Do You Work Harder for Others Than for Yourself?

Do you have personal goals or tasks that aren’t benefiting from your attention because you’re too busy attending to someone else’s tasks? Do you work harder for others than for yourself?

My previous post on the Fear of Saying No described the overt example of agreeing to give our time and energy away when we may not want to. What about when you repeatedly work harder for others without being asked to? Do you consistently decide that helping others with their goals is more important than working on your own projects? You may not consciously see it this way, but your actions reflect your priorities.

Pause to consider short term vs long term gain.

When we work hard for others, be they our employers, friends, or family, we may experience the initial satisfaction of “I’m a good person because I’m helping out”. This comfort is a short-term gain. In the meantime, your own projects, goals and hobbies remain ignored. As time goes on, you may find that you’ve made little progress on them. How will that make you feel at the end of the year?

Where our priorities lie, our progress grows.

If you consistently find that you’re not making progress on your personal goals, step back and observe how you live your days. What priorities are you enacting? Would your world (or someone else’s) fall apart if you were to occasionally shift priorities toward yourself? As with so much in life, a balance between helping others and helping yourself can serve to nurture both your community and yourself. If you have a generous nature, that balance can too easily shift away from you.

“We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.” – Michelle Obama

Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate how much you value your own worth and goals. Working as hard for yourself as you do for others can help make a happier you at the end of the year.

Image by anyaberkut (iStock)