Work to Live Not Live to Work, It’s Clearly Better

In the debate of work to live vs live to work, you want to work to live not live to work. Our lives are worth more than working for a paycheck or for a company to help them become rich. It’s worth more than that. Our identities are not our jobs but rather on what we do outside of work.

There are certain times when it is better to live to work. I’ve lived on almost a poverty income before and it was not a good feeling. I lived in the office, offering as much value as I can to my company and my boss. I scored some nice raises as a result. However, I only wanted to do that temporarily.

There was no way that I was going to make that my permanent life. I was always of the mantra “work like a dog for five years and take it easy after”. I’m so close to the take it easy phase, I can almost taste it. However, I couldn’t have been in that position unless I actually lived to work temporarily.

If you work for a living, there is no shame or anything bad related to that at all. The key is to only do it for a limited amount of time. The rest of your life should be spent with your loved ones, the people you are loyal to and actually care about. Or it should be dedicated to working on your own goals.

Companies aren’t loyal to their employees these days. They will get rid of you if you they don’t think you add enough value. That’s why you should work to live not live to work. Don’t give so much to someone who wouldn’t think twice of getting rid of you.

Work to Live vs Live to Work: What is the Difference?

One way to tell the difference between work to live versus live to work is by SMASHING that social share button and post to your favorite social media! Without realizing it, your friends could be living to work and one day be filled with regrets. We want to prevent that.

Life is more important than money, status, work, or job. There are things that are worth far more than that, without question. Therefore, there’s a distinct difference between work to live vs live to work. Most countries these days support you living to work.

Why?

They want their economy to be bustling so that they have power against other nations in the world. While having power is necessary, being power hungry is not. Understand the difference between the two. The United States is rarely number one in the happiness index across the globe.

It was number 19 as part of a 2021 happiness index study.

Work to Live

This means that your work comes number two in the list of priorities. You are putting yourself first. Work is less important than your life. It’s necessary to work but you’re not so enamored with it that you don’t let it consume you.

You set boundaries with your boss so that you’re not taken advantage of at work. There’s a lot of things that you would do for your employer but you are clear that there are things that’s a hard no. In the life of thirds, you evenly split your time between work, life, and sleep.

Some weeks might be bad and some weeks might be better but overall, that harmony is always apparent. This is what you want to do. Your company does not care about your well being. All they care about is how much value are you providing them and is it worth the cost of your salary?

Therefore, you don’t want to give so much to someone who will let you go in a heartbeat without thinking twice. They’ll replace you with another person within a month or so, anyway.

Live to Work

This is a place that you don’t want to be in. This is a place where you spend weekends and nights working and going above and beyond for your employer. A good sign that you are in this spot is when you don’t decline work asked to you by your company. You feel bad saying no.

In your free time, you fire up the laptop, check emails, and see what else you need to do so that you don’t fall behind. When you start using your “me time” for your company, that’s when things are really bad. There has to be a clear separation between your job and your personal life.

Do you feel tired all the time yet still don’t want to speak up and talk to your boss about it? Do you feel guilty taking a full lunch hour thinking about everything that you have to complete by the time you go back? That’s a very clear indicator that you are living to work.

You are prioritizing work over focusing on other more important areas of your life.

It Changes at Different Times of Your Life

Whichever camp that you are in, understand that it’s OK to change at different phases in your life. I remember one interviewer told me that he used to want to always go to private equity, banking, and financial services. Then he got married and had kids so his priorities changed.

This is the expectation and is completely fine. Short term and long term goals can be conflicting at times. It’s fine to devote a lot of your time to your work in the early stages of your career. There might be a limited number of people who depend on you like a spouse or dependents.

My life priority changed and I do not want to work that much anymore. I used to be all about work and provide as much value to my company as I can and get paid as much as I can with it. In my spare time, I want to build a side business so that I’m not so dependent on the company.

These days, I don’t feel beholden and as obligated to my company at all. I have a sizable net worth to boot and if they fire me, I would be completely fine. They control my time to a certain extent but they don’t fully control my time as they used to. Freedom was the ultimate goal and I feel so close to it.

So whichever of the two sides that you are on, it’s OK to change at different points in your life. Maybe you want to dig yourself out of debt so you work extra hard to get a well deserved promotion from your company. Whatever the reason, the change is a norm. Not the exception.

Work to Live is Good to an Extent

While it is the ultimately recommend path to take long term, it’s not perfect. Don’t end up neglecting your work. When you are starting out, you want to add as much value to your employer as you can to win in the end. Don’t just add value, actually negotiate and ask for more pay as well.

Don’t dilly dally and go through the motions throughout the day, counting down the hours till the coveted retirement day comes. Life is definitely more important than work but that doesn’t mean work has zero value to your life. It adds some value. You are working to make society a better place.

Without labor and people working hard, goods and services wouldn’t exist. People need goods and services to live their life out. So while you should go down this path and work hard, that does not mean you should commit 100% to it. When you start out, it’ll feel like 80% work and 20% life.

As time passes, that will slowly turn into 70% life and 30% work. However, work should never be at 0%. Even the FIRE folks do some kind of work to pass the time. As humans, we have to do something.

Sitting around and doing nothing to pass the time makes us even worse than having a bunch of work we need to finish. We need to feel like we are productive in some capacity. Therefore, it should never be 0% work. Work doesn’t have to produce income, either.

It can be working on a hobby you’ve always wanted to work on. Whatever it is, you should still take work seriously.

The Problem with Live to Work

The biggest problem with this route is that the biggest regret people usually have on their death bed is that they worked too much. They question where all that time went and if staying up late to finish a report was worth it. Rather, should they have attended their kids piano concert that one time?

Should they have attended their daughter’s parent teacher conference? They may end up becoming wealthy and providing for their family, but at what cost? You are worth more than your paycheck and your contribution to your family is more than money.

By dedicating and focusing your time, attention, and effort to one area, you lose focus on other areas of your life. Your personal life trumps your work life by a mile. That’s the biggest problem and obstacle you’ll face with the live to work approach.

You’ll start to lose your own identity and slowly define your identity with the work you produce. As a result, it’s not really your life anymore at the end of the day, it’s your company’s. You can’t psychologically detach work with every other aspect of your life. That’s dangerous.

You’re a real human being, not a robot whose performance is solely evaluated based on your ability to produce. The one third of your life that’s not dedicated to work or sleep is what makes up who you are. It reflects what you are truly interested in, not what others tell you you are interested in.

Protect and guard this time of your days carefully and fiercely. Don’t let anyone take this away from you. No one should control your time more than you. It’s your life and your story that you’re telling. Be the narrator of your life, not a bystander.

Over-Working is Not a Badge of Honor

Over-working is so glorified. It’s a “badge of honor”. Do you know who actually started this lie? Companies who profit from your slave labor hours that you’re putting in. People think if they work 80 hours a week, they’ve accomplished something. The only ones who win are the companies who profit from your slave labor.

The most common way people use your pride against you is by complimenting how good you are when you lose. If you constantly work overtime, that’s a clear cut sign that you are losing. If you are getting compensated for it, that’s one thing, but if you are not, then it’s an indicator you’re losing.

Most companies don’t compensate their employees according to the amount of time that they put in. If you work 25% more than the agreed upon 40 hours a week, you don’t get paid 25% more. Your pay is stagnant. That’s what companies love. They don’t want to change your pay based on the amount of results you produce.

They just want to pay you a flat rate while you overwork. That’s how companies get their employees to live to work. By telling them what a great thing they are doing that they are spending nights working on a project. It’s emotionally manipulative and I can’t believe that it’s legal.

Whether we like it or not, this line of brainwashing will always exist because governments benefit from employees believing this lie. Don’t be proud that you overworked. You don’t get any real benefits in return except a pat on the back and some awards.

It’s one thing if the reward is cold hard cash but if the reward is just recognition, it’s quite worthless. You can’t pay your rent with recognition.

Work to Live vs Live to Work: What’s Your Choice?

Even though you should work to live not live to work, you have a clear cut choice that you can choose from. It can shift or mix and match as time passes but remember that the ultimate long term goal is to work to live. You can certainly choose to live to work but you could be filled with regrets later down the road.

One thing has to be crystal clear. The ultimate final goal isn’t to stop you from working, it’s to get you to make working a choice. So many people HAVE to wake up the next day and go to work because they have no other choice. That’s because they buy so much stuff that they don’t need.

Their stuff ties them down. They don’t practice the minimalist lifestyle so that their stuff doesn’t own them. If you want to go down the right path, you will have to make the necessary sacrifices so that you can enjoy life and living more so than putting hours in front of a computer hoping for a promotion.

Everyone has the option to choose between one or the other. People can never back you into a corner. Even if you don’t think you have a choice, you do. The power to change, pick, and choose solely starts with you. It’s your life story to paint, how will the final canvas look like?

The next time you’re stuck in the office wishing you could spend more time with your family, remember this. Work can win you over on some times but life should win you over the vast majority of the times. You should work to live not live to work because you are meant for so much more than that.