Work Hard, Play Hard - The Impossible Balance
“Work Hard, Play Hard” is commonly used to reflect a healthy work-life balance. But, what happens when work takes over your life? The glorification of overworking has become a normal part of society, with common thinking being that if you work harder you will be more successful. This is echoed by the most ‘successful’ people such as Elon Musk claiming that they work over 120 hours a week.
Whilst staying late at work and being career-driven can seem like positive things, it can actually be detrimental to both physical and mental health. Overworking can lead to depression, loneliness as well as an increased risk of migraines, dizziness and colds. With all the negative impacts of overworking, it seems absurd that people would still choose to work themselves to death. However, most people probably don’t even realise that they are sacrificing their happiness for work.
So, why do people overwork themselves? There are many reasons, with the most obvious being constant societal pressure. It is a common mindset that you have to be the best at everything you do, you work to get to the top of your company and you are only successful if you are in the highest paying positions. This societal myth allows people to put their health aside in order for them be seen as successful.
Technology also comes into play here. With most of us always having access to our mobile phones, internet or email, employees are incredibly reachable at all hours of the day. Knowing that you can always check your emails from home or get a text from your manager any minute can lead to people working at home in order to get everything done without causing issues at work.
This expectation that you should always be contactable has been directly linked to increased levels of stress and puts strain on people’s personal lives. So much so that some countries such as France and Germany have introduced laws that give employees the “right to disconnect”. This means that you can specify exactly how you are contacted outside of work and sometimes it states that you are not to be contacted at all.
Working from home can also lead to increased stress. Whilst working from the comfort of your bedroom might sound great, it can make it hard to separate your work life from your personal one. It can also be hard to find structure whilst working from home, which ultimately leads to procrastination which in turn creates more stress from the lack of progress. The increased reliance on technology in order to stay in contact whilst working from home can also make it hard to virtually log-out. When we are socially accessible 24/7, setting boundaries is almost impossible. Therefore, your work slowly leaks into your personal time.
We’ve all joked about how many years of experience recruiters ask for when applying for a job. People are desperate to get experience that will put them ahead of others, especially in competitive fields such as law, medicine or even more creative fields such as music. With recruiters pitting future employees against each other, it’s no surprise that there’s been a rise in unpaid internships and work. There are many examples of full-time unpaid positions that people are willing to take part in because the experience will look good on their CV. But, when you are spending all your time doing unpaid work, you then have to spend unsocial hours in another job to stay on top of your finances.
There is some privilege associated with the work-life balance. For those who don’t need to worry about paying rent, bills and other daily expenses there is less pressure to overwork yourself and unpaid work is perfectly doable. For others, the constant need to succeed can take over and lead you to forget about your general health.
Whilst being hard-working isn’t a bad personality trait, it can be hard to know when to stop. Personal experiences have taught me that working too hard only leads to negative effects. Whilst at university I was waking up at 4am daily to work an 8 hour shift before going to lectures, staying late in order to finish assignments and working unpaid positions that gave me the experience I needed for my future career. Most days I barely got time to sleep, cook proper meals or see friends which ultimately led to emotional exhaustion and a complete burnout where I fell behind on everything.
A global study showed that 85% of people are unhappy in their job. If you’re wondering why people would stay in a job they hate, you are probably missing the bigger picture. Most people can’t afford to quit their job to travel the world or do what they love. From the pressure to own designer clothes to the more basic needs of housing and food, people are willing to overwork themselves in order to be seen as successful. In a society driven by materialistic needs, money really does make the world go round.
Written by Suzie Letts
Hey, I’m Suzie! I’ve recently finished my undergraduate degree at King’s College London and currently work as a Social Media Marketing Officer for an international music summer school. I also work freelance for various musical artists to create social media strategies and online content. As a musician, I love writing and performing everything from classical to musical theatre and spend a lot of my time playing in orchestras and bands across the country.