Don’t Overwork Yourself

As a Principal of a school franchise, I worked 260 hours a month:

• 11 hours a day
• 5 hours every day

I took almost no vacations, and the ones I took, were with a laptop, to get "some work done".

I am very ambitious, and I used to say “work is life, and life is work”, without realizing it really made me unhappy.

I tried to look for the source of my unhappiness outside of work:

• “I can’t find a girlfriend in the city” (who had time for that?)
• “Nothing interesting to me” (who had time for hobbies?)
• “I am not in shape…” (timeeeeeeee)

All this without realizing I had no time to invest in my well-being, interests, hobbies, love, friends…

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧…

n 2018, I decided to quit my job after almost a decade and move to the Netherlands to be closer to my girlfriend and our newborn.

𝐌𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝.

I switched my career to tech, and “suddenly” I was working 160 hours a month, having much more vacations. and actually enjoying the weekends to be with my family (+1 one more in the meantime).

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫!

I feel much more motivated, energetic, creative, and capable. When I do work, I am much more productive.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.

I can promise you, not always the more you give — the more you’re going to get out of it…

Especially when it comes to professions that require creativity and knowledge.

Are you overworking yourself?