“Did you hear that?”
I look up from my laptop. “What?”
“Were you even watching the show?”
“Oops. No. I was working on an email.”
That conversation used to happen every night (it still happens sometimes, but I’m getting better).
When you hate your work, it’s easy to turn off and enjoy life outside of work.
But when you love your work, it’s easy to just…keep…working.
I used to be really bad about spending all day working in my office, come downstairs to eat, sit down to watch tv with my fiancée, then open up my laptop to keep working.
I wasn’t present, I was working.
One day when this happened, a thought popped into my head:
What’s the point?
As in, what’s the point of working so hard, so much, so frequently when it means we’re not present for our loved ones?
The point of working is to live. No matter how much we love our work, the point of working is still so that we can spend time with our loved ones, provide the quality of life they deserve, and enjoy what we’ve built.
If you’re always too busy to hang out with friends, or take an afternoon road trip, or just sit on the couch with your fiancée, you’ve missed the point.
Now, when I get too caught up in working, I ask myself, “What’s the point?” and it reminds me to close my laptop—work will be there tomorrow, and every day after—but right now, the point is to be present with my loved ones, and that’s what I’ll do.
If you love your work, that’s a luxury few people can claim.
But don’t lose sight of the point of working—to enjoy life.
Until next time—memento mori,
Corey
P.S.
Enrollment for the upcoming cohort of The Alchemy of Fear ends soon.
What could you achieve if fear wasn’t holding you back?
If you’re ready to finally find out, join us.