Do your children or partner want no pain no gain, workaholic versions of you?

Ascending professionals in this day and age have a penchant for working hard. We love to urge ourselves, our friends, our peers, and those we lead forward with mantras that revolve around various versions of pushing ourselves, challenging ourselves, stretching ourselves, testing our mettle and seeing just what we are made of. We find the pursuit of goals thrilling, and the competitive spirit within us swells when we see others competing for the same goals or setting and achieving their own audacious goals.

One of the most common phrases that describes our penchant for working hard is the phrase “no pain, no gain.” In our life experiences, we often encounter the lesson that working hard enough to the point of feeling some pain is a prerequisite to gaining something important; we believe that nothing good comes easy, after all. For instance, when we work hard at our fitness goals, we feel the pain or exhaustion in our muscles, which is the precursor to the gain of building stronger bodies. In work, we frequently see that those who gain recognition or are promoted are those that work extra hours throughout the week, or take on more projects and more responsibility. No pain, no gain leads us to hold the engineer, marketer, or manager who continues to work diligently into evenings, weekends, and holidays in high…