There was a time when the ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality seem to be this exciting, alluring concept which spoke to me of big pay cheques, exhilarating extra-curricular pursuits and a wide social circle.

Those days are firmly gone.

Now, when I hear someone utter the phrase ‘work hard, play hard’ I inwardly (and sometimes outwardly) cringe. Now it speaks to me of slogging away at an unrelenting, unyielding workload and being so exhausted at the end of the working week that the only way you can let off steam is to get wasted.

I believe that more often than not, that “work hard, play hard” is thinly veiled euphemism for working yourself to the point of exhaustion at an unrewarding job and then drinking the night away in an effort to feel like you’ve done something with your free time.

The problem is, drinking as an activity, is inherently boring. I don’t want to sound puritanical here. I don’t have anything against having a drink; I’m sipping on a rum and coke as I write this. But it isn’t going to be my activity for the evening. I have other interests and hobbies I pursue in my free time. The problem with many big corporate jobs is they are so draining many people don’t feel like they have the time, energy or motivation to do anything more interesting than go out for a drink. The problem is, it isn’t particularly fulfilling or interesting. I’m sure you’ve heard people, either friends or colleagues talk about a night out they’ve had – there are usually a lot of vagaries and a group bigging-up of the night’s events – it was crazy! Absolutely mental! The funniest thing happened – it was hilarious – you should have been there! But it all sounds very similar to every other night out you’ve ever had.

Corporations encourage the ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality. It’s very much in their interest for their employees to buy into this way of thinking. Work hard. Put everything you’ve got into the company. Everyone else is working hard, it’s our office culture, so you should too. Play hard. Go for drinks with your colleagues. You’ve earned it. There’s no need for a social circle outside of the office when your work buddies are also your drinking buddies. Go for after work drinks. It’s inevitable you’ll talk about work while you’re out. After all, what else do you all have in common? Maybe some work issue will get sorted out over drinks – that’s very productive of you. Maybe there will be some healthy competition – now you’ll feel the need to work even harder.

My work can be oddly seasonal, going through frantically busy periods (usually in winter and spring) and then I can have long periods of reduced work load (always in summer). This means I can feel very clearly the difference work makes to my free time. When I’m most tired going out for food and drinks is most appealing. I have no energy to cook for myself and I’m not in the right headspace to plan activities. However, when the work-pressure fades away the quality of my free time dramatically improves. I swim, I hike, I get involved in team sports, I plan places to visit, I read, I write, I volunteer. I do interesting things with my time that build skills and persue interests. I set myself ambitious goals (and sometimes I achieve them). When I’m asked what I did at the weekend my answers are consistently more interesting that if I’d been on a crazy night out, which lets face it, in the cold light of day seems dramatically less crazy.

Maybe you disagree. Maybe you’re reading this thinking that you work hard in a rewarding environment and play hard at a varied and interesting range of activities. But if so I think you may need to find a new catchphrase. Because “work hard, play hard” has been taken by the corporate environment and I don’t think they are planning on giving it back anytime soon.