Recently, I’ve watched a movie called Click by Adam Sandler. It’s a very good movie…very touching indeed.
In the movie, it talked about a guy who always wanted to work hard to support his family (thus giving them a better life). I am sure most of us have this same feeling (including myself). There’s nothing wrong with this mindset….the problem occurs when the workacholic architect overlooked his family while concentrating on his work. Time flies and he became very old. He did managed to become a very successful architect…..well-known and admired by many. However, he lost his wife, his father, and his family.
Do you want to be someone like this? I assume the answer is NO (that’s for me anyway).
Work-related things can always be rearranged. If the customers are concerned, the rearrangement might make them a bit unhappy but you can always work harder to repair that relationship. You can’t postpone your son’s graduation day….or your in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary. These are the stuff you cannot afford to miss…because there might not be a second 50th wedding anniversary.
Life is unpredictable. Family should always come first. Work and passions are equally important but there are things which you can afford to put on hold a little longer.
To my family, I might be a bit hot-tempered at times, but having you all by my side is one of the greatest things in my life. Cars, houses, money….. they can never replace the place my family has in my heart. 😉
p/s…. I was touched by the movie, and thus I decided to write this post.
Alvin Lim - The Thinker 
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December 26, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Angie Tan
Brilliant! If you have a copy of that movie, I would like to borrow that please!
My Dad is a classic example. He worked hard all his life. He travelled a lot of places as it was the nature of his job and we grew up not knowing him well and he, of us. I believe that he did regret missing our childhood. There was a time when I overheard my Mom that he doesn’t know his kids and advised him to spend time with us. Right after that, I remembered my Dad keeping a few hours from his Saturdays to spend some time with us. However, by that time, I was in my early teens and was starting to be my own self, pulling away from the family.
I went through the same thing some years back. I worked hard but didn’t spend time to look after my parents. They kept pushing me to work hard in my career but I told them, health, family and friends are more important than $$$.
I actually went to some interviews and spoke that although I am committed to my work, I’m more committed to my family. Some companies are becoming aware of this need to balance life with work. After all, a happy employee can contribute more than an unhappy employee. However, this trend is more prevalent with some MNCs and not the local ones, just as yet. 😦
December 28, 2006 at 1:35 am
aprilgonzaga
I saw that movie and i was literally reduced into tears… Family is very important ,what’s the point of working so hard if not for your family? What’s the purpose of living if not for the people that surround you and love you no matter what you have achieved in your life… Even if you have the thirst for success there are two important things that must be kept in mind, God and of course family….
December 28, 2006 at 7:10 pm
Alvin
Live for yourself and for the people close to you, not for your work. Life is short, you’ll never know whether the person you meet and speak to today will be there for you tomorrow. 🙂
And don’t worry…your workloads will always be waiting for you in the office the following day. 😛
January 4, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Levis
When twenty years ago a vague terror went over the earth and the word socialism began to be heard, I thought and still think that fear was translated into doctrines that had no proper place in the Constitution or the common law. Judges are apt to be naif, simple-minded men, and they need something of Mephistopheles. We too need education in the obvious – to learn to transcend our own convictions and to leave room for much that we hold dear to be done away with short of revolution by the orderly change of law.
August 10, 2007 at 12:14 am
Workacholic = good or bad? « Alvin Lim - The Thinker
[…] you haven’t read my previous post on Family vs Work, do take few minutes to read. I find the post very meaningful (ok…now i’m back to the […]
March 27, 2013 at 6:02 pm
Renniel
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