In her article on the Harvard Business Review blog, Why can’t we stop working?, Dorie Clark analyzes the behavior of professionals – that is, our own.
Unfortunately, we sometimes find ourselves in these examples. Here are the most important ideas from her article:
- Each of us has moments when we choose to work even while on vacation
- Work gives us immediate satisfaction. Its ROI shows up quickly; we receive feedback and raises, bonuses, or even general approval
- Family does not. Even though it can sometimes seem boring, annoying, and discouraging, it is what provides us with long-term satisfaction. Harvard researcher Daniel Gilbert showed how children do not increase parents’ short-term happiness: in fact, in daily life, parents prefer almost anything over spending time with their children. However, Clay Christensen points out that many professionals find themselves in mid-life with divorces and alienated from their families because they do not distinguish between short-term and long-term satisfaction, between family life and professional life.
- Another challenge, Shawn Achor points out, is that we do not understand the relationship between happiness and success. We assume professional triumph comes first: I will be happy when I get into the school I want! I will be happy when I’m in the Top 300! But in fact, it’s the other way around! Success is the result of happiness, not vice versa. And yet, many executives work tirelessly, seeking a goal – happiness – that does not come from professional achievements. Happiness is the precursor to success. Every relationship, business, or educational achievement improves when the brain thinks positively first. – Shawn Achor
- For many top professionals, the idea of working less is at least unsettling, due to the fear that it might affect their career. In part, this anxiety is exaggerated. People are subject to a bias called framing: they are more afraid of losses than they are happy about a gain. Thus, we frame any career deceleration as a loss of potential and as a disastrous mistake. However, in more complicated situations, in fields with fierce competition, such as investment banking or the legal field, long hours are mandatory.
- We are tempted to follow the examples of top entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk of Tesla Motors, who has been divorced twice, is a father of five, and took only one vacation in four years.
- Sometimes, the pressure to keep up with work at maximum intensity can be exhausting. As other consultants state, dividing yourself daily between collaborators, the people you mentor, and clients is not easy. And that’s because each of them has their own expectations regarding you.
- Even if we know that work isn’t that good for us, it’s hard to step back. We may not be as extreme as the investment bank intern in London who died after working 72 hours straight to impress his bosses. But if we aren’t careful, it can kill our most important relationships in 10-20 years.
- True success represents identifying our real priorities and experiencing satisfaction today, not projecting it into a mythological future when “I will be happy when…”
Regardless of what you are working on, give yourself a break to “smell the roses.” At the end of each day, take time to congratulate yourself on that day’s achievements. And in the morning, recap them again.
It will help you do more each day, because the idea of having achieved what you set out to do can give you wings.
For this, however, you need planning. More on this subject in a future post.
