I see a lot of praise for being constantly on the go. Somehow it’s become popular to think that if you don’t always have multiple projects going simultaneously and if you’re not feeling exhausted from working around the clock to get everything done, then you’re wasting your time and may even be doing something morally wrong. I completely disagree with that idea. Here’s my take on this.
Underneath the idea that work is the most important thing in life seems to be the idea that work is what gives your life value. In actuality, your value and your worth come from your existence, not from how much or what kind of work you do. Until you accept that, you might attempt to make peace with yourself through your accomplishments. However, no matter how hard you work or what you achieve, you’ll never end your inner civil war through hard work because that’s not how it happens. As long as you base your worth on work, your inner critic will always compare you negatively to someone else who is working harder, accomplishing more, and succeeding more in certain areas than you. This is a recipe for constant dissatisfaction and chronic exhaustion as you attempt to work ever harder in the hope of finding peace.
It’s not about working harder, though. If you’re already working super hard, then working even harder will just burn you out. Burnout makes everything more difficult and makes you much less effective even at simple tasks. Even if you manage to power through a gargantuan amount of work without collapsing immediately after, sooner or later you’ll pay for it. The high level of stress from the endless grind combined with chronic lack of sufficient sleep will likely end your life earlier than if you had taken good care of yourself. What’s more, your final years will be much lower in quality. Check out what Matthew Walker has to say about the importance of sleep if you’re still not convinced that proper self-care is crucial.
I’ve seen the problems with the workaholic approach repeatedly, both in myself and in those close to me. Burning the candle at both ends, working late at night or early in the morning, sacrificing health and well-being to accomplish something much less important, etc. It never ends well. With this approach, there is no “I’ll rest when it’s done”. Once it’s become a habit to put anything and everything above your health, it’s extremely difficult to change that into a habit that prioritizes health. Even if you managed to finish all your current projects, you could still find some excuse as to why you can’t rest yet. There’s always another project that seems indispensable and requires as much of your waking day (and night) as possible. The grind never ends and the rest never comes.
So don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you have too many projects going at one time, scale back by pausing some of them until you’re able to effectively handle your workload. Once you’ve finished a few projects or gotten enough of them to a level that requires much less effort, you can then resume some of your other ventures while maintaining your health and effectiveness. Alternatively, you could look into improving your time management skills in case making a few changes allows you to keep up with all your projects without sacrificing your well-being in the process; even if you still have to scale back, better time management will still make your life much better and your work much more effective. You’ll then have time to actually enjoy what you’ve accomplished instead of simply moving right on to the next big thing. I’ve learned all of this the hard way and I’ll carry these lessons with me for the rest of my life. I hope you learn it the easy way.