In the traditional work environment regardless of industry or company, what you put in is what you get out.
Typically the most lucrative fields expect the most and donât offer much flexibility. If youâre a gig worker whoâs self-employed, you instead get to dictate your hours, responsibilities, pay threshold and how much you are willing to dedicate to your craft.
If youâre hired by a company, youâre expected to put in whatever is required or youâre out.
If you work for someone, open up your own practice or have a prestigious title at a firm, your self worth is determined by the corporation and you are paid based on your impact and value, beyond the amount of time spent physically working.
The more you chase, the greater jeopardy your health is in. In America, the older we get, the less healthy we become. Diabetes, tennis elbow, sleep apnea, memory loss and prescriptions start popping up.
Thereâs a K-shaped curve towards our career and livelihood.
The higher you go, the less healthier you typically get unless youâre a professional athlete but even in that case, injuries and ailments are common for top performers the older they age.
Past middle school, physical education is not a requirement anymore, in high school we start sitting for 3 hour exams to get into college, in college we take harder classes which leads to being trapped in a dorm room or library cubicle studying away while attempting to be cost effective spending money on trash snacks to get by and finally upon graduation, we are already used to dealing with all nighters, commuting and now ready for the real world where weâre expected to give up our health for a few decades for a debatable benefit of a juicy paycheck.
Truth
My parents who migrated from Poland were fortunate enough to land top tier jobs on Wall Street. It sure wasnât easy and took a lot out of them but what helped propel them fast was their mindset and the best investment: investing in themselves. They switched around a few times to various firms as their departments/desks moved to different locations but all in all, they stayed as long as possible in 1 career to live a secure and financially free life.
Immigrants can teach us a great deal about grit and are the backbone of this country. They are known to posses unwavering commitment and unique grit which makes sense since most are determined to make a better life for themselves willing to deal with the prejudice, financial consequences and hardship that arises here.
When my grandma fled to the states, her dream was to become a nurse. She sent 30 applications and got 30 rejections.
When she asked why she got rejected it was for three reasons: sheâs a woman, immigrant and Polish.
So she reapplied next year and was accepted immediately.
What changed?
She knew the only thing that couldnât be taken away from her was her effort and education something 100% in your control.
She taught me the most vital lesson that I reinforce to myself daily.
âNever fail due to a lack of effort because effort requires no skill.â Her health lead her to continue pushing. If she fell into the fads, lifestyle diet pills, toxic teen culture of alcohol and late night parties, it wouldâve taken her double the amount of time to prepare herself and boost her career.
You can learn about the traits they possess here.
They fled their country of war, harsh dictatorship and other drastic circumstances up for the challenge for a better life while most graduates have to face this head on physically and mentally exhausting themselves diving into the deep lucrative yet dangerous landscape of the working world.
The most lucrative industries, which you can read more about here include banking, law, the medical field and tech which all demand a lot of utility and human capital in order to move firms forward. These industries believe in capitalism and are all about competition, beating out the market, getting the prized possession and top headline on the news the next morning. They want to be the leaders in the industry and by doing so, it simply demands more work and time grinding.
Working smarter > harder is a must.
If youâve been keeping up with headlines of the business world lately and the earnings reports for the largest publicly traded companies from Q1, most banks blew it out of the park yet with those stellar headlines there is this fear that remote work has not only drained and killed its workers, but been a sign that work can be done from anywhere which shouldnât always be the case.
Work life boundaries were cut apart and seem to no longer exist in top performing industries.
These industries did a stellar job because they could easily add more to their employeeâs plates.
Departure
A recent article in the NY Times described Millennials and recently employed workers fresh out of college as having massive FOMO. The pandemic has changed all our priorities and although there are millions of Americans who are grieving with the loss of their jobs, loved ones and financial hardships relying on stimulus to keep them afloat, weâve been hearing many stories of those who are quitting prestigious and high-paying jobs to pursue risky passions instead.
Possibly for the mental and physical health benefit or they realized life is simply too short.
Brett Williams, 33, a lawyer in Orlando, Florida had his YOLO epiphany during a Zoom mediation in February.
âI realized I was sitting at my kitchen counter 10 hours a day feeling miserable,â he said. âI just thought: âWhat do I have to lose? We could all die tomorrow.ââ
So he quit, leaving behind a partner position and a big-firm salary to take a job at a small firm run by his next-door neighbor, and to spend more time with his wife and dog.
âIâm still a lawyer,â he said. âBut I havenât been this excited to go to work in a long time.â
Olivia Messer, a former reporter for The Daily Beast, also quit in February, after realizing that a year of covering the pandemic had left her exhausted and traumatized.
âI was so drained and depleted that I didnât feel like I knew how to do my job anymore,â she said. So Ms. Messer, 29, announced her departure and moved from Brooklyn to Sarasota, Florida near her parents. Since then, she has been doing freelance writing as well as pursuing hobbies like painting and kayaking.
See a pattern? Burnout, workaholism, long hours, drained minds and Florida! No amount of money will convince them that their health isnât important.
Despite record earnings, this pandemic has drained all of us as our bedrooms have turned into our combined yoga studio, classroom, kitchen, desk, work station, lounge, place to sleep and everything.
Risk or Reward?
Many are abandoning their cushy and stable jobs to start businesses and go all in with their side hustle in hopes of turning it into a full-time gig. For those whoâve pitched in their savings and hard earned dollars to invest in the market throughout the 2020 recession, theyâve earned a pretty comfy return this past year. In addition, their bank accounts got a major boost as these young adults havenât been able to attend concerts, venues, sporting events and all sorts of parties and gatherings which can easily take out a large chunk from their accounts.
Although quitting isnât necessarily signs of retirement or supporting the FIRE movement, if you arenât feeling motivated to work any more, before stepping off the career wagon, I would highly recommend making sure to have a few side hustles in place while keeping your day job for as long as it takes until you can supplement those earnings.
Although working from home is draining, itâs a blessing in disguise. Itâs a privilege to be able to do work from the comfort of your couch, wear no shoes, no commute and eat whenever you want to. There are certainly pros and cons to it but realizing that you are privileged is important as unemployment is still at 14%.
Time Blocking
For years Iâve wondered how my parents and millions of others employed by top banks to hedge funds, law firms to emergency rooms handle this deadly schedule of working sometimes up to 90 hours per week.
Truthfully, you would rarely work all those hours, typically just stand by in case your boss or a client calls. At home thereâs even more flexibility and convenience which has lead firms to take advantage of no waisted time which isnât always a good thing since it leads to massive burnout and no separation.
In particular, big banks and startups have asked their employees to come back ASAP into the office which will hopefully reduce the work load and overpacked schedules. After all, a majority of the restless feeling at home isnât in the work. Itâs pretty straight forward if you know what you are doing, the tough part is not being in person or having any interaction with anyone.
Moving around, looking at something different and having a dedicated lunch break to name a few activities in the office all change routine and is healthy to have in a work environment.
Staring at the same computer screen for 12 hours a day while walking 2 feet to the kitchen in your cramped studio apartment never getting fresh air is painfully difficult even if most of the time itâs waiting for clients to respond or doing tedious tasks like cleaning up data, etc.
The act of physically having to be online is dreadful and I believe going back to the office to âwaste some timeâ at lunch and commuting is great separation and can help alleviate our minds.
No wonder most are struggling more than ever. Being in the office seems to actually be easier.
The Secret Sauce
Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses able to deal with different circumstances. Iâve always been fascinated by how top performing tennis players are able to hit the ball at high speeds, run faster and perform at higher levels as matches get longer!
Since men have to win 3 sets in a row, it astonishes me how Nadal and Djokovic simply put on a new dry shirt, take a bite out of a banana and look fresh as if they just stepped on the court ready to play another set in their 4th hour.
Agility, perseverance and mental toughness is all part of the game and the same deal in life.
I find that physical strength comes after establishing mental grit, something helpful to have on the trading floor or when dealing with customer service tickets.
Regardless if youâre an athlete or IB banker, working long hours requires more mental toughness than anything thatâs why athletes are perfect contenders to work on the trading floor or in a cubicle! Itâs their natural environment after all.
If you work diligently for a couple years no matter the job, after a certain point, it cannot only be about the money. When youâre starting out, fresh grads seem captivated by the juicy salary but after a few years of adjusting, we get used to the work quick and know what we are deserving of.
Their perseverance and mission deep down keeps them going.
Spill the Beans
Since this prevailing question of what makes a 90 hour worker survive has been on my mind, there was no one better to ask than a couple of my friends in private equity and my mom in engineering/banking.
Simply put they all said they genuinely enjoy it and it doesnât feel like work.
Hard to believe 24/7 but I guess thatâs the secret sauce!
Yes, there are days where things get annoying and they donât feel like getting up, but all in all how could you hate your job when you work with a great team, are learning so much and hate being bored or waste time anyway?
Obviously your health = wealth (read here what that means) and if you want to be great at your job, prioritizing and being selfish is the key. We all have an energy tank and it gets depleted after a while but to keep it fresh and refueled, you are your biggest help.
My mother makes it a priority to work out for 30 minutes every morning on our elliptical at 6am sharp, no phone at lunch or dinner time and then take a 8pm walk around a few blocks.
This routine that sheâs had for more than 30 years working on Wall Street to now the tech landscape has lead her to keep her mental agility up, concentrate better and become a high performing athlete a.k.a great employee.
When you invest in yourself, others will too.
She constantly reminds me how vital it is to take care of ourselves. When she was younger she had the most energy, flexibility, determination and didnât need to take care of her body as much in terms of working out and eating perfectly right, but now it is necessary and sees how big of an affect it plays.
My colleague told me that he zones out and time just flies by at work especially on the weekends when he would surprisingly much rather do more work to grow a firm forward than sit on a hot beach or recover from a late night out.
So how do they actually do it?
No drugs, supplements or energy drinks in sight. I promise.
The truth is our bodies can go into 2Â states.
Either they naturally become acclimated to the job environment or will swiftly burnout and have to quit before they die.
Thereâs rarely a middle ground so be careful what you sign up for. Both my colleagues and mother have been fortunate enough to not have to deal with any medical impairments from their mentally intensive jobs but most do if they werenât careful in college.
Despite the lucrative paycheck, if their mental state isnât in order, they both told me they wouldnât have continued. Thereâs more to life than money and it certainly wonât make you healthier after SoulCycle and green shakes.
After all, we all die eventually. Money wonât stop it.
Side-Affects
Fresh grads believe they are unstoppable. They donât take their health seriously until they have to and go through turmoil in their first few years in their full-time job stuck in the office. Since most readers are either in HS, college or have graduated now working, good news, itâs never too late to start, bad news, tomorrow is the worst time today is the best time so hurry up and take control of yourself.
Here are the most common ailments working a full-time typical job for roughly 8 hours+ per day:
-Plantar fasciitisÂ
-Frequent allergic reactionsÂ
-Chronic lower back pain plus sciaticaÂ
-Teeth grindingÂ
-Tennis elbow
I firmly believe that STRESS is the main source for almost all our health problems, work or home related. Work is certainly stressful primarily because anyone is replaceable and the lower you are in the food chain, the first contender you are to be kicked out if the firm goes bankrupt or the market isnât doing well.
Do reduce stress, take advance of everything your employer provides which may or may not include the health and wellness club downstairs, health and medical benefits such as insurance, paid time off, all vacations, healthy cafeteria food, work from home days and getting your family and financial life in order. What ever happens at home trickles down and boils up at work so donât let that happen.
Benefits of Working On Your Own or Retiring
If you are fed up with working 90 hours per week and are at a dangerous point in your life, then itâs definitely time to head somewhere else. A way to take advantage of lost time before deciding if you want to get back into the workforce, become an etnrpenur or build up your passive income streams is by taking a gap year or getting and Masterâs degree. This will allow you to have some fun on your own terms, feel like a careless student again and help calibrate your career path.
Hiring is a tedious, expensive and long process for both the applicant and company. Make sure to know what youâre getting into because no one else is living your life. That company may be the best in itâs class and make your parents proud but if itâs going to beat you down and make the rest of your life miserable, then whatâs the point?
You only get 1 shot at life and feeling horrible is a waste of time.
Once you improve your health, you will regain a new purpose, focus and meaning in life. You will see things form a different perspective, gain clarity and actually want to live which will allow you to make more and do better.
Here are some of the basic benefits of taking control of your health that everyone wishes for:
-Look and feel better
-Less gray hairs
-Less medical bills
-Feel more confident
-Want to go places
-Read randomness not related to your industry
-Enjoy life and family time
Stress can easily cut off a few years of your life. If you are curious how the happiest and least stressful countries live, you can check out the Nordic countries secrets.
In the meantime, close the device you are reading this on and go take a walk, drink a glass of water and just chillax.
You deserve it and your career does too.