If you are currently going through that quarter life crisis or just a work/life related crisis, this is your official wake up call to stop working harder! Yes, you definitely read that right. This is one of those deep articles that will smack you top side your head, so if you are not ready to hear some cold hard truth, now is the time to click off.
There I was, working for another Saturday after telling myself I would not work on Saturdays, when an associate asked “are you ok”, which was a pretty simple and straight-forward question so of course I responded with a resounding “yes”!, which seemed to have ricochet off the walls. He asked again with more emphasis, ” Are YOU ok”, there it was, “that question”, the dreaded question we often shy away from to avoid giving the right answer to not be a burden to others. I finally mustered up the courage and said “To be, honest, I’m exhausted, I was on my feet all day yesterday running around ensuring I’m hitting all the “do’s” on my list so I don”t have to pay for it later, I didn’t want to get up early on a weekend to be here for several more hours, then be more tired”. He asked so I responded and what he said next surprised me as it was not the answer I was looking for.
Stop Working Harder, You’re Replaceable! Was what he said and was an unlikely response that I needed to hear.
Stop Working Harder, You’re Replaceable
He then went on to explain that when he was younger he worked everyday as a recent college grad to build his brand and gained experience and ran on 4 hours of sleep nightly which landed him in the emergency room with exhaustion and nerves + mental health issues. He was of course able to build a successful brand, what what was the cost? I heard him when he said it, but I didn’t hear him until 30 minutes after.
It makes sense I thought– I’m here working and can easily be replaced by someone else who is less skilled or dedicated than I am just like that! So why do we work so hard knowing that we are replaceable? Let’s dig into some psychological facts.
It is said that in order for the brain to fully develop, it has to experience a few challenges. These challenges allow us to think clearer and tap into our critical and analytical skills, which are challenged by doing work. In some weird way, the harder and challenging the job, the more pleasure we get knowing we have advanced which is the ultimate testament of being human. There is of course, the feeling of reward that comes from working extremely hard knowing what the end result will be — living a better life, being known as an expert in that field and of course making more money. It’s almost as if we were “wired” to work hard because it feels good to be rewarded.
Cultural pressure is high to have a good job, and to work hard in that job to get a better job. To make more money so we can buy more stuff. To work the hardest and sacrifice the most.
We stigmatize leisure as the mark of someone who won’t get far in life. We furrow our brows disapprovingly at the high school graduate who wants to take a year or two off before deciding what to study in college (or whether they should go at all). We look down on the smart kid who works a part-time job because he’s “not living up to his potential.” –
Why We Work: Are We Just Working for Work’s Sake?
- Women at companies with an economic boom were more likely to later seek treatment for severe depression and take medication to help prevent heart attacks and strokes
- The number of work injuries increased in men and women
- Employees in companies with the top 25 percent biggest booms took 14 percent more sick days (the men) and 25 percent more sick days (the women)
- In a recent Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time U.S. employees, 28% of Millennialsclaimed feeling frequent or constant burnout at work, compared with 21% of workers from older generations.
In America, employees are just as likely to make work their lives 24/7 – and experience just as negative of consequences. Several surveys have shown that, even when on vacation or off the clock, Americans feel obliged to check and respond to work emails or make progress on work projects.
This Ideology is of course dependent on where you are in your career and of course your age. I believe it is important to work hard in our 20s to build a foundation and build positive work habits, then as we get older and more secure in our careers, we should work smarter. This involves delegating tasks and outsourcing things that we might not be good at just to save time and maximise on results. If I had gotten assistance on that day, I could have focused my efforts elsewhere versus coming in exhausted on the weekend after a long, challenging week.
This of course is not to say we should have a lack-lustre and mediocre approach to work as this won’t get us very far, but we should always keep it in the back of our minds that no matter how hard we work and sacrifice our personal time, we are replaceable.
Are you burned out from working too hard? Tell us how you overcame that situation and made peace with the idea that you are, actually replaceable.
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#Stop Working Harder, You’re Replaceable
#Stop Working Harder, You’re Replaceable
#Stop Working Harder, You’re Replaceable
#Stop Working Harder, You’re Replaceable
