Am I the last person to discover that, in many cases, the phrase “good work/life balance” is a euphemism for “we don’t consider our work important or meaningful enough to work any harder than we have to”? Maybe I’m still young, naive and idealistic, but I want to be in a job where I am utterly passionate about the work that I do. One of the major reasons why I want an MBA is to have it open doors to those sort of jobs.
What exactly are we working for? Are we working simply in order to support what we can do with our time outside of work? I’ve come to believe that spending 40, 60, or 80 hours per week (or however much our job requires) doing something we’re not passionate about is a waste of time, regardless of how much the job pays. Life is too short to be wasting it doing things we don’t care about.
For those of you in the process of entering MBA programs this Fall… Pursue something you love. Pursue something meaningful. Pursue something that will make you overflow with joy.
Let us know what you think of “work/life balance” after you are married and have a family. I imagine your perception will change a little bit as you grow older. I think this is why wall street favors the young.
Having said all that, I agree 100% percent that you should pursue work that you enjoy. People who love their work tend to be better at it. If you just do it for the money, chances are that you won’t be able to compete with those that do it because the enjoy it. I have seen this many times over, starting in engineering school (you can’t fake your way through engineering school, and if you don’t like it, you probably won’t make it), and most recently in the software industry where the pay lures people from many backgrounds. Many of them are not very good because they are only in the field because it pays well.
Chris
I am currently married but don’t have kids; I am well aware that things will definitely change when we do decide to have kids.
However, I don’t think having a job that you care about means you necessarily have to work 80 hours per week. I would just like to be at a place where, when necessary, people are willing to put in the extra effort because they believe in the mission of the organization and that what they do really matters. I think if people had jobs that were fulfilling, it would actually improve other areas of their life, including their family life.
I agree enjoying your work is top order. That said, I learned that having a family (or caring for a sick spouse, or taking on any other responsibility that requires your time, energy and presence) forces the issue of how much to work and at what level because frankly, there’s very few people who can give 100 percent to every responsibility in their life: kids, spouse, work, and of course, yourself. And honestly, no matter how much I enjoy my work, it is not my core identity and my primary source of “self.” That becomes even clearer when I took on the responsibility of being a parent. When you add a new role to your life, the other one doesn’t always fit the same way. If it dominates your time, it will feel mis-matched.