Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep251: WHY WORK SO HARD?

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

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Welcome to the Corporate Survivor Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your career confidence, build your skills and value, increase your salary, and in many lessons we learn in the corporate world. For more career support, click on over to www.w.com. This is Mayping, your corporate leader turned career coach. I hope you enjoy, like and subscribe. Hey, it's Miping and welcome back to the Corporate Survivor podcast. So today, let's have a hard-to-heart conversation about why are you actually working so hard? Now, I hear people say that Miping, you know, I don't want to work hard just for my boss. I feel like I'm putting in all my effort for my boss, for my company, for my role, for my job.

And I don't really enjoy that, right? I feel like what's the purpose of me working hard? I feel like I can't fulfill my passion and, you know, I'm just being a corporate slave. Now, I'm here to tell you that that is not a very good mindset to have, and you need to stop saying that you're only working hard for your boss. You are not. If you don't like your boss, you can move on to a new boss. If you don't like your company, you can always move on to a different company. If you don't like your job, it is always in your power to go and get another job. So you are not working for your boss, your company or your job. You're working for yourself, right? Let's be honest and just say that you are working for yourself. is for your lifestyle, whether it's for your future, whether it's for a better future for your family, and maybe it's something else that is personal, but remember, you're working for yourself. So never say that you don't want to put in more effort because you're doing it for someone else. No, you're doing it for yourself, and the kind of like effort, energy that you put in,

the kind of like planning that you put in in your own career will only result in a better or maybe a little bit worse future for yourself and for your family. and why this topic sort of came up today was that over the weekend I was having a catch-up with my friends and we were actually just talking about our careers and one of the things that my friends all know about my career is that I've been in positions where I was allowed to travel so it involved my roles involved business travel and I've been to many many many countries and one of the things that I always always remember when I apply for a job is that I love travel.

So I would say my motto in life is that we'll work to travel. So I work hard, get paid, then I take the money, and I travel. So that is how I approach my job. Yes, I work hard to impress my boss. I communicate my value at work. I make sure my boss recognises my hard work

with promotions, new opportunities, pay rises, but at the end of the day, what am I using all this money for to travel? because that's something I personally enjoy and that is what motivates me every single day at work, right? We'll work hard so I can travel hard and that's the reality

and even when I was changing jobs, right? If there's an opportunity for me to take on a position that has business travel where the responsibilities involve traveling to different branches, different entities within the organization, then that usually is my first priority. I'm like, if the company's paying for me to travel

And I love travel, and I'm getting paid to travel. I'm like, why not? So in my previous roles, when I was with Visa, I was in charge of Asia, Pacific, Middle East, Central Europe and Africa. And with Visa, I've been to many countries. And after that, when I moved to Standard Charter, I was working on some strategic projects, which I've also been to multiple branches across different countries within StanChard's portfolio. So I've definitely prioritized that. And when people tell me that, oh, maybe lucky you, right?

you got to travel to all these places and you know my job sucks or my company sucks my boss sucks I always tell them that like if something's really important to you right maybe you love travel just like me right then you need to gradually move and sell your skill set transition your skill set to change careers and move into roles that will allow you to do something that you really want or get you closer to your own professional or personal goals for me my goal was personal but I knew how to position and sell my value to get into job roles and job functions whereby I got to travel business, right, on business. But maybe for you, it's something that's related to passion.

Like, I know people who maybe want to get closer to the art scene or maybe eventually they want to do their own consulting, consulting business and so forth. Then I tell them that, hey, if that's the case, right, you need to start sharpening your skills right now because I'm not just saying it as a woo-woo, but at the end of the day, it's like if you know that you want to pursue a certain path in the future. I'm talking about the future, not as in like 12 months in the future, but maybe your future is maybe in the next five years. I'm like, okay, then now is the time that you need to gradually transition yourself closer to the area that is what you want to do. Like, for example, maybe you're in finance right now, but maybe your goal

is to do events management. I'm like, okay, great. Then you have a five-year plan and now you're going to start picking up the skills as well as gradually transition to the job functions, to the type of companies, to the type of industry,

there's a lot closer to what you want to eventually do. Maybe you're really passionate about art, right? And you really want to do something to get involved in art. I'm like, okay, great. Now I'm going to explore all these art companies and see what kind of roles that they're hiring for, what kind of positions that they have in their team and I'm going to see how I can position my

value to land a role there. So my point is that, you know, you are never stuck in a sense, but I think it would be good to know why you're working so hard for, right? If you want to make money, then yeah, but what are you going to use the money for? And if you really want to do something that you enjoy, then why not make some steps, right, to get closer to what you enjoy? If you really like to do a certain piece of work or you want to get involved in a certain industry or you want to get involved in like certain events. Okay, then let's figure out, right, what roles, what job functions, what kind of industry, what type of companies allow you that kind of opportunity. What I think is really, really unhelpful and I see that in so many people and especially people

on social media where every time, right, I see it's always the same person. After two, three years, right, I'm seeing the same comments from the same people, always talking about, oh, maybe I feel so helpless, right? I feel like there's nothing that can be done, right? I'm trapped, I hate my boss, I don't like my company, I don't like my role. The thing is that, right, my response, an immediate question that always pop in my mind is like, what are you still doing there? Like if you hate it so much, right, what are you still doing there? And to me, right, it's not about your boss, it's not about your company, it's not about the

job, it's not about the industry, it's about you. If you don't like it there, then it's time to move, right? If you don't like it there, then you need to take steps. You need to plan your exit. You need to plan your exit. And what would be even better is to tie in with a personal goal. So, okay, right, you have a job, get paid. So tell me, right, what are you going to do with the money?

I think it's always helpful to get a better sense of like, hey, actually how am I going to spend the money that I've made for my hard work? Because working, in my opinion, right, working for the sake of working is very demotivating. If you know someone at the office who is just their whole life is about work, I think that is, I mean, that's important, right? If that's something that is something that you want to do for your family, but then, you know, the ultimate outcome is that you're doing it for your family. But some people who are just obsessed with working many hours a day,

and that's not good, right? That's not good. So the point that I'm making here is that it is within your control and always remember that you're working hard for a reason, right? You're at the office, you're at the job, you're in a company for a reason, and just make sure that you enjoy the money that you make. I think it's really important to live a life. Don't be the kind of person that is just so obsessed at their job

and just always want to level up, level up and level up, but actually not knowing how to live a life and what actually matters in life. And I can tell you that even I work with a lot of members in my career program. I have a career program. It's called the Corporate Survivor, and I have members that I work with and I help them, help mentor them and give them guidance and advice and feedback in their careers.

And I can tell you that, right, when they want to do well at their job, when they want to impress their boss at work and they want, and when they're doing job search, it is not about just lending that job. It is not just about getting that promotion. It is always about, I want to be able to make that kind of money so that I can have a better life for my family, right? I have the money to travel. I feel like I can buy whatever I want, right?

So that's something that you want to. tie the reason why you're working hard to something that I would say it's like a life goal or a personal goal or a personal freedom. And I think that actually is the most motivating thing. And as I said, right, for me, it's travel. And for many, many years, I'll say almost the entire time when I was in corporate. I can tell you that I'm actually someone who travels a lot. So every single month, I will travel back to Penang to visit my family. And not only that, I will also travel to at least one new place every single month. So for me, when I'm at work, right, I just remember that, yeah, I just need to get through

this week. I need to get through all these priorities. I need to get through this month or whatever. Then after that, I can travel. So for me, that's a reward. And I reward myself every month. So I work hard. I do well.

Then I reward myself at the end of the month with travel, whether it's for me, personal travel or if I can tie it with business travel, that will be perfect. But at the day, it's like a loop, right? So I never lose focus on why. I work hard because you don't want to be someone that is just, you know, being aimless and just, oh, no, I'm just trying to level up, my career, level up, level. I'm like, okay, but for what? You get that position and you make the car money for what?

Just to be stuck in the office all the time. I don't think that's a good idea. I think if you have made the money, then go and enjoy your money, right? Whether it's personal, your personal goals, right, go and pursue your passion. Now that you've made the money, right, you have more than enough time to go and pursue your passion to go and get involved with something that you like and really remember why you're working so hard for because it's not just about the hard work.

It's why I'm working hard. So for me, it's so important to remember that your career in the corporate world, you still have another 10, 20 or 30 years, right? And I don't want you to think that, oh, you know, every single day, day in, day out, it's just about my boss, it's about my company, it's not. Also, just remember to live your life. And I think that's the conversation I want to have today because whenever I hear people say that it sounds like, you know,

they feel so out of control in their career because of like whatever, whatever reason, really, you know, the most, the most empowering thing that you can say to yourself is that, oh, I'm stuck here. You're never stuck. It's never about your boss. It's never about your company. It's not about the job, not about the role. It's about you.

So if you don't like it, move. And if you have a passion and you know there's a specific industry, a specific area that you really want to explore, then plan your exit, plan your transition, and plan your path. And at the day of the day, all the skills that you pick up in corporate and in every single job and experiences, it will never go to waste. It will just keep building on and on and on. Even for some people who eventually transition to careers that are like completely different, they will always say that a lot of the skills that they picked up in the working world has actually taught them a lot of structure,

a lot of critical thinking and being organized. And all these things are super-duper important. So never feel that you're wasting time at your job. You're not. You're always in control, right? You can always focus towards bettering your life or achieving like a lifestyle goal or an enjoyment goal. But as I said, just remember, right, work hard, play hard. And go and spend the money that you have so well deserved. So that's it for today's episode. And I'll see you in the next one. Bye. Thank you.