INFORMS Open Forum

Hello everyone!

I was reading the Diversity Blogs and I found very interesting blog titled "To My Younger Self: Workshop: Imposter Syndrome and Work-Life Balance" By Lauren L. Czerniak  (To My Younger Self: Workshop: Imposter Syndrome and Work-Life Balance). 

This blog is about how researchers feels that they are not good enough and not worthy, but we always are worthy and valuable no mater what. This made me think of me thesedays since I am doing my masters program, and I also feel like I am not enough and should be better and do more. I think it is true that I have to work hard and make an effort but I should not necessarily think that i am not worthy just because I do not know how to coding python. 

The blog is also talks about work and life balance of PhD students, how they have to make a boundaries and know how to do bookend. I totally understand that there should be work an life balance, and it is very important for personal life;however, when I was working in Korea, I did not managed my work and life balance. I was not very happy with my life at the time, but since I worked so much I was able to promoted and recognized as a hard worker. I think work and life balance is important, but at some point of everyone's life, there should be some sacrifice to achieve another level of life and be a better version of oneself. I worked too much at the time, but I do not regret it. because the times that we can do our best does not come very often, so I want to do my best when I can and do not want to regret it, but of course, after some year, I enjoyed my work and life balance and it was possible since I worked so much when I was younger.

I would like to hear from other people how they manage work and life balance, and what is the wise way to manage both?? 

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cindy jeon
university of california davis
san fransisco CA
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Hi Cindy, thanks for introducing this discussion. You raise a great point about the need to occasionally work "too much" in order to make significant progress. I think balance is achieved only over a long timeframe. My goal is to be able to zoom out and look at my whole life and say that it was balanced. If I zoom in and look at just one year or month, it may not appear balanced at all, and that's okay. It can be hard to decide when to push harder and when to back off and rest, but I personally think the way to do this in a healthy way is to know yourself and what your values are. If you're working hard to achieve something because someone else expects it or because it's generally considered an impressive accomplishment, in my experience, that's far more exhausting than if you're working hard because you decided it was important to do so, and you're going after something you truly want and value.

I hope many members will share their thoughts, regardless of career stage. This is the perfect topic for crowdsourced wisdom!

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Tracy Cahall
Member Engagement Manager
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
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thank you Tracy! i totally agree with your point!

knowing what yourself want will be the first step of everything, and we need to prioritize our time based on it.

I think life is a journey to know what I love and who I am and the purpose of mylife!

thank you again for the great reply! 

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cindy jeon
university of california davis
san fransisco CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2023 10:36
From: Tracy Cahall
Subject: Discussion about the "To My Younger Self: Workshop: Imposter Syndrome and Work-Life Balance"

Hi Cindy, thanks for introducing this discussion. You raise a great point about the need to occasionally work "too much" in order to make significant progress. I think balance is achieved only over a long timeframe. My goal is to be able to zoom out and look at my whole life and say that it was balanced. If I zoom in and look at just one year or month, it may not appear balanced at all, and that's okay. It can be hard to decide when to push harder and when to back off and rest, but I personally think the way to do this in a healthy way is to know yourself and what your values are. If you're working hard to achieve something because someone else expects it or because it's generally considered an impressive accomplishment, in my experience, that's far more exhausting than if you're working hard because you decided it was important to do so, and you're going after something you truly want and value.

I hope many members will share their thoughts, regardless of career stage. This is the perfect topic for crowdsourced wisdom!

------------------------------
Tracy Cahall
Member Engagement Manager
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
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