Hi!
The other day, I read a quote that threw me for a loop. I decided to make a post about it on LinkedIn.
Check it out HERE. Any likes would be greatly appreciated.
Here’s another rehash article. I promise new content coming soon!
Overwhelmed by Work? You Don’t Know How to Spend Your Free Time
Since I’ve started writing about young professionalism, I’ve been surprised by how many people have reached out wanting to talk about work.
The dialogue goes something like this: “I’m overwhelmed! I thought WFH would bring some relief, but work continues to consume my life. But hey, we’re young. Work should consume everything, right?”
Work should consume everything?
As if millennials are tragic heroes from Greek mythology cursed by the gods to relive the Sunday scaries week-in and week-out.
The fact is, sometimes work sucks because we let it suck.
I’m a commercial real estate broker, one of the more competitive “always on the clock” jobs out there. I’ve learned a few things about taming overwhelm, not because I wanted to, but because I’ve felt depleted by that monster before.
Here are a few things you can do to find balance, eliminate burnout, and make work suck less.
Treat your twenties like a marathon, not a sprint
Commercial real estate refers to “time at the office” as a key indicator of success, and applauds the always plugged in 24/7 culture. Meaning, even while on vacation, you should still get some work done.
I beg to differ.
There’s a diminishing return to work quantity; at a certain point, more becomes less. Sabine Sonnetage, an organizational professor at the University of Mannheim in Germany, found that people who don’t unplug from work experience increased exhaustion and become less resilient to stress.
By contrast, placing emotional distance between work and leisure helps the mind recover and even increases long-run productivity.
Our careers are a marathon, not a sprint. Detachment refers to setting aside uninterrupted time for self-care and relationships.
Have the discipline to set office hours. Block time in your calendar when you don’t look at your emails, text, voicemails, or incoming calls. I do this from 5 am — 11 am every day and have seen my productivity and overall positive energy skyrocket.
Trust me on this, those emails can wait.
You won’t find peace binging netflix, find a hobby instead
I binge watch Netflix. That’s my crutch. I love finding new shows, but they’re so dull that my mind always drifts back to work anxieties before too long. It’s not exactly an optimal use of downtime.
Most highly successful people have an intense passion for some type of leisure activity outside of their occupation. A hobby, if you will.
Winston Churchill was a lifelong painter of landscapes. The writer David Sedaris likes to spend his afternoons picking up trash on the street. NBA star Carmelo Anthony is considered an expert oenophile or a “connoisseur of wines.”
The weirdest hobby that I heard recently was from William Gladstone, the four-time Prime Minister of England before the Winston Churchill era. He enjoyed taking an ax to the woods near his country house and chopping down trees.
Hobbies are a more optimal use of downtown than TV and social media because they put your mind in a state of flow. You’re working hard, but you’re giving your mind a break from your daytime occupation, and that’s the point.
The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “the father of flow,” describes the experience as being completely involved in an “activity for its own sake.”
“The ego falls away. Time falls away. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skill to the utmost.”
If you want to get serious about work detachment, find a hobby that places your mind in a state of flow.
Rediscover your love of nature with hiking or camping.
Play basketball with your friends.
Join a book club.
Paint landscapes.
Become a wine connoisseur.
Cut down trees (just remember to replant them).
Find an activity that’s hard but prevents your monkey mind from overthinking.
Ask your boss for fewer hours
Yea, I said it. And this is coming from a guy who romanticizes work.
In a recent interview with Brigid Schulte, the author of Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has The Time, she gives a depressing bit of advice to people wanting to reduce overwhelm:
“Drop out of life, because if you’re going to stay engaged with the business world, you’re just going to be miserable.”
I had to laugh at that quote, perhaps we are all tragic heroes after all!
Alright, the business world will not render your life miserable. We’re not reliving the Industrial Revolution here. But an excess of work hours does often boil down to poor management. Which, believe it or not, you can do something about.
COVID has blurred the lines between work and downtime. What’s more, the fear of profit loss has managers working employees more than they should — perhaps without even realizing it.
If you’re working 90-hour weeks, then it’s time to have a conversation with your manager. It’s on them to either reduce hours or hire additional help.
If you find talking to your manager about work hours worrisome: take an hour to strategize how you would approach the subject. Use these bullets as a guide.
Think of the conversation with your manager as a negotiation. Come in with leverage. Clearly lay out your value to the company.
Describe to your manager the long-term benefit of reduced hours. A well-rested employee, more productivity, and happiness in the long run.
Offer a trial period to see if it works, and if it doesn’t say you will go back to normal hours.
You’re in complete control of your work life
We all have roles we play in life (other than work) that require our attention. We are brothers, sisters, community leaders, athletes, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, sons, daughters, adventurers, artisans, world travelers, activists, and writers.
Careers have a nasty habit of taking these roles away from you. But only if you let it.