A Warning to Young Professionals: The Biggest Mental Pitfall in the Corporate World
Who are you, really?
You did it. You finally graduated from college and secured your dream job.
After a few months of summer adventures, you’re ready to tackle the world and begin making the copious amounts of money you have dreamed of for years.
I have seen this young professional before. Coming out of college likely in mountains of student debt; beady-eyed, we are ready and willing to throw ourselves into the corporate fire without a thought about the implications of these new lifestyle changes. Up until this point, we have spent the majority of our lives subject to schooling and implemented rigorous structure around extracurricular activities, studying, and working that kept us up until sunrise. All of a sudden, we are told that lifestyle is thrown to the wayside in place of a single, dedicated, day-long activity that is our career.
With the entirety of our existence leading to that one well-paying job, nobody can blame young professionals for approaching it all with enthusiasm. But more often than not, I see one of two things happening:
1. An obsession over excelling at their job pushes these young people to work well over a healthy amount of time to the detriment of their health, hobbies, and social life.
2. For some working the standard 9–5, it gives these young people more free time than what they are used to. Yet most choose not to use it to achieve their fullest potential.
For the new generation of professionals entering the workforce, both scenarios can be very dangerous paths. Thus, an obvious question of healthy work-life balance is a topic often brought up at the workplace. Every person deserves a balance between their professional career and passions that give their lives meaning, a balance between a thriving social life and healthy relationship, a balance between securing a stable future and exploring the world and enjoying it for all it has to offer. And indeed, I will explore how people in either of the two categories above can hopefully rethink priorities to create opportunity and truly get the most out of life by comfortably doing each of these things in moderation.
1. The Workaholic
I have several friends involved in startups or finance, and I see them often enthusiastic in starting their adult lives. It is a good type of attitude to have, and that kind of optimism undoubtedly can carry a person far in their career.
It’s when I see these same people working 12–16-hour workdays plus weekends that I really start to question how they even do it. How do these people maintain a healthy diet or workout regimen? How do these people make time for hobbies or the things they enjoy? They don’t. They simply don’t have time. What happens each day is they commit to insane hours, crunching numbers from 7 AM through 10 PM, leaving little time to do much else. They come home with just enough time to whip up a meal, only to pass out shortly after only to repeat the process tomorrow.
The United States Census Bureau reported in 2017 that more than 33% of all Americans over the age of 25 have some college degree. Compare that to roughly 17% in 1980, this number is continuing to skyrocket. College degrees are not special anymore. And as the years move on, it will be harder for younger professionals to stand out among their peers. Thus, it is becoming more easily justifiable to spend endless hours at the office to get an edge over another person fighting for recognition or an open job position.
I want to see my friends happy. And although there are a few that can say they get genuine fulfillment out of working for their company, the vast majority of them aren’t so keen to let their career define the whole of their existence. These people have passions: painting, music, fitness, etc. Yet, I see them cast the love for those activities aside and continue to overwork themselves to the point of depression and anxiety anyway all for the sake of a myriad of poor reasons. Among those are: more money, the fact that some of them only know hard work (likely brought on by role-models that set that expectation), or the misguided idea that being a workaholic is a trophy worth attaining from a power perspective. And it is for those reasons, I feel they never have time to just take a step back, look at the bigger picture, and ask themselves “why?” They forget the reason why humans work in the first place is to buy time later. This is the concept of retirement and achieving financial independence.
If the end goal for everyone in the various working sectors is to find time to pursue one’s passions, why not commit to a standard 9–5 career doing what you need to do, and spend the rest of your time actively doing the things you want to do? That is, leave work at work, devote time to some physical fitness, and pursue hobbies, passions, and side hustles to your heart’s content.
Sure, only you can decide what your priorities are. It is unrealistic to surmise someone could instantly trade out their lucrative investment banking job for a similar paying 9–5. But if it really boils down to maintaining your own mental health and happiness, perhaps it is worth looking outward for job prospects that offer a work-life balance that affords you the opportunity to live the life you envision for yourself. There is a saying in the most recent Marvel film, Avengers: Endgame, that I quote often nowadays:
“No amount of money ever bought a second of time.”
-Tony Stark
2. The Bare Minimalist
Let’s say you’ve done it. You got yourself a standard 9–5 job that offers great compensation, location, benefits, engagement in rewarding work, and support in having a life outside of the office. What now?
This was actually the camp I was in when I graduated and began working last year. I was lucky enough to be hired as a software developer by a tech company in New York that gave me everything I could ever ask for: fulfilling work projects and a supportive network of professionals that genuinely valued my individuality and happiness outside of work. I was working 9–5 each day, followed by ~2 hours at the gym. This meant that my day really ended at 7 PM, which left the rest of the day to just relax and watch TV or read, play video games, or socialize with friends until I fell asleep to repeat the process again the next day.
In my head, this existence should have been enough for me. I was doing what every other working professional was doing at my age. But after about a week, I fell into a fit of depression brought on by something that I imagine felt similar to a mid-life crisis. After 18 years of school, living each day perfecting crafts that would appear on resumes and job applications, studying countless nights into the early morning, taking up jobs, research opportunities, sports, political & social groups, etc. all for the singular goal of securing myself a stable and lucrative career. I had done it.
Was this everything I worked for? Mindlessly indulging in media and drinking with friends till the day I retire?
A successful adult life involves finding the work-life balance that works for you. I am a firm believer that what makes a person confident, compelling, and happy can be boiled down to a simple strategy: do more than the bare minimum. I consider the minimum of a happy existence providing yourself good financial, physical, and mental health. Thus, whenever I interact with someone in a social setting and run out of superficial things to talk about, I always ask one question that drives the entirety of our interactions in the future:
“Outside of work and the gym, what do you like doing?”
Pretty often I hear things like “Oh, I really like scuba diving [or some other activity], but I don’t have time to do it right now, so maybe when I retire…”
To me, the greatest discomfort in life is being comfortable. The pursuit of knowledge in something far outweighs the lax feeling of already knowing it. Setting goals that generate upward momentum is what makes things exciting. And overcoming those challenges and finding yourself superior to the person you were yesterday is what gives life meaning. So why then, would anyone ever be okay with waiting to be in a position of comfort to do the things they want to do? Why are people so willing to wait for time to work for them?
Putting interests and passions on the back burner until I was “ready” seemed like the dumbest thing I could possibly do in my youth. Knowing one day I would be on my deathbed, I was sure I would regret the things I didn’t do far more than the things I did. It was after that realization when I really began to actively delve deeper into things I wouldn’t normally do: blogging, swing trading, and music production. Each of these is a separate avenue of success with the potential to become something big someday. To me, that uncertainty and prospect of possibility is compelling enough to push me forward even further, allowing me to wake up each day happy and guessing. And when people ask me how I have the time, I tell them “I make time. These are things that make me excited to grow as an interesting person, not just an interesting worker, and that’s how I am able to prioritize and find the time.”
I once read a story about a Mexican fisherman derived from a German short story that perfectly encompasses the main takeaway here. For the sake of brevity, I’ll keep to a shorter version of the story below:
An American investment banker once visited a small Mexican village and stopped by a pier. He met a Mexican fisherman and complimented him on the exquisite quality of his fish. He then asked him how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “Only a little while. I catch enough to support me and my family.” The American asked “why don’t you spend more time fishing to profit more? What do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican replied, “I like to sleep late, I play with my children, take a relaxing nap at noon with my wife, sip wine in the village, and play guitar with my friends at night. I have a very full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I went to HBS (Harvard Business School), and I see the potential in your fish. You should spend more time fishing, expand and buy more boats. Eventually, you will have your own fleet of boats. You would then be able to bypass selling to a middleman and open your own cannery to sell to the masses and fully control your product. You will be able to leave this village as you continue to grow and move to Mexico City and run your large enterprise!”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “How long will this all take?”
The American then replied, “15–20 years.”
“But then what?” Asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part! You then announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public, making millions!”
“Millions — Then what?”
The American replied, “Then you retire! Move to a small village where you can fish a little, sleep late, play with your kids and nap with your wife, drink wine and play guitar with your friends!”
The moral of the story is that if you really want to enjoy your work and life, it has to start now. Do you want time to enjoy the small things? Or do you want to work at a job you hate and endure a stressful life so that you might actually find joy in 20 years? This does not mean everything has to change immediately, but you should make an effort to reassess and build happiness today. Chances are, the opportunities are right there in front of you.
