I remember when I started work it was like you said 9-9, 7 days a week. But that was when I was young and didn’t mind the push. As you grow older, things changed and more balance is needed. Else life becomes unfulfilling.
I remember writing down on my journal, after the first week of 9 to 9 work, "Does it make sense to live a life waiting for the weekend to come?". But I still kept pushing for another 8-10 years before I could deeply sense the unfulfilling feeling you are talking about.
Thank you for sharing, Livio. I have had an unhealthy relationship with work for the last decade - mostly due to how I enshrined my identity with my company/job. My relationship was toxic because my job became my entire identity. "I am a account executive @ [company]." This is how I would describe myself. Not "I'm an aspiring digital solopreneur, writer and life coach." Basically, I robbed myself of the ability to design a life I wanted because I became completely attached to the job, and that became my life. Looking forward to your next piece, Livio.
Yeah, I can totally relate to that. And, when we are deprived of our job (or we just drop it), we might have an ego crisis. A "Who am I?" type of feeling.
I find it anyway difficult not to identify with something. Also given the need to introduce myself to other people. In the end, we do wear different hats in different circumstances.
Maybe the trick is to have multiple "identities" and be comfortable with switching from one to another depending on the situation? Or just presenting them all at once?
Not sure :) There are Buddhist traditions that spend their all life replying to the koan "Who am I?". Now we might have a hint of the reason for that!
Thanks for taking the time to comment and share your experience, Tobias. Always enlightening.
Your post really hit on me. I experienced a burn out in 2022. After 10 years of constantly working overtime and pursuing achievement after achievement, I just couldn’t continue, rather I didn’t want to.
Fortunately, I was able to quit that job and had the support from my partner, who encouraged me to focus on my health. I’ve learned so much about me in the last 6 months and included healthy habits as part of my life to answer who I wanted to be.
I feel like a better person now. I now it’s still me but with many improvements and life feels so much enjoyable.
Thanks for this post, can’t wait to read all of your thoughtful content.
Thanks, Elena. Seems like we have quite some things in common.
Including the fact I have decided to take a career break at the beginning of 2022!
And the professional background in product development.
Having people around us that support us in these moments is crucial. Happy that you have your husband's support.
What is the main lesson you've learned from the break, if I can ask?
I will soon write an article about mine, but, above all, I would say the main one is "Rest is needed for integration". So that new paths can become clear, insights are incorporated and creativity can flourish!
What a coincidence! And pretty similar to what you’re saying, I learned how important is to rest to continue to move forward.
TBH the first days of the break felt so wrong to me. I was very used to the constant “pushing”, but the fact that I was doing nothing was haunting me. I felt guilty. Later, I understood that it was part of a detox process. Like starting a diet or exercise, forming healthy habits it’s hard at the begining.
After that, I incorporated exercise and meditation in my life. I also started to eat healthier. Suddenly, I felt energized and motivated to try new things, I bought online courses to do yoga and also ceramics! Things that are different from the engeneering path.
Last year helped me to learn that resting unlocks a person's full potential. For me, it amplified inspiration and creativity enough to start writing on Substack and do different projects just for fun. Also, it helped me to redirect my life and career with a bigger sense of purpose!
I’m eager to read your next article, I feel like I’m going to find more similarities in your story 😄
It is interesting how much meditation is a constant in people that end up reading my articles. Pretty intrigued about that.
I think I am not very good with doing projects for the sake of it, but I hope I'll get better at some point ;) I still struggle to stick to activities that are done just for fun.
The pandemic and working from home have allowed me to find more balance in my life. Things were not working before but I didn’t know how to get out of it.
Now I feel I have a chance.
I still catch myself yearning for the weekend to come so there’s still progress to be made.
I do wonder if there’s a case for a 4 day week. Would I get the same amount of work done??
Great article, I can strongly identify with it. It's so easy too pull yourself into work and just to not feel: like you said in the article, it's easier to work then to face your own sh*t.
I remember when I started work it was like you said 9-9, 7 days a week. But that was when I was young and didn’t mind the push. As you grow older, things changed and more balance is needed. Else life becomes unfulfilling.
I remember writing down on my journal, after the first week of 9 to 9 work, "Does it make sense to live a life waiting for the weekend to come?". But I still kept pushing for another 8-10 years before I could deeply sense the unfulfilling feeling you are talking about.
Interesting you say that. I am not sure I have never really enjoyed the push. I just did not know any other way.
Thank you for sharing, Livio. I have had an unhealthy relationship with work for the last decade - mostly due to how I enshrined my identity with my company/job. My relationship was toxic because my job became my entire identity. "I am a account executive @ [company]." This is how I would describe myself. Not "I'm an aspiring digital solopreneur, writer and life coach." Basically, I robbed myself of the ability to design a life I wanted because I became completely attached to the job, and that became my life. Looking forward to your next piece, Livio.
Yeah, I can totally relate to that. And, when we are deprived of our job (or we just drop it), we might have an ego crisis. A "Who am I?" type of feeling.
I find it anyway difficult not to identify with something. Also given the need to introduce myself to other people. In the end, we do wear different hats in different circumstances.
Maybe the trick is to have multiple "identities" and be comfortable with switching from one to another depending on the situation? Or just presenting them all at once?
Not sure :) There are Buddhist traditions that spend their all life replying to the koan "Who am I?". Now we might have a hint of the reason for that!
Thanks for taking the time to comment and share your experience, Tobias. Always enlightening.
Likewise, Livio.
Your post really hit on me. I experienced a burn out in 2022. After 10 years of constantly working overtime and pursuing achievement after achievement, I just couldn’t continue, rather I didn’t want to.
Fortunately, I was able to quit that job and had the support from my partner, who encouraged me to focus on my health. I’ve learned so much about me in the last 6 months and included healthy habits as part of my life to answer who I wanted to be.
I feel like a better person now. I now it’s still me but with many improvements and life feels so much enjoyable.
Thanks for this post, can’t wait to read all of your thoughtful content.
Thanks, Elena. Seems like we have quite some things in common.
Including the fact I have decided to take a career break at the beginning of 2022!
And the professional background in product development.
Having people around us that support us in these moments is crucial. Happy that you have your husband's support.
What is the main lesson you've learned from the break, if I can ask?
I will soon write an article about mine, but, above all, I would say the main one is "Rest is needed for integration". So that new paths can become clear, insights are incorporated and creativity can flourish!
What a coincidence! And pretty similar to what you’re saying, I learned how important is to rest to continue to move forward.
TBH the first days of the break felt so wrong to me. I was very used to the constant “pushing”, but the fact that I was doing nothing was haunting me. I felt guilty. Later, I understood that it was part of a detox process. Like starting a diet or exercise, forming healthy habits it’s hard at the begining.
After that, I incorporated exercise and meditation in my life. I also started to eat healthier. Suddenly, I felt energized and motivated to try new things, I bought online courses to do yoga and also ceramics! Things that are different from the engeneering path.
Last year helped me to learn that resting unlocks a person's full potential. For me, it amplified inspiration and creativity enough to start writing on Substack and do different projects just for fun. Also, it helped me to redirect my life and career with a bigger sense of purpose!
I’m eager to read your next article, I feel like I’m going to find more similarities in your story 😄
It is interesting how much meditation is a constant in people that end up reading my articles. Pretty intrigued about that.
I think I am not very good with doing projects for the sake of it, but I hope I'll get better at some point ;) I still struggle to stick to activities that are done just for fun.
The pandemic and working from home have allowed me to find more balance in my life. Things were not working before but I didn’t know how to get out of it.
Now I feel I have a chance.
I still catch myself yearning for the weekend to come so there’s still progress to be made.
I do wonder if there’s a case for a 4 day week. Would I get the same amount of work done??
I can share my own experience.
For six months in 2020, after the pandemic hit, the whole company I was working for went on a 4 day workweek.
It was one of the most balanced moments of my life, and a practice I wish to adopt in my future professional life.
The core benefit was focus. More clarity on what mattered the most, less time in meetings, more smiles.
I would argue that the output did not change radically. And that was facilitated by the fact that the whole company was on a shortened schedule.
In the end, what are we creating technologies for, if we still work with an industrial approach?
We have the opportunity to use the augmented productivity to benefit our work life balance, instead of increasing throughput.
Great article, I can strongly identify with it. It's so easy too pull yourself into work and just to not feel: like you said in the article, it's easier to work then to face your own sh*t.
Yeah. And then who reads your newsletter knows very well what the consequence might be.
Or even, more simply, total lack of creativeness!