There are three types of employees, in my opinion. There are the employees that define themselves based on their job. There are the ones that are able to find a balance between work and play. And there are the one's that make you question whether you want to continue working for the company because they represent the name so poorly; aka: the slackers. I have had the pleasure of interacting with all three types of employees, as I am sure you have as well. It's a very interesting dynamic when the three types come together.
What I really don't understand are the people that are married to their work. I have never been one of those people that has a hard time "shutting down" at night. Sure my mind races, and I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work stuff, but when I leave for the night, I am done for the day. I have to be able to separate work from my home life. There is a fine line between being a hard worker, and being completely consumed by your work. I guess for some people, that kind of life is enjoyable and fulfills them. They are okay with checking emails and sending them at midnight. They are okay with following up on tasks before the sun comes up and then reassiging tasks as the sun goes down. For those people, I give them a lot of credit because they are able to dedicate themselves soleyl to a job that hopefully they love. But you have to wonder what else is missing in their life to dedicate so much to a corporation.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum are the utter slackers. The ones that sneak in the door quietly just before lunch time (or so it seems to those of us who have been here since 7AM) and then waltz out the door at 3:30 as if they had such a long and strenuous day and that they earned the right to leave at this time. Give me a break. You may have finished everything you needed to for the day, but you sit your butt back down in that chair until your (minimum) 8 hours are done! It blows me away that people think that they can get away with not working their full 40-hours. Newsflash: your salary is reflective of a 40-hour work week. You will never hit 40-hours in a week if you are working 6-hour days. It just doesn't work out that way. On the same token, you should not be over doing it either. Working 60+ hours is exhausting and you most likely are not being compensated fairly for it.
It's important to find a good balance between maintaining a career that reflects your hard work and passion for the job, and a healthy extracurricular and homelife. You should never over do it because frankly, it's not worth it. Sure your career pays the bills and allows you to have fun outside of work, but if you never find time to do fun things outside of work, who cares how much money you make, right? And what's the point of holding onto it until you are old? Then you won't be able to do the fun stuff because you'll be too tired and worn out from life. That would be just terrible. Enjoy the fruits of your labor now, but certainly don't over do it.
We must strive to find our happy place - whether that is working oodles and oodles of hours (certainly not my choice), working the bear minimum (40-hours people...nothing less than that), or whether its working smart (getting home in time to have dinner with your loved one's), you have to do what is right for you. But take it from me, work will still be there in the morning. So if you want to get home in time to cuddle with your puppies, paint your finger nails, or catch a football game, then do it. You will have to work a little harder the next day, but so what! Enjoy your life and do what makes you happy.
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