The other day, a Consultant asked me, “Is it even possible for a consultant to hit a 6 months target in 4 months?”
“Oh darling, of course it is. I was that consultant. And our targets were higher!”
“How?”
“Well, you just need to work really, really hard.”
Then comes the question, can you have a work-life balance when you have a career as aggressive as mine? I wish I could tell you yes, but the matter of fact is, no. Not for me anyways.
I worked late hours every other day. I worked on weekends & public holidays. I worked when I was sick even when I was lying on the hospital bed. This is when people would love to label me as a workaholic.
It’s okay. I love my job. Also I believe that I am quite the kiasu.
Because of financial challenges, I graduated 3 years too late compared to my peers, so I told myself I must work harder to catch up. And soon enough, not only I caught up with them, I overtook them.
One do get tired when you have a career as aggressive as mine. So I slowed down eventually. But doesn’t mean I got any less kiasu. As I aged, I grew wiser & got better in managing my workload & time.
I have became experienced.
Anyways, I do still work late hours, just it’s not as intense nor as frequent as how it used to be.
It’s rare to see me working on weekends & public holidays these days.
And when I was lying on the hospital bed last November, the only work I did was working with the doctors & nurses in getting well again.
The kiasu older me now, also kiasi. So the kiasu-kiasi me is chasing after the work-life balance that left me behind years ago. And I have faith, that soon enough I will catch up with it. And overtake it, of course.
Working hard on it!
Bimbo
