In Online Forum, Lawyer Tells of Sacrificing Personal Life for Work
A 43-year-old lawyer writing in an online forum tells of her regrets about sacrificing her personal life for work.
The lawyer says when she was in college and law school in the late 1980s and early 1990s, discussions about work-life balance “would have caused big problems on the work front–the ‘guys’ would have jumped on that as an admission that the women weren’t as dedicated and somehow too ‘weak’ for the profession.” In a Washington Post online forum, the lawyer tells work-life expert and consultant Kathy Korman Frey that she isn’t the only woman of her generation with such regrets.
“By the time I figured out that I could and should have demanded more control, I had spent most of my 20s and 30s in the office for 12- to 14-hour days, six to seven days a week—never having the time to date, much less get married and have kids. Now that I figured it out, it’s too late. I’m not alone in this amongst women of my age. I’m glad younger women are getting guidance and seem to be pushing back on this.”
Korman sympathizes with the lawyer and calls her story “incredibly powerful.” She writes of three secrets of those who are best able to balance work and home responsibilities. These people:
1) Are clear about their priorities and have stopped being “yes people.”
2) Are confident about what success means to them.
3) Have a competitive advantage because they have figured out how to make themselves better and different from their co-workers.
