3 Things You Should Never Prioritize Work Over

There are times when your career deserves to come first. However, there are also times when other aspects of your life need to take priority. It’s not always clear-cut as to when you should prioritize other aspects of your life over work. This post details a few instances where it could be harmful to put work first. 

Sleep

Ideally, your job should allow you to get a healthy amount of sleep each night. Of course, if you have other commitments and a job with changing shifts, there may be times when you have to make do with a little less sleep. There may even be times when you feel it’s worth staying up late to complete a work project or attend a work event. However, this shouldn’t be a regular occurrence, otherwise it can become unhealthy.

We should all be getting at least 6 hours of sleep per night (7 to 8 is the optimum amount for most adults). If your working hours regularly prevent you from getting less, you could be slowly damaging your health – increasing the risk of heart failure, stroke and diabetes later in life. 

Lack of sleep is also not good for work performance. You could find that it’s harder to concentrate, be creative and stay motivated if you haven’t had enough sleep. In other words, priortizing work over sleep could inadvertently have a negative impact on your work. 

You shouldn’t have to give up all free time to get a good night’s sleep. Instead, you need to find ways of reducing your hours or working better hours. If a lot of time is wasted commuting, try to find ways to reduce this commute by working from home or getting a job more local. If you’re self-employed and you’re satisfying clients by taking on jobs at all hours of the day, consider setting yourself stricter boundaries or outsourcing/hiring people to take over duties during certain hours.

Health

Do you often go to work while feeling ill? Do you have work-related pains that are getting worse? Have you got a health concern that you need to see a doctor about, but you don’t want to take time off work to make an appointment?

If any of the above are true, it could be a sign that you’re putting your work above your health. No job is worth risking your health for. Many health problems will just get worse over time and eventually you may have no choice but to give up work. Treatment could be a lot more difficult and risky at this point, and recovery time may be longer – were you to have tackled the health problem early, you could have saved money and made treatment/recovery easier.

Many employers now offer sick pay or health insurance packages to employees. If your employer doesn’t offer these perks and you are worried about not being able to afford time off, it’s worth noting that there are still many other options for funding. There are 0% interest medical loans out there that could cover your time off. Alternatively, you may be able to contract creditors and freeze some payments. You may even be able to seek compensation with the help of an injury lawyer if you’ve sustained an injury that was the fault of someone else.

Don’t worry about being punished by an employer for taking time off. While there is no federal law that prevents an employer firing an employee for being sick, a good employer won’t resort to this, and any employer that does can usually be sued for wrongful termination. 

Family

There are certain family events that should come before your work. This includes family emergencies and special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, school plays and sports events. Employers and clients will understand if you need to attend these family events (the more warning you can provide, the better – although this may not be possible with emergencies). 

On top of family events, it’s important to make room for simply spending time with family. If you’re leaving work before the kids are up and getting home after they’ve gone to bed every day, you certainly better be making up for it at the weekend. Similarly, you shouldn’t feel that you and your partner never see each other.

Time with family is something you can’t get back. It could eventually cause a strain on your relationships with your family – your partner may drift away and kids may start to feel estranged. Make regular time for your family so that you have no regrets. This could involve talking with your employer so that you can work around family commitments more easily.