(No, I'm not worried that I am going to lose my job or anything. In fact, quite the opposite. I'm worried that my job is too much for me to lose . . . or something like that.)
The point is, I've got LOTS of work to do in the next three months as this new year dawns. So much so that it was all broken out for me by my managers so I could track how badly I am going to be at keeping up with the difficult pace. Still, I'm glad the road map was provided, as I would surely lose my place in the flurry of tasks that sits before me.
Another of my resolutions for this year is to not let hectic times at work overcome me. I tend to take everything very personally and berate myself strongly if I don't measure up to every last jot of expectation that is put in front of me. Yet, I worry that--given staffing and the economy and a grand pool of other circumstances--I (and all around me) are given too much to do in an unreasonable amount of time. So, to complete the tasks, we must work beyond normal.
I also recognize that working beyond normal has become normal in the modern workplace. And if I was truly put off by the expectation, I am the only person who has the opportunity to step out and find other employment that better suits my desire for work. But that sort of overstates my position. I LIKE what I do and it pays me well. I HAVE a good job in a time when many are fighting to hold onto any employment.
So, I need to make it less personal. I need to be dispassionate. I need to put in my time, working conscientiously and well when I can and turning it off when I am done.
I guess my problem lies in defining when I am done. Can I work hard, then leave it at the office so it doesn't affect my home life? If doing so jeopardizes the time table set before me, can I conscientiously let that happen--as long as I make others aware that I need more help? Or do I continue to make it my personal responsibility to keep going after hours to keep up?
It's a lot of internal moaning that I am subjecting you to. Sorry.
But that's the dilemma I've got right now.
4 comments:
To paraphrase Socrates, a life without internal moaning is not worth living.
To paraphrase Burt Bacharach, what the world needs now is more internal moaning.
(etc.)
So, does that give me leave to keep moaning? (Given the 365 post challenge, be sure to expect more moaning as the year progresses and I'm sorry in advance. I do think I can be positive a majority of the year.
But, liscence to moan aside . . . any advice on how to handle the dilemma? Probably not, since most of my readers are all too familiar with the situation.
The Bob Marley protest song in my head was quickly supplanted by Twisted Sister's "We're not going to take it." Unfortunate.
I think it's grossly unfair that the management is setting up what they know is an unrealistic time table that will require people to turn over their lives to the great corporate money machine. (They do the same thing to the sales reps so they don't have to pay them their bonuses for reaching their quotas).
I would start singing, chain-gang style. Slow the pace of the music and, thus, the pace of the work. If everyone sings the same tune, everyone slows down, and upper-upper management can bite it.
I think separating our lives from our work is a terrible idea and is also admitting defeat by our employers. We should all be Doing Work that is so important and meaningful that we don't want to leave it at the office. Ideally the work would also be enjoyable, though that's a luxury; but inevitably Important Work will also be satisfying.
If our work isn't yet meaningful, then until that time our Real work should be in finding Better Work.
If we're just stuck Paying Bills at a job, then we should find as much Meaning in the work as we can, develop a powerful zen detachment, and gradually destroy The System from within.
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