Like many ambitious professionals, you put in long hours, strive to complete projects on schedule and under budget, and regularly sign up to take on more responsibilities. Your hope is that this hard work will eventually lead to a promotion, better compensation, and more interesting responsibilities. And while this is certainly a great strategy to get ahead, you could be compromising more than you realize. Achieving a proper work-life balance in your career is essential, and if you only live to work, you put both your personal and professional goals at risk. Here’s why:
Burnout Could Jeopardize Your Career
Even the strongest, smartest, hardest-working professionals run the risk of burning out if they put in too much time at work. And that’s not a position that’s easy to come back from. People who burn out often leave their jobs, question their career choices, and flounder through long periods of unemployment. If you like what you do and have ambitions for the future, make sure that you are not working yourself into the ground.
Too Much Work Affects Your Health
The stress of work can have a real and major impact on your health. Professionals who are overworked or personally unsatisfied often have trouble sleeping, develop poor eating habits, neglect exercising, and develop depression and mood swings. None of that is worth it for a job. Spending more time away from work doing things you love with friends and family is typically the best remedy.
Performance Suffers When You Live at the Office
Have you ever noticed how productive you feel when you come back from a vacation? You get more work done faster because you have been refreshed and gained perspective. Conversely, the more you work the less you often get done. Professionals who find a balance between time in and out of the office turn out to be better performers over the long run.
Home Life Starts to Decline in Your Absence
The more time you spend at the office, the less time you spend with friends, family, and the people that really matter to you. Then, when you do get some time away from the office, the time you looked forward to is not as enriching as you had hoped. Friends are distant, family is unhappy, and you feel uncomfortable taking a moment to relax. Don’t throw away what’s really important just to impress your boss.
The good news is that employers are finally starting to understand and acknowledge the importance of work-life balance and take meaningful steps to improve it. If your company is not doing as much as it could, it may be time to look for another opportunity. When you are ready to consider your options for jobs in Pittsburgh, contact JH Technical Services.