The job after your job

Life is a 24-hour job. Even when your body and mind seems to switch off or rest, there is still an involuntary system that works at keeping you alive non-stop. If you are a person who thinks your profession is your only job, think again. A job is a responsibility towards a greater goal and is a promise to deliver expectations. Your profession is something that you do in exchange of money. And when your day ends, your job does not end there. You have merely switched roles into another one, another agreement that you made as a family man, a social man and a self-made man. Your work stress and pressures cannot be an excuse for you to ignore them like the involuntary system of your body they demand your attention.

Here are some areas you need to recognise as your job and ideas on how you can be successful in creating a better life:

Your job towards yourself: Your greatest responsibility is towards yourself. You are the mind and the body that drives the aspiration you have for yourself and for the rest of the world. It is, therefore, your duty to constantly invest in your sanity, happiness and growth. Take time out to study, to relax and do things for yourself. The logic is simple—if you are not consciously planning and taking out time for your growth, you are deteriorating. I have personally witnessed a friend's success; the higher he rose on the corporate ladder, the more impatient, unhealthy, unreasonable and angry he had become. You are the heart of the entire system that you have built around yourself. When the heart turns weak or fails, the body dies.

Your job towards your family: Family is where most people would get the pink slip and yet where most people don't get fired. As a family person there are certain expectations and deliverables that you are liable for. It's unsaid, but it's implied. Providing an income is one of them and spending time in love and care is another. No matter what goes on in your world at work, you cannot ignore the needs of the family. To neglect the needs of old parents who brought you to this world and to neglect giving attention to the young children you brought into this world, is creating guilt and frustration that will find its way out at your job at work. Failing at the family job is like starving your body of nourishment. A sick body like an emotionally sick employee becomes a liability for others.

Your job towards your social environment: Without entertainment and friends to share your joy with, stress becomes the highlight of your life. Man is a social animal. We are not ants; we are magical and creative beings that thrive on sharing, on nurturing, on ideating and seeking pleasure and fun as a way of life. When people get so busy that they have no time to socialise creatively, they break down more often. If you are one of those who merely are interested in pursuing professional success while putting a 'do not disturb' sign on other areas of your responsibility, success will always evade you.

True success and true joy of living is in fulfilling all your responsibilities in all the jobs that you have consciously taken up and all the jobs that you are involuntarily a part of. What kind of success would you have when you have deteriorated in your attitude, don't get along with your family and have no friends to rejoice with? Don't make your professional job so important that you lose your position in others. Success lies in fulfillment and balance and it's easy when you live your day in awareness of your responsibility, not only towards your career, but also towards yourself, family and friends.