“If your work is your self, when you cease to work, you cease to exist.” – Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
Hmmmm.
I came across this quote and it stopped me in my tracks. It made me ponder my own professional/work journey and how I thought about my self and my work.
The mantra of “work hard and you”ll be recognized or rewarded for it” certainly was something I had been brought up on and believed in. And the idea of “climbing the corporate ladder to the corner office” was one I was very familiar with. When I got that corner office, I realized I didn’t want many of the things that came with it!
So I left and became an entrepreneur. But, this idea of work being my "self” stayed with me. In fact - it may have gotten worse because the standards I was trying to live up to were so tied to the success of the business, how much money I was making and what notoriety I was achieving. And that all battled with the life I thought I was going to have running my own business. Sound familiar?
Our experience over the last two years has challenged us in so many ways. And while we may have known this, one of the biggest lessons learned is that work and life are not synonymous. You DO NOT cease to exist when you are not working. And for women, we often just move to the next job of parenting, housekeeping, etc. Which of course adds to always being ON.
The research is clear - being always on is not good for you or your company.
The always on culture that has been created is and needs to, crumble. It’s why employees are demanding a different type of workplace and resigning if they don’t have it, it’s why we don’t see people rushing back to jobs they didn’t like and lost during the pandemic, etc. It’s why you may also be asking yourself ”What should things look like for ME IN 2022?”
As you take time this holiday season to enjoy your loved ones, reflect back on the past year and plan for the year to come - consider testing out some of the following tips to “turn off” things - if even for a little bit.
Redefine “productive”.
Are you like me and prone to thinking the “ideal or successful worker” works hard and puts in 60-80 hours a week? Studies have shown that productivity drops when you work more than 50 hours a week. Additionally, another study found that leadership can’t tell the difference between those who actually do work 80 and those who pretend to.
In his book, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang says that “deliberate rest, is the true key to productivity, and will give us more energy, sharper ideas, and a better life.” Rest not just for your body but your mind is necessary to keep you functioning at your highest levels. Shift from many hours = great productivity to highest, best use of energy = productivity.
Put hard stops in place.
This article does a great job of explaining hard stops and why they are necessary. It helps you manage Parkinson’s Law (or the Goldfish Bowl Issue as I learned from Debra Arbit) that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
Design for YOUR “human experience.”
Ash Phillips and Miro LaFlaga share how they redesigned their lives to fulfill the needs of their “end users”: themselves. In this Creative Mornings/Montreal talk they their whys and hows. There are some great, practical ideas that you can put into place for yourself in this 20 minute talk.
Turn it OFF.
This probably can be the hardest thing. But truly turning things off is key. I recently took a 3 week vacation where I truly turned things off. It was AMAZING! And while people said - well your business allows for that - I think that anyone could do this. All I did was follow my advice I give to others - both owners and professionals - and it worked.
Try “turning off” for your holiday - an hour or two, a day, a few days, a week. It might be as simple as shutting down your computer or deleting your work email off of your phone.
I guarantee you that you’ll learn a lot from the experience and maybe find a way to start some new habits that let you turn things off more often.
