As I have completed a year long search for the most difficult but yet the most important theme of life: How to actually work to live, not live to work?, I came to the conclusion.
First of all, the reason why I started this search was because of the infamous idea a.k.a Work-Life balance. As I never worked before, I didn’t really know the true meaning of the phrase.
As I started my first ever “big men job” this year, I thought it might be perfect timing to figure out the “right” balance.
It wasn’t easy at the beginning. I guess I was just way too used to being a student. And all of sudden, Work came into my life. It turned everything around. I felt like my work became my life. As if I live to work.
On the positive note, I love my job. I love my company. And most importantly, I love my colleagues. I’m so in love with the vision we share. I love the idea of the future we are going to create. Economy is booming (well, for my company), location couldn’t be better, so all is well.
The tough thing is, however, because I love my job so much, it was so easy to pour all my energy into it.
I didn’t like that. I have many things I’d love to do in my free time: Working out, guitar, reading and snowboarding.
I felt as though it was impossible to keep the whole package. I thought I might have to give up some of them to continue working hard.
Well, I actually did that for a little while. During that period, I barely play guitar or read. Just focused on work stuff even in my free time.
It didn’t go well. I run out of my breath. It became kinda harder to keep up with the work rate. I felt like I lost my passion.
It was as if I’m living someone else’s life. I didn’t feel passionate about it anymore.
And that was when I encountered this quote
You are what you do every day
Jon Ch
Because of the changes I made in my lifestyle, I was becoming a person who just work and workout everyday.
That was not the person I’m aspired to be. For me, work should be a tool. A tool to achieve my goals. By working too hard, however, work was becoming my goal.
All I needed was paradigm shift. So I did.
I re-set my goals. What I want to achieve in my life. What my dream is. And the most importantly, who I want to be. It took time to figure out all those things. But I did it.
After figuring out all that, everyday became more purposeful. The surprising thing is that I didn’t reduce the work time. As a matter of fact, I started to work even harder. The difference is, I still have got the time for guitar, book and snowboard.
I could do it because all those things are aligned with my core values, that something I could feel passionate about.
I keep updating my goals as my viewpoint changes. But my core principle never changes. I think it is something that shouldn’t be changed.
So here it is, the answer I reached was to have a solid plan that shows how to live my life.
Nobu’s blog 