This is the first time I’ve ever had a job I would continue to think about after hours.
I feel like that’s sort of weird. All my life, I’ve heard from friends and coworkers that they couldn’t sleep because they were thinking about work or that they just couldn’t leave work at work. But I’ve never really even that person.
Sure, if things were really bad, I would carry that emotion with me. I would obviously remember and need to rehash anything that happened that was really great or really annoying. But I was usually so glad to just be done with work that I think I put up a mental block.
Anything that was still yet to be resolved? It would keep until the next day.
But something shifted with this new gig. Maybe it’s because it’s the first time in a while that I like what I’m doing. And I like being at work. But whatever the reason, this past weekend I couldn’t stop thinking about Monday morning. I knew it would be a busy day, and it didn’t disappoint.
On Sunday night, I even almost checked my work email to clear out any clutter before I even got to the office. And, you know, maybe I could schedule a few Facebook posts. And write a couple blog posts. Just to make Monday easier, right?
But here’s the thing: Monday was going to be busy no matter what. And I’m pretty sure once you cross over into the land of “people who work around the clock,” you never come back. Not really.
And I don’t want be one of those people. I want my job to stay a job. And I’m pretty sure that has to be an active, conscious decision if it’s going to stick.
Does anyone else experience this? How do you draw the line?
I’ve been known to come into the office on a Saturday. It’s most likely the result of goofing off during the work week. Even though I’ve done this I still feel that my personality is best suited for a solid 40 hours of work. If something is consistently making me work outside of those 40 hours then I’m doing something wrong, like taking too long of a lunch or prioritizing something far too high.
There are occasions where the anxiety of a big day will follow me outside of work and so I find it necessary to soothe myself by checking off the small things. That’s only natural but I know myself and I know that I’m not someone who will sacrifice my life for my job so I pick my jobs accordingly.
I guess my advice is work hard in those 40 hours but don’t beat yourself up if every once in awhile you deal with the anxiety of a big day by checking on things.
I haven’t drawn the line. I work a lot. But I don’t mind it. Its where I’m at my best. What I do is set some time beforehand where I will do no work and stick to it. Be it an entire day (which I do weekly to monthly depending on the time of year), part of a day, or after a certain time of the day when I stop working, that is how I separate. And I stick to it.
My question for you is, what are you afraid of? Do you think doing a little work Sunday night before you go to bed will snowball and you’ll end up constantly at work? Do you just not want to dilute your home life with work at all? I don’t see the harm in doing some work related stuff at home here or there, especially if you enjoy it and have nothing much else to do (and it is on your mind anyway).
I think I’m mostly afraid of burning out. Of losing the joy in what I’m doing because it suddenly consumes my life or adds too much stress. I’m worried that I won’t be able to control my job, and suddenly it will become this monster I don’t see coming.
Basically, I’m paranoid about ending up at a job I don’t like, no matter how happy I am at the moment.
I get that. The new car smell will probably wear off eventually. Might as well make it last as long as you can.