So yaa, how do you like balance work-life-balance and interests. I’m considering a job or however to put it that is known for awful work-life-balance, but is also incredibly interesting, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it😩
Like I do want to get married and have a family and such at some point, but that is in no way guaranteed, especially not considering my circumstances, meanwhile focusing on career seems more safe I suppose😵💫
Work-life balance is about asserting your boundaries at a company which allows you to assert your boundaries. You can’t assert boundaries at a company which will fire you for it, but also most companies aren’t going to refuse extra free labor if you give it to them no matter how good their company culture is.
The issue is I can’t assert boundaries as the period with the worst work-life-balance is a medical residency so I’ll have to tough it out at least until I’m done with residency (which takes 5-8 years🥲)
My boss actively chides and reprimands the workers for “bringing work home” since he was promoted 2 years back from being a SUD Counselor and had a boss who would “nudge” people to work at home off hours
Its the bare minimum but its appreciated
That sounds like a decent boss. Generally in my country work-life-balance is very appreciated and emphasized, but the field I’m going into is known for workaholism. I have a friend whose parents are doctors and they work literally all the time😅
I prioritize life way more than work. I don’t actually care that much about my career. I just want a job that can pay my mortgage, I don’t give a shit about advancing or ladder climbing.
That being said, everyone is different and has different needs and priorities. Although one thing that is the same for everyone is the major benefits to some sort of balance.
I definitely agree. I think I tend to overfill my schedule as then I won’t have any time left to ruminate about the bad parts of my life, and I like being busy as I’m way more productive that way. I generally could see myself happy with a standard cliche family life with a husband and kids, but I don’t know if that will ever be achievable for me considering my circumstances sadly.
Yeah the biggest struggle is finding whatever the balance is for you.
i’ve left jobs that had poor work life balance before and i knew i had that leverage because of my linux acumen.
they’ll drop and kick you to curb without a moment’s notice and it doesn’t matter how much you sacrificed for them or the project; so you would do well to regard them the same way that they’ll regard you when that drop-kicking curb comes around again.
the only possible exception, in my experience, is if you’re natural friends with someone highly placed in management or leadership; but even then it fails more often than not because even tech-bros have their pet issues.
It is in the medical field, so while I’d still be underappreciated, there is such a lack of personnel that the odds of being let go are near zero unless I massively mess up. The main issue is the residency part after I have my degree which will be truly awful work-life-balance-wise, but after that it eases up a bit.
My ideal work-life balance is a 2-3 day workweek. I don’t have that.
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That’s how it is for me too currently. I’ve let my studies and work basically swallow up all of my time😅 In a way I prefer it as then I don’t have time to ruminate or be sad about the things I don’t like about my life😅
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I think it depends entirely on where you are in life. If this can be a temporary stepping stone to something much better then it may be worth it. If it would jeopardize your current lifestyle and relationships (or prevent you from improving in this area) it might not be.
I’m still in my early 20s, but with my current goal/idea in mind I’d be spending most of my 20s and 30s grinding to reach it. My current lifestyle ain’t great as I’m a student, so it would only be worse in regards to hours worked per week.
I work a manual labor job where there are slow times and heavy times. Whenever it’s slow I am the first to volunteer to leave. When the company shuffled around management and we got all new supervisors I told every one individually that I will take any day off any time no matter what. I have never volunteered for overtime. I think I averaged 1 extra day off per week over the last year, some weeks 2 days, some weeks none. I refuse to put myself in the position of most of my coworkers that have massive trucks and huge McMansions who live paycheck to paycheck and that allows me to work less and live more.
This is also my general approach when working. My part-time jobs I’ve had while studying so far I put in a very low effort😅, but at least for part of my training I won’t be able to put in low effort and if I want to achieve this goal I’ll have to keep up my current grind.
This is basically how i am. Week on, week off. Weird hours occasionally, but i never have to pick up the phone on my days off. Beats the hell out of a 9 to 5 in my opinion.
Without doxxing yourself, what kind of job or what field? People meet and fall in love etc in just about any scenario, but if you’re going on a whaling ship or something then yeah it could be tough
A surgical subspecialty (I’m currently in med school), I can specify the specialty further if necessary, but it’s know for having a terrible work-life-balance (at least during residency where you’d be regularly pushing 70+ hours a week).
The main issue is that I’m trans, so dating is a truly terrible nightmare. I can’t really date people I know or people who are related to my network as I would then have to break stealth and out myself, which I want to avoid by any means.
I live once so I pick living. I’ve had employers try to tempt me into working overtime woth extra pay but the case simply is every minute of my personal time that I’m afforded outside of contracted hours is worth like a million pounds a minute, you can’t buy it.
Fairly highly. I’m letting my manager berate me every week and my entire team doesn’t even talk to me anymore because I’m a relatively low performer (i.e. the only one on my team with a life and personality other than work). I do work pretty focused 40-45 hours/week though which says a lot about the WLB on my team
I’m pretty ready to leave my industry though and have decent savings for the first time in my life which is why I’m throwing caution to the wings wrt my career
Only reason why I haven’t quit/worked even less hours is for the visa because my partners and friends here + the weather is so much better than the UK
That sounds awful, 45 hours a week is already quite a lot, I hope you find a good solution.
I see that you moved to the US, which is my plan too (depending on how the coming years play out, but weather is honestly a big factor for me too😅), so I’d also need to stick it out for the visa.
I’m still dealing with the consequences of burnout almost 5 years later, so yeah, I go heavily on the “life” side of work-life balance now.
Burnout can have serious, long-lasting mental and physical health effects. Killing myself for most of my 20s in the name of “getting experience” and “making money” was definitely not worth it, especially because now I don’t know how to work without falling into unhealthy patterns.
I definitely fear this. I’m probably pushing 60+ hours right now between studying, work, extracurriculars, etc.😵💫
How did you know you were burned out, or approaching burnout?
as a uni student, all work and no life. kindof depressing, there’s a good chance I have adhd as well
I prioritize it enough to be healthy and have time for family, friends, and organizing, but will put up with a lot to improve my housing security.
