance
The link to the full, 10 minute episode is here.
- Be there for the family: they will be with you until the very end, and you want to place your life’s bets on what’s the most long-lasting.
- Advice for students: it doesn’t matter how far you go in life. No matter the company you go to, if you spend your efforts the right way it will mean infinitely more for the satisfaction you feel towards your overall professional career.
- Closing thoughts: the decisions you make with your life may not always be in your control, and that’s okay: they are still yours to make. Even when the situation looks tough, remember that even the tallest mountains look small, when you are willing to fly high enough above the ground, and look at them from above.
The best way (or the way that you will least regret) to make decisions is to make sure you look at the long term, rather than your decisions in the moment. Life is crazy, and you can decide to make that a reason you choose to make it meaningful. It’s too short not to enjoy. For example, if you knew this day would be your last, wouldn’t that make it a lot easier to make the most of it?
