Career Planning Challenges

Apologies for the delay in posting! A family member got married a week or two ago, and my life was caught up in preparing and catching up from the event.

It's a great example of how life gets in the way of our career plans (looking at in a little negatively), or how our career or life must be adjusted to fit the other. Our life is not our work, and our work is not our life. I often find myself wondering, in 5 years, will anyone remember this? will it have any lasting impact? And if the answer is no, I evaluate whether I really want to do it.

I'm prone to burning out, and I know that. It's something myself (and my spouse) monitor carefully. I get into my work, and I easily forget what my priorities are: making a good paycheck, yes, but also spending quality time with my spouse, and my cat, and writing letters to friends and family. My overall mood is better, and I think more clearly when my life and career are more balanced.

There's a lot of pressure on me, don't get me wrong. At the moment, I earn twice what my spouse does, so it falls on me to pay most of the bills. I don't mind, but when it comes to taking a day off if I'm not feeling well, or taking a holiday somewhere, I do wonder whether we can afford to do it. In the end, we have started to understand that I can't NOT take time off, or my career and my life both suffer - I'm less productive when I'm tired, and I'm miserable on top of it. It's a no-win situation to be at work exhausted.

A few nice articles on the career-life balance juggle:

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/lp/spila/wlb/faq/01individuals.shtml
Some resources (Canadian): http://www.worksearch.gc.ca/category_drilldown.jsp;jsessionid=7844400A5992636A62E98B25C6B4760D.jvm7?category_id=578&crumb=42&crumb=127&crumb=560
http://ca.hotjobs.yahoo.com/balance
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/careeradviceresources/a/balanceact.htm
A whole section from Monster at http://content.monster.ca/section1966.asp
http://career.lfpress.jobboom.com/work-life/relaxation-vacation/2005/06/08/3279111-torsun.html

If you're not sure whether your life and career are in balance (though if you're not sure, I'd guess they're not!) at http://www.quintcareers.com/work-life_balance_quiz.html

Some companies actively promote a positive career-life balance. A quick Google search found these:

http://www.bcjobs.ca/re/career-centre/career-tools/career-planning/finding-your-balance
http://www.td.com/hr/balance.jsp