Everybody’s Working For The Week-End... - Loverboy

Dear Managers and Leaders!

It is Friday today and it makes me think about work-life balanceJ! You know, the week-end is coming! Do I have to remind you? Of course, weeks are too short. Of course you were supposed to do a lot more than what you actually accomplished this week. Weren’t you supposed to close all your action items this week? Weren’t you supposed to return all your calls, read ALL your emails? I know too well this little voice inside telling you to do more and more, and to work over the week-end. I can hear it say: “At least, over the week-end you don’t get constantly interrupted!”

But isn’t this a bit crazy and dangerous? We all know the importance of resting, no? We all want to spend quality time with our loved ones.  Why are we always pushed to work more and more? I can see a number of reasons that could explain why leaders are often hard workers. 

      (1) Drive

To go through the promotion cycle in large companies or to manage your own company requires a lot of drive. Someone in a leadership position normally wants to succeed and attain always larger goals. S/he will deploy a lot of energy and work very hard to succeed in achieving these large goals.

(2)    Purpose, passion

Good leaders have a deep sense of purpose and will be really passionate about the work they do. They are so motivated to achieve their goals that they can forget that there are other things around them in the world! This is extreme, but I have seen that!

(3)    Crave for recognition

Some people simply work hard because they want the recognition that comes from success. This crave for recognition is the only thing that drives them. They are ready to do whatever it takes to get that small bit of recognition that a successful project can provide them.

I’m sure we can extend the list even further and I hope you will post comments if you have other ideas on this topic! But the fact is that there are always great reasons to work harder and harder.

The funny thing is that people really seem to be lacking non-working time! When I look at the Internet these days, I see so many people selling packages to make millions on the Internet while sitting on a beach or traveling the world! If so many marketers are selling that dream of constant party, then it must be that A LOT of people are actually dreaming about it (and buying their silly packages)!

So why aren’t we living our dreams? Especially as leaders, we should be able to create a vision of where we want to go and achieve it, no! Isn’t that what leadership is all about? So, let’s all picture our lives with less hard work and more smart work. Let’s take a great, work-free week-end to create and experience that vision! 

Have a GREAT week-end!

Until next time,

Remi Cote