Jake over at Jake on Jobs posted this on his blog
It is food for thought if you are complaining about how hard you are working and would like a better work life balance. For me I took an opportunity that allowed me to quit my job and find one that didn’t suck so much.
Take some time to look at Jake’s blog, http://www.jakeonjobs.com/ it has some really great stuff.
Work/Life Balance Isn’t Healthy for 20-Somethings
20-somethings shouldn’t be worried about working too hard or too much, especially in this economy.
If you like your job, then now is the time to work your butt off so that when you have more life responsibilities (i.e. family) you’ll have more autonomy and scheduling flexibility. If you don’t like your job, then now is the time to work your butt off so that you can develop the skills to get the job you want.
Work/Life Balance isn’t a healthy plan of attack for 20-somethings.
Let’s say that I’m 24 and I work for company I don’t care about, for a boss I resent, in a town that doesn’t excite me. I can’t quit cold turkey because I need the money for rent, food, etc. When my work day ends should I:
a.) Study another industry that gives me more energy.
b.) Hit the Internet and learn about other cities that intrigue me.
c.) Network (in-person or online) with people in said industries and cities.
d.) Grab a drink with some friends so that I can unwind after my stressful day.
A, b, and c require after-work focus, but they will be more satisfying than d. I won’t be able to unwind with one drink. Instead, I will likely have several drinks, which will make me feel even worse about my unsatisfying existence. Not to mention, that I’ll drop 20 bucks in the process.
Similarly, if I go home and watch three episodes of CSI, my stress won’t disappear. Instead, it will just wait until I claim in bed and then haunt me until I fall asleep.
Look, I understand that, in theory, the Work/Life concept is intended to add fulfillment and depth to life. It’s about making sure that we carve our time for exercise, volunteer work, and cuddling. All of that is important. I get that. However, I have run across too many 20-somethings who use “work/life” as an excuse to work less, drink more, and play XBOX.
Therefore, I stand by my assertion that Work/Life balance is not something 20-somethings should be worried about. Instead, my suggestion is to work your butt off until you find a job that doesn’t feel like work.
Think about how relaxed and balanced you’ll feel.
Twitter Updates
Luke,
This is my favorite line, “work your butt off until you find a job that doesn’t feel like work.” I didn’t figure this out until I was 33 years old. I graduated in the last recession. I spent the first years of my career working my butt off, but only to make money. I ended up in a high-paying job, but with a serious set of ‘golden-handcuffs.’ I loved the money but hated the job and the person I had become. So, I ended up giving myself a major career do-over. I wish I had followed your advice and pushed myself to find what inspired me early in my career. (But then, perhaps it was a good thing because I might not be doing what I do now if I hadn’t made those mistakes.)
Your advice to work until you find the right thing for you is great. You learn a lot about yourself in the process. I hope what you’ve written inspires more frustrated 20somethings to not check out but stay in the game and keep working until they find the right career path for them.
Just tweeted your post and hope everyone takes time to read it!
JT
Twenty somethings are just in the beginning of their “work/life”–so it doesn’t surprize me that they would rather get drunk and play XBOX (because that’s what they did in college) than do something proactive for their career after 8 hours of work. The point is, you’re going to hit a wall eventually so you might as well get your head in the game and do what you gotta do to get to a place where you’ll love what you do.
@JT: Thank you for the kind words, check out Jake Greene at Jakeonjobs.com, he is the author of the post, you are right he is bang on the money about working until you find the right thing for you.
I am trying a different tack, I am taking a mini-retirement with the goal to find that “job that doesn’t feel like work”, I realize that not everyone gets this chance, but watch me go!
When I first started reading this article I was in complete disagreement. Life really should and needs to be a balance between work and pleasure. Someone close to me just had a hard attack at age 50 and it’s very obvious that the reason was due to his lifestyle. Waking up at 4am to go do manual labor until about 7pm, then come home and eat a big dinner and pass out, only to wake up and do it all over again. The stress and constant state of being tired finally caught up to him and his body let him know that he needed to slow his life down. On that note, I agree completely with your article when you say that 20-somethings need to strap down and get the wheels turning. College seems to just be a 4 year party where classes only get in the way of getting drunk. This mentality is the reason why college students graduate and THEN start looking to start their career. Working hard in school will focus your goals and career, so that you can manage other aspects later on (family, payments, work).
Great Blog!
I definitely agree with you.
Most college students don’t think about getting a job until they are in their first or second semester of their senior year. By this time most of them want to go to the bar with their friends and soak up every last bit of college life they can, rather than put in a couple hours a week to find a job.
I agree with A,B, and C. I think if people are really serious about getting their dream job they need to take an active role in doing so. It’s not just going to magically appear one day. Focus after work and get some research done on potential careers you could see yourself doing. It will save you that 20 bucks you would have spent at the bar and it will make you feel better about yourself. “Work your butt off” during the week after you get out of work to find your dream job and save the partying for the weekend.
I recently read an article on Careerealism.com called “10,000 Hour Rule: Why young Workers Struggle after College (and why some seasoned professionals do too!)”
Article Abstract: “the 10,000 Hour Rule says no one gets to the top of their field unless they log at least 10,000 hours of practice. That’s right – 10,000 hours!”
I think you should check it out it could give you some good advice.
Jake,
Do we (gen Y) really seem this lazy and full of excuses? Personally, I’m a go getter, I can’t stop working sometimes and I take pride in that.
I don’t know if I have done this subconsciously or accidentally but I have surrounded myself with some amazing friends that have similar mindsets and work themselves into the ground.
I would say that I have more things on my plate than the average person my age but that is because I love trying new things, and I stick with it. For example, I am a full time college student, I am a Corporal of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, I am an active member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, I have two part time jobs and I just started an Internship this semester.
I keep seeing these articles about my generation being extremely lazy and having this sense of entitlement that disgusts older generations. I have seen my fair share of the lazy gen Y but I can’t help but think of “that 70’s show”. Eric the son is lazy and his father (the older generation) is not, he is the military man that puts the food on the table.
any thoughts?
@Anthony: I can’t speak for Jake, ask him over at Jakeonjobs.com.
I think the perception from other generations is that Gen Y has everything handed to them, this amounts to a stereotypical view of our Generation. It is very difficult to find a person who lives up to a stereotype, you sound like you are more hard working than most people, let alone those of us who are Gen Y!
I went through college while working 40 hours a week (In NZ that is classed as a full time job), I didn’t complain, but I still got lots of stick for being a lazy student from older generations! In NZ up until the late ’80’s you could go to University (College) for free, I had to pay, the older generations also forget this fact.
As for Eric and Red, maybe its an age thing rather than a generational change, perhaps the change from being the laid back Eric to the “hard ass” Red occurs when you have to provide for a family?
@Josh: Thanks for the comment, I have heard about the 10,000 hour rule, “It takes10,000 hours of deliberate practice to really master a subject area or skill”. I read about it in Malcolm Galdwell’s book “Outliers”. It makes a lot of sense you have to do the time to reach the top!
When I first started reading this article I was in complete disagreement.
Life really should and needs to be a balance between work and pleasure.
Someone close to me just had a hard attack at age 50 and it’s very obvious
that the reason was due to his lifestyle. Waking up at 4am to go do manual
labor until about 7pm, then come home and eat a big dinner and pass out,
only to wake up and do it all over again. The stress and constant state of
being tired finally caught up to him and his body let him know that he
needed to slow his life down. On that note, I agree completely with your
article when you say that 20-somethings need to strap down and get the
wheels turning. College seems to just be a 4 year party where classes only
get in the way of getting drunk. This mentality is the reason why college
students graduate and THEN start looking to start their career. Working hard in school will focus your goals and career, so that you can manage other
aspects later on (family, payments, work).
Great Blog!
I think that this article is great and so true. As a college senior who is graduating in this terrible recession, I may end up in a job that is not what I really want to be doing. However, if that is what occurs with me, I will remember your suggestion to “to work your butt off until you find a job that doesn’t feel like work.” So thanks!
First off, I couldn’t agree more with the discussion already going on about this article. I personally am tired of the stereotypes commonly attached to my generation (i.e. generation Y) and it is a shame that they are so easily perpetuated by a select few.
I would like to add one general idea I have learned, which I think goes hand in hand with “working your butt off,” and that is to keep moving forward. The worst type of action truly is inaction, and this caveat easily generalizes to one’s career path.
So basically, I think that any step forward, whether it is taking on an entry level job for a marketing company or taking on an internship at an NPO, is a step in the right direction because you are always learning and developing the skills necessary to get ahead.
@Brian: I agree with your comment about moving forward, this is important because when you are moving forward you are on the look out for opportunity and with the momentum you carry when moving you are able to take advantage of any opportunities that come your way.
Jake, I think part of the process is the education and employment system. Not a lot of companies have take your daughter or son to work days anymore. I think it is very unrealistic to think that people should be expected to know what they want to major in and spend the rest of their life doing w/o any exposure to the field. There are field trips to museums, etc but how about some shadow days in high school? If high schoolers were able to shadow professionals then people would start thinking about their careers earlier and maybe not have to waste so much time finding themselves in college and after college or changing their profession mid-career.