Leave Your Work On Time, And Don’t Take It Home With You
Author: Darius Foroux Source: DariusForoux.com
These two lessons are true for every person who wants a long, happy, and satisfying career.
But it’s very hard to put that advice into practice. It took me the first six years of my career to figure that out. And I still have to remind myself that life is bigger than work.
Almost everywhere that I’ve worked in the past, there was a “perception is reality” culture.
That means looks are more important than reality. In other words: The person who’s in the office the longest appears to be the hardest worker. Now, that may be true.
But that’s not what matters. We all know that the only thing that counts is results. However, we collectively insist on looking at vanity factors like participation in meetings, hours spent at the office, and how fast people respond to emails.
It’s pathetic. At our family business, we encourage everyone to leave when they are done for the day. We’ve learned that focusing on priorities is a much better metric than only looking at the hours someone works.
And still, people find it uncomfortable to say, “I’ve finished my top priorities, I’m going home.” I get it. When you work in a group, you don’t want to make others feel bad or that things are unfair.
But think about why you’re working in the first place. You’re there to contribute. To your own company, or the company you work for.
Working Too Long Is Unproductive
Now, I’m sure people love to be in your presence for 10 hours a day, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick around so long that you become unproductive. Because that’s one of the main reasons we’ve stopped working standard 9 or 10 hour days. It’s useless.
There’s a large body of research that proves working long hours is counterproductive.
Working too much and the stress that goes along with it can lead to depression, sleep problems, impaired memory, and even heart disease.
You get the idea. That’s why my first rule of work is this:
Leave On Time
The other day I was talking to my mentor about how great it is to love your job. He said: “I’ve never had a job in my life that I didn’t love. It’s one of the most gratifying things in life.”
But like my mother always says, “too much of a good thing becomes bad.” I believe that’s the same with work. Now, I’m not talking about intensity.
Don’t get me wrong, I work my ass off. Always have done. But just don’t go on for too long.
The art of working hard is knowing when to quit. But like my mentor told me, that’s very hard: “My biggest problem was that I worked too much. I left the house at 7 AM and came back 11 PM. That’s too much.”
You must protect yourself against too much work.
And it’s straightforward. Just leave the office on time.
Whether you love your job or not — it doesn’t matter. When it’s time to go home, GO!
No one needs you to be at the office 24/7. Only your ego does. Honestly, the office will be here tomorrow. Your co-workers will still be alive. You company will not go bust.
Work is about achieving results. If you can’t do that in 6–8 hours a day, you’re not effective. So instead of working overtime, read a book on personal effectiveness or get productivity training.
#Happiness #Career #MentalHealth #WorkLifeBalance #CareerAdvice