WorkLifeBalance #CareerGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment
Hey all! 👋 Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you just can’t seem to stop caring so much at work? It’s like the more you care, the more responsibilities just keep piling on, right? Well, I’ve been there too, and I totally get it!
Here are a few tips that might help you strike a balance and prevent yourself from feeling overwhelmed:
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Prioritize Self-Care: Make sure to take breaks, go for a walk, or do something you enjoy outside of work to recharge.
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Set Boundaries: Learn to say no when you’re feeling stretched too thin. It’s okay to set limits on what you can realistically handle.
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Delegate Tasks: Trust your team members to take on responsibilities and let go of the need to control everything.
- Focus on Quality Over Perfection: Remember that it’s okay if things aren’t always 100% perfect. Done is better than perfect!
Remember, it’s essential to take care of yourself first in order to be able to perform at your best at work. What are some strategies that have helped you maintain a healthy work-life balance? Let’s share our tips and support each other on this journey! 💼✨ #CareerAdvice #SelfCare #BalancedWorkLife
I could have written this myself. I’m only a mid-level engineer, but I still find myself worrying about the things you’re worried about. And companies will, as you noted, gladly pile on more and more responsibility (regardless of your title or salary) once they see that they can, because you care and you’re competent. Like you, I also end up reaching a point in my jobs where the only way out from worrying about a million little things—deadlines, tech debt, bugs, user feedback—seems to be to quit, start over, and enjoy the ramp-up time at a new place.
I too would love to know how people deal with it. Owner mindset without owner stake is not the life I wanna live
Start practicing do-nothing meditation. Daily. In the morning or before bed. For however long you can manage to do it, even 5 minutes would be good, 1 hour would be amazing.
Here is a guided “letting go into deep sleep” meditation. Try it out before bed.
I think you should definitely do two things and consider a third:
1.) See a mental health professional. Really. They’ll give you much better advice than you’ll likely ever get here.
2.) Stop trying to stop caring. Caring doesn’t sound like the problem. Burnout and helium hand (volunteerism) sounds like the problem. In my admittedly unimportant opinion, I think you need to learn that “No.” is a complete sentence and moreover, is a valid answer to being asked to do more than you’ve currently agreed to. Again, this is a great thing to talk about with a mental health professional as that problem tends to express itself outside of work as well as at work…
3.) Ask for help from your leadership more often. Not with the work itself, but with managing your workload and not over extending yourself. A good leader should be able to see when you’re doing 2-4+ jobs and work with you on getting you some support for delegation of lower level tasks, taking work off your desk when you’re overextended, and not over committing yourself in the first place.
Autonomy is important for many working under you. They are adults and have a drive to accomplish something in their life just like you do. Allow them to be responsible and learn things as they do. Humanity didn’t make it this far by the work of one person. It’s collaboration that got us this far. Set the rule of the road, create hierarchy of teams working under you, let them have ownership of the quality and timeline of their works. They will step up in no time. If you treat them like kids that won’t happen.
Why do you care so much? I am honestly confused why many tech workers I know care so much.
I can relate. I used care until I burnt out. If you overwork a lot, a good first step is setting boundaries around your time and improving your work-life balance. Work 9-5, weekdays only. Enjoy and live life. This has helped me care less about work.
And don’t forget the saying, “no one on their deathbed wished they would’ve worked more.”