One of my recent blogs was about a friend who felt guilty about taking time off from work. She stated that when she wasn’t working she felt guilty and that she should be doing something that was work related.
You might also remember from the same blog about the mother who was glad that her children had gone away so that she could work and that it would be a challenge to have to "get back to parenting" upon their return.
I have since had cause to think more about these two statements as I am coming across more and more people who place the importance of their work and jobs above the importance and value of their home and their family.
Of course I am only too aware that we all need to work. That we need to provide for our families, and that without an income we cannot feed and clothe our family. That being said it is an ongoing challenge not to let everything get out of balance, and not to put work above family.
I have always believed that one needs to build their work around their family's needs, and not the family around the business needs. It is understood that we can so easily become engrossed in our work with the challenges, decisions, and responsibilities that accompany a job but we must step back and not let anything interfere with the sole purpose of working, and that is to provide for the family.
When we become too engrossed in our work what happens is that so often love flies out the door. Kids become a hindrance, partners appear to be unsporting, everyday needs of the family become distractions to our work and we can’t wait for the weekend to be over so that we can get back to work.
A friend of mine is currently studying for exams, exams that if passed will be a step further towards a much higher and well deserved income. Always a good thing to do for the family will benefit from the hard work. However, in some people, the desire and need to get the highest marks, get 100%, to be top of the class is of such paramount importance that nothing else matters other than that target of 100%. And this friend of mine is not alone. There are many of us out there where being the best, being #1 is seen to be the ultimate achievement. And that’s OK but only if it’s not to the detriment of the family.
At the end of the day just passing an exam, to the best of one’s ability is just as good as getting 100%. In all the interviews that I have ever carried out not once have I asked a candidate what marks they got, all I need to know is did they get the grade, and can they apply what they have learned.
I don’t want an employee who cares more about their work than their family because an uncaring employee will always lack empathy and eventually become an uncaring manager.
When we worry too much about our jobs and not enough about our family we stand the risk of losing both the family and the job.
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