Why do you work hard?

After the recent spate of yet another round of late nights, stressful days, demanding hard driving boss, missed dinners, missed gym sessions, nights of reaching home late and ... spending the rest of the night alone, woffling about...

I had to ask myself again. Why am I doing all this? Many people live a far more fulfilling life. Why not me?

Y'know, why do some people work hard? Afraid to lose their jobs, so must deliver assigned tasks, and in order to complete these tasks, must spend more time because it is time consuming? Because they love their jobs and do it for the sake of doing? Because...they don't know why, they just do? I had to really ask myself that question. Because if I cannot find a good enough reason, I don't see why I should sacrifice my time, my youth, working day and night, arriving at work at about sunrise, and leaving work way way after the sun has set.

Youth can never be bought back, ever. You will never be 23 yrs, 6 months and 5 days old again. You can be 23 yrs, 6 months, and 6 days old, but never 5 days old again. Each day is unique. Each day passes us by, never to be accessed again. In time to come I shall look back on my 23rd and maybe 24th year.. and see that.. in the prime of life...I spent my time...working.

B4 I go on, I must add a disclaimer. I know that lots of you work super hard too, and working Friday evenings and 12 hour days are the norm. Thats fine. Thats your situation. I am just pondering mine.

So I wonder..OK, say I throw in normal regular 9 hour working days. Then what would I REALLY do with that extra time? Would it REALLY be spent constructively or improving my quality of life? I could play my totally ignored guitar again. Play basketball again. Read, as I so would love to. If not, why not invest that time in something? So I regard this time at work as an investment, an investment in myself, and that I guess helps. A wise colleague once said, treat the job as you investing in yourself, not working for the company. Everything you do and learn, goes to improving your own stock. Think of it that way.

And thats true. That helps.

Actually, a lot of people have told me - take the easy way out friend. Why not work for my mum, since she has her own business and if it can give me and my siblings the lifestyle we have been given, its got to be pretty good. Hmm...thats a thought. But no, I want to be a self made man, I do not want to rely on the mother. I want to go out and make something of myself. Eventually, when I have gained enough experience outside, hey, I can always return there. But truth be told, I have other reasons why I want to work hard, and am focussed on delivering the result asked of me. And I am not sure if they are good reasons, but they jolly well are MY reasons. And when I remind myself of it day in day out, I guess it can keep me going. And at times like these, when I have basically given up a major portion of my life, and only think of work and how to deliver results, day in and day out, even when showering, in the toilet, or when I wake at night for the toilet. So let me list it down, to remind myself again. Self-motivation is a virtuous trait.


1) Fear of not being smart/productive/useful enough to be hired, and therefore, fear of not having a decent job that pays decent wages. Fear of not being able to afford a comfortable lifestyle. Extravagance is unnecessary. Just a nice condo, kids with good education, wife has no need to worry about money, we can have a yearly holiday with some in between getaways, health no issues, food to eat, and some leftover for minor pleasures of life. And, I don't need to be the highest paid among my friends and relatives - I just don't want to be the lowest paid.

2) Don't want to have money issues in marriage. I always believe that men, if they really loved their wives, would try to give them a happy marriage that has no money worries. I really hate it when couples quarrel over money, really realllly hate it, REALLY R E A L L Y hate it. It so totally taints and spoils everything. And if you love her so, you refuse to give her anything but the best. You want to take her on holidays. You want to afford a nice kitchen for her. You don't want her to go out, see something she REALLY likes, and then, walking away from it coz you cannot afford it. You don't want to have to eat in all the time coz you are on a tight budget. No way Jose. Thats why, now that we are young and not attached, we should get out there, stop wasting time in cybercafes and watnot, and really, devote our time and attention to improving ourselves so that we are in a position to command a comfortable and decent salary so as to make the girl feel secure. The important thing here is to remind myself, how much is too much, where to draw the line.

OK. I have listed them down. Now with my newfound reminders to myself, I shall head out into the world, brave it, and see what I can do to reduce the NT Wastage at B1 complex while keeping volume the same. Tata good folks.