In every decision we made each day, there are pay-offs. Ramifications for the choices we make. They can be direct or in-direct and can impact both our personal and professional lives. Choosing whether to take a new job offer, can come with benefits, however very little do we really think about the pay-offs. The new job might have better pay, but in reality the team you work with and the hours you will have to put in can sometimes make it less rewarding.
I am a qualified electrician by trade, have a natural interest in Information Technology. Going from owning and operating my own business to working for a company in a different field, there were pay-offs. I was going from the top of one tree, to the bottom of another. It came with pay-offs in environment as well as pay, there were new conditions which I had accepted because in order to achieve what makes me happy I have had to ‘suffer some losses’.
Many times we need to look at a greater picture, look at the end goal you want to achieve. Realise it is a marathon and not a sprint, we have about a 30-50 year working period (possible more depending on the changes governments put on retirement age) which sprinting the whole time you will burn out. So that in itself is a long time and you want to make sure you are doing something that you get some level of enjoyment from, some satisfaction at least.
For many of us we aren’t aspiring to be the next CEO/CIO or whatever term (top dog is in your field). Not saying that it is not a good thing to strive and work towards, but often when you look the hours they are required to do and the decisions they make can be intense. The main thing I notice looking at many executive level staff is that you need to have great ‘work/life balance’; many get too focused on their work goals and not see the home goals anymore. Notice how it’s LIFE not home, because health, relationships, they are all life things not always in our homes. As humans we need social interaction to give us balance, we need to talk life with others. Networking meets is work based, it is with other like-minded individuals who share the same industry or similar to us.
Get a hobby, do something that changes your conversations from work-based and more about something you are passionate about. When we have something we are passionate about it we pull energy from that we are able to put more into our work and get a better return. Hobbies vary depending on an individual, they don’t have to be sport and they don’t have to be boring. Yet still if it seems boring to someone else, does it really matter? You are not asking them to do it with you.
My key point is that we should always step back and look at a decision from bird’s eye view and make our decision as an educated call, rather than getting caught up in the pro’s and miss all the con’s.