Squiggly sprint 24: Day 15 - Work/Life fit

Day 15 of the SquigglySprint, and the topic is Work/Life fit.

There is a sentiment I have seen floating around social media a bit, which is so true. 

Take a break, because if you don’t, your body will decide when it wants to take a break, and it won’t be at a time that suits you.

I used to work for a US company, remotely from Europe, and the hours were pretty brutal. I often didn’t have hobbies outside of work, and when I did I wasn’t able to focus on them. I would often make it to the karate dojo ten minutes after the start of class, and still be rummaging things through my head for most of the class.

Where I am now, in a Nordic company, all the hours go into the metaphorical timesheet, to be taken in the future. It’s great for me, as I naturally work a few hours more during the week, and can have a bank of time to spend on other things. Now I can go to the gym fresh, and I can follow other pastimes. 

Ironically, having the time to have one particular interest, creative writing, has helped me massively in work, as I have gained so much confidence in writing good material quickly.

Now, this freedom doesn’t come for free, quite literally. My previous salary was very high for the Nordics, and my new one is more in line. The joke I often make about that is that my salary is less given I’m contracted for the same hours, but in practice my hourly rate is the same. 

But for me, it’s a simple realization that the freedom to do more away from work is letting me be a more balanced, healthy individual, that ironically is able to contribute more to work as I am able to be more present and bring a larger breadth of skills to work.

https://youtu.be/crS77kJmcX4