In our busy world today, there are lots of things that we have to juggle: work, family, and other obligations. In fact, we may even feel that we are proud to be busy all of the time. However, Christine Carter of the Greater Good Science Center says that this mindset can actually be harmful. She advocates that we strive to aim for what she calls the “sweet spot” of life-balance.
What is the Sweet Spot?
The sweet spot, according to Carter, is similar to what an athlete experiences when playing his/her sport. It is the point where one is performing at “a point of maximum impact.” She goes on to say that, for the rest of us, the sweet spot is where we are both the most “at ease” and performing at our best.Many people, though, are not operating in this zone. Instead, they are either being stretched too far or not being challenged enough. This means that we are not making the positive choices in our work lives that allow us to find our sweet spots.
Impact for Workers
How does this concept apply to workers? Some ways of overshooting your sweet spot include:
Putting in a lot of hours at work.
Taking on a lot of responsibilities.
Not having boundaries between work and home life.
Granted, many of us have jobs that require a great amount of time and entail significant responsibilities. However, the results of always being on, of performing at such high levels all of the time, can include feeling depressed, anxious, and burned-out.
Millennials and the Sweet Spot
For Millennials, there seem to be issues on both ends of the spectrum. There are many who seem to enjoy this "high-stress equals high rewards" scenario, such as those who work in the tech industry. Yet there are young workers who also see the pitfalls of this way of working. For instance:
Millennials see the effects of how high-intensity work has negatively impacted their parents and their relationship with their families (absent at home or divorce).
Many young people question whether they want that kind of lifestyle for themselves, not wanting their work to overwhelm their lives.
Millennials will take jobs for which they are overqualified because of the fear that they will be overwhelmed.
The result is that Millennials sometimes operate outside of their sweet spot. They may be very intelligent and have lots of talent, but are afraid that taking jobs that are too demanding will overwhelm them and cause the same burnout that their parents experienced.
Finding the Sweet Spot by Making Positive Choices
One important aspect of making positive choices about your work life, then, is figuring out how you can operate in your sweet spot enough of the time that you’re not constantly either overwhelmed or under-challenged. How can you do work that is challenging and taps into your passions without having to sacrifice your personal life in the name of your job? One thought from Carter is not to confuse being busy with doing what matters. Being a smart worker doesn’t have to mean working longer hours.By keeping in mind this idea of the sweet spot, we can begin to take stock as to how we approach our work lives. This, in turn, can help us begin to make positive choices for approaching work that allow us to work smarter, not harder.Click here to read more about making positive choices when selecting a workplace. Click to learn more about finding your life path with Jane Rubin, Ph.D.