Business students are always told to be innovative and progressive; to create new ideas and to open their eyes to new learning opportunities that surround them. They are taught to be competitive and professional, which leads to inventions and discoveries that can help change their cities and countries. But business students aren’t always taught to be people, outside of a man or woman in a suit. Business people are so focused on how to be successful in their field, whether that be a CEO of a brand new product or being the computer code editor for a software venture, that they miss out on truly being a successful, whole human.
Being successful should be subjective, but at the same time, objective success should include a person’s happiness. Being able to join or start hobbies that you love, and find as interesting as your work, is a key aspect in the way that you live as a balanced person.
The success of a person, I believe, is more about his or her well-roundedness and happiness, and the ability to have a work-life balance rather than covering up the bags under your eyes from long hours in an office cube. Being successful should be subjective, but at the same time, objective success should include a person’s happiness. Being able to join or start hobbies that you love, and find as interesting as your work, is a key aspect in the way that you live as a balanced person. Finding passions and other interests such as music, sporting activities or art, can relieve stress, as well as improve time management and foster new social groups. Having a way to get out of the busyness of our own lives and into another version of ourselves, with new people or at a new place, can enhance our productivity, overall happiness, and stress levels.
Self care and mental health are equal factors in one’s success. If business students aren’t taught how to have other versions of themselves besides the person in a suit, then they will spend their entire lives stuck in a monotonous cycle of meetings, paperwork and conferences. Understandably, there will always be those tedious tasks in life. The important part is that work doesn’t overpower the rest of how you live your life, and you’re able to find things that make you overjoyed to be alive.