Establish Balance: Live to Work VS Work to Live
“If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life!”
Baby boomers taught their children to choose a job where they feel passionate about despite the fact that many of them chose secure jobs that paid well but didn’t match their initial professional aspirations.
The divergence between these viewpoints raises the question of whether it is preferable to work to live or live to work. To answer, there is actually no wrong response to this issue. Following the career path that makes sense for you, whether it’s driven by passion or more practical considerations, should be your objective. Instead, we should understand the distinctions between the two approaches in your career and choose the one that is right for you.
Live to Work
Perhaps going to work every day is something you look forward to. Or, even if you don’t enjoy it, you have that strong connection to your professional development to feel the pressure to show up and give it your all on a regular basis.
Some of you may have been conditioned to believe that you can only be successful if you have a deep personal connection to the work you do for a living. Of course, this isn’t always the case. However, sincere passion and attention to the profession can mitigate long hours, difficult educational requirements, and high amounts of pressure in specific roles.
Work to Live
On the other hand, many individuals prefer to separate the concepts of doing what you love and doing what it takes to make a living. For a large portion of the public, going to college to find your passion is a foreign concept that is far detached from their lives.
Some people choose employment because they require a particular level of financial security, whether because of circumstances or personal convictions. They want a consistent, regular source of income that pays them well enough to satisfy both fundamental needs and personal pleasures. Hobbies, travel plans, and spending more time with friends and family are examples of these activities. Those who work to live do a good job, but they don’t place a high value on their occupations in their personal life, except in terms of money.
What do you want to be? Where do you want to go?
There is no way that one is superior to the other. One may appear to be more fun, but the other may offer greater financial security in the future. In an ideal world, we’d all be able to find that one career that fulfills all of our desires, one that perfectly balances work and life so that we may live healthy and happy lives. Few of us are successful in finding our dream jobs, while many have tried and failed. Some of us are even forced to make a decision just with the intent of keeping up with today’s societal trends.
Life changes. You have to learn to stop blaming yourself for a change in your outlook. As previously said, whether you choose to live to work or work to live, both are still perfectly reasonable and understandable methods, and even if your perspective shifts with time, it is not a reflection of who you are as a person or as a professional. Maintaining a flexible attitude and allowing for situational adjustments allows you to be an adaptable problem-solver, which is a valued attribute in any industry.
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