Working hard to rest well or resting well to work hard?
Knowing your personal belief about work is the key to reach your balanced life.
The other day I saw a post from the MIT researcher in artificial intelligence, Lex Fridman.
This very short clip got me thinking for hours. The first thing that flashed into mind was, “Yes! THAT’S what I needed to hear.” More often than not, I’m told to “rest”, “work less”, “take it easy”, and “make your life quality the first priority. ”I just rolled my eyes secretly whenever I heard that in the first couple times, until these phrases were thrown at me more and more often. I started to think, “Maybe there’s something wrong with working so hard. Maybe I should rest more by doing something not work-related.”
So I did. I binge-watched 5 seasons of Brooklyn 99 and the entire seasons of Modern Family (which ended this year coincidentally). Then the weird thing is, by doing nothing, instead of feeling relaxed, I was extremely stressed. I felt more stressed than I ever did when I was working. Then when I said so to my friends, they were like, “Hmm, maybe it’s because your not resting enough. Just give yourself a few more days doing nothing and you’ll feel a lot better. Trust me. That’s how I handle stress.”
You’ve probably guessed where I’m heading with this story. I ended up having this strong impulse to not only get things done fast but also to work more. The strangest thing was that when I started to work, I felt a mixed sense of satisfaction, achievement, and fulfillment.
So when I watched this clip, it naturally resonated with me. I realized I am the kind of person whose rest needs to empower good work, not the other way around. For me, resting well is for working hard.
Now, I do acknowledge the other belief about of work: Working hard is for resting well. In fact, I posted on my insta story asking people which belief they agreed. Here’s the result:
About half of my friends agreed that working hard now is for resting well later. The other half were just like me, thinking that the purpose of resting well was to work hard later.
I’m not saying anyone is better than the other. For some, working and being productive are what’s important. For others, hanging out with friends is. Each person has their own definitions of a good life, and their own way of being successful.
That being said, I am saying that we all need to know ourselves better so that we know which way of living fits us best. If you’re like me, then binge-watching TV probably is not going to help increase your life satisfaction. But getting more work done and getting ahead of schedule are.
On the other hand, if you’re like the other half of my friends, you might think we are torturing ourselves. But the truth is, we’re not. Hard work is what rewards us.
So next time when you receive a piece of advice from others, which I believe are out of kindness and caring for you, think about your own belief about work and living.
Don’t forget to give the author some claps to show your support! 😉
