work hard at the things that matter - sometimes, that's just life

I can’t think of a single Peter Bregman blog post that I don’t like. In fact, on my Google Reader feed, all of his recent posts are starred and marked as unread, because I want to write about all of them. But writing all my blog posts about his blog posts would be cheating. So here are my own thoughts on working too hard:

(professional headshot... this is only here so Shan won't complain about no pictures; please do NOT reproduce)

I went through a workaholic phase a few years ago. I was constantly in my office, cranking out reports, sending emails, approving documents. From September until Christmas, I didn’t make it a single weekend without going into the office once (and usually twice). I would come home from the bar and would immediately walk to my home computer. I was too scared to get a Blackberry because I knew what it would do to my already-sparse social life.

And then my grandfather died.

And for the first day in a month, I didn’t go to the office. I sat on my bed and stared at the wall. I went home to spend time with my mother. I took a walk in the park with a friend. I took a long vacation. And I realized that the world would go on without me if I didn’t check my email on the hour, every hour. I decided that sometimes the best answers were ones that people came up with on their own, while waiting for you to get back to them.

I grew up.

The idea wasn’t that I wasn’t working on something meaningful. That year was one of the best experiences of my life, and I learned and grew immensely from it. The work I did was, and remains, a huge passion of mine. But there was so much more to do than just work. I hardly took time to enjoy the fruits of my work. I spent little time with the people who benefitted, or the people that I loved. I ignored my health. And although I gained tremendous experiences, I missed others that were irreplaceable.

I don’t regret for a minute where I’ve been, but that experience has helped shape where I’d like to go. Now, when I work, I love design, and I know that the things that I design will improve the quality of care for millions upon millions of patients. I keep people alive, and that’s rewarding. But it’s also rewarding to enjoy that quality of life that I preserve for others. It’s rewarding to pursue my passions – to travel around the world, to learn as much as I can, to share ideas with interesting people – because it makes the work that I do that much sweeter. So don’t regret working hard. But remember what it is you’re working for.