Striking the Balance in Life 2 – Not everything can be work

We’ve all met people, assuming it’s not your case, that are addicted to work. In English, there is even a word for this: Workaholics, which derives from the words “work” and “alcoholics”. These are persons that for one reason or another work too many hours every day, they rest almost nothing on weekends and when they are vacationing, they are also working. Some people do it because they love their work, other by conviction and others because they have needs that are fulfilled by working that much.

It can be quite positive to be a good worker, loving what you do for a job and dedicate a vast amount of time on this job. However, extremes are often negative. For this series of articles where I talk about the equilibrium in the different aspects of life, we have to strive for balance. Following on the previous idea, it’s quite important to understand that not everything has to be work.

Its almost normal for Entrepreneurs to dedicate long hours of work on their entrepreneur projects. On one end, you’ll find entrepreneurs that still have a normal paying job and work on their projects afterhours on their spare time. At the other end are entrepreneurs who are trying to make their projects a success, and are investing long hours of work for this to happen. It’s not strange to see entrepreneurs who are working 60, 80 or more hours per week, something that is not ideal.

For many entrepreneurs, working so many hours is temporal, but this might last for several years. It’s quite understandable that the entrepreneur wants to do everything in his reach to make his project a success, including working long hours. However, this is not an ideal situation, for both temporal and permanent situations.

Whatever the situation is, we must look for equilibrium and balance. Our mission is to seek alternatives to mix our work with other type of activities. For example, activities such as doing some type of exercise, spending quality time with your family, reading a book and seeing movies, among others, should be part of your priorities.

You might be working more time than the rest of people, yet never forget to do other activities, as this can be dangerous. If you don’t do this, your quality of life can be affected and instead of reaching for your goals, you might be doing the opposite.

Next week I’ll publish the next article of this series, for this very important but often neglected topic.

Image taken from Flickr.com