Work Hard/Play Hard
When I was in college, I had to interview three entrepreneurs for one of my classes. One of the entrepreneurs I chose to interview was my grandfather. During the course of the interview, he gave me a piece of advice that I’ll never forget. He said, “No matter where you want to go in life, work hard to get there, but also, take the time to play hard along the way.” He went on to tell me that he feels he did not take the time to play enough early in his career and that he was trying to make up for that a bit in his later years.
What I want to talk about in this blog post is balance. I have written about balance before, but let’s look at it in a different way. Let’s focus on just two areas – work and play.
Work Hard
Working hard is essential. Doing so will help you advance in your career and give you some ability to take care of your financial needs. Career growth is important because if we, especially those of us with ADHD, are stuck in one job for too long, we will get bored and not be an efficient worker. This will make you less popular with your superiors, clients, co-workers, etc. On the other hand, working harder will make you a popular person in the workplace.
However, working hard does not mean you ignore your brain wiring. Part of working hard is knowing how you best work. It is important to follow your natural way of doing things. I tell potential clients it is my job to help people work with their brains, not against them. Working hard means knowing what you need to do to be successful and doing that.
Does working hard mean not taking breaks? Absolutely not! Breaks are essential. They enable you to be more productive when you are working. It might sound counter intuitive, but taking breaks means working harder and getting more done.
When you work hard, you are able to get work done faster. By getting your work done faster, you free up more time to play. This is the ultimate reward for working hard.
Play Hard
As I just said, when you work hard, you can play hard. You have the time and the freedom to play. Moreover, you can play guilt-free. By getting your work done, you free up space in your mind for fun activities. You are not fretting about the work you didn’t get done. You are enjoying the time with loved ones or by yourself doing what you love to do.
What you do to have fun is up to you. There is no limit to what you can do. (Well okay, there might be some legal and moral limits on what you can do.) We ADHDers are naturally creative and fun-loving. Playing isn’t the hard part. The hard part is creating the mental space to play. We feel like we need permission to play. Well, we don’t need anyone’s permission. Play is a right.