So, in Blog #4,  I talked about how to promote your growth through learning.  In this Blog I want to talk about how Work-Life Freedom is the goal.  

The proverb “All work and no play makes soleman a dull boy” is so true. But what’s the difference between work-life freedom and work-life balance?

With Work-Life Balance it’s pretty simple, you try to have balance between your personal life and your work life. If you focus one, the other may suffer.  Work-Life Freedom is when you work for a company that allows you the freedom to make those decisions.

So back to “My world” at the time. Here,  I was learning the ropes and trying to soak all the experience up. 

The program I was given had a weekly check off list.  Not only did I have to grasp the ins and outs of running and managing a retail store, but I also had to help open and lock up the store, too.  It was a lot to take in; waiting on customers with patience, and managing people on the fly with more learning curves.

I realized that the balance is about looking at what needs to be done… right now,   and  doing what can wait..until later. It’s about prioritizing your work load. It’s kind of like the 80/20 rule which I’ll get into later in a future blog.

I worked 6 days a week, so it didn’t leave me much time to do much of anything else. When you’re so absorbed into your work every waking hour, you can easily burn yourself out. My life was going a mile a minute at work, driving home, eating dinner, watching a little TV, and then going to bed; only to start all over again the next day.

Sometimes, the night before my day off,  I’d spend time with my friends after work and cut loose a little; or sometimes a lot, which made my days off a “recovery” day. 

I got into playing video games as a way to unwind instead of just watching TV on my off time. The video games were strategy games where I’d use my brain to figure out how to get to the next level. These games I enjoyed and were a release for me. (They still are today). So this helped “Balance me out” but far from freedom to make my own choices.

So, whatever you do on your off time, make sure it’s something you enjoy so you aren’t 24/7 work.

Luckily my dad instilled a good work ethic in me. I developed a sense of pride in my work which I will expand on a little more in Blog #6

So the Goal is to find “Work-Life Freedom”,  but when you are first starting out, it really depends on the company you work for. So at least find a way to have balance.

For this current job it was very easy to keep going without paying attention to what your body was telling you. Fatigue can cause stupid mistakes and set you back, so it’s always good to re-energize yourself in some way. Do something that you enjoy on your time off.

Work will always be there in some way, so pace yourself so you don’t burn out. And yes, coffee helps too;  just have a cut off time so the caffeine doesn’t prevent you from sleeping at night.