Keeping "work" from taking over "life"
A good friend, Libby, wrote in her blog …
This always-on attitude that pervades the workplace (not just mine, but many) requires that we, as the workers (both teachers and those in other fields) to decide what our lives will be like and when we will work, then set our boundaries, and then stick to those boundaries.
Source: Notesgirl
I too struggle at times with keeping work from being an “always on” experience for me. With my job, I have a laptop, and wireless connectivity, and EVDO, and a blackberry, and on and on. There is no reason I can not be working, emailing, text messaging, and taking calls at any time of any day.
*BUT* I can’t allow that to happen. I admit, there are times I choose to work on a project over the weekend or take a quick run to the computer in the evening to email a client or a coworker. And there are times when the project really does need me to work a weekend here or there. What I don’t allow to happen is for these to become “the norm”.
Two messages, from very different sources, guide me in when it comes to “work in the always connected world”. These first was a tagline from an Infinity commercial back when the car manufacture first launched …
Technology is wonderful but need vigilance, else you may find you have less freedom, not more.
I take from this that you can be come “crackberry addict” if you do not realize that it’s OK, to leave it on the counter with your keys while you have dinner with the family. I once witnessed an extreme case where a coworker was out having dinner with his boss and a customer. His blackberry went off 3 or 4 times in the first half hour and he checked the messages every time. I kept thinking “who could it be that he could not let it wait for 90 minutes ? I mean, heck, he is with his customer *and* his boss !” I tell people, I go out out on the weekend and I often leave my cell phone (even my personal one) in the car when I get breakfast at a diner or stop for a coffee or take the dog for a walk. If I did not have a cell phone, people would just leave a message on my home answering machine so what’s the difference ?
The second message came from the Dean at Russell Sage College. She was speaking to a group of parents about the importance of setting expectations. She related a story where a new freshman asked her parents for money nearly every month. The parents were complaining that their daughter should know better than to keep asking for money.
The Dean simply asked the parents, “when she asks for money what do you do ?” The parents replied that they would send there daughter a check. So the Dean noted, “Well, then, you have trained her that if she asks for money, you will simply send it to her. You can not fault her since you have reinforced the behavior.”
What I took from that is “if I work nights and weekends and never say anything, then my manages may well assume that I choose to work nights and weekends. So, I am very clear with new managers and tell them, I understand projects need extra effort from time to time and I’m more than willing to step up and work extra hours. However, if you want me to work on a weekend, you must ask each time. Please do not assume. Fortunately, this has never backfired - mostly because I make this request long before it becomes an issue.
Does my plan always work - HECK NO ! But, it does work most of the time and it keeps my work / life reasonable balanced (ahhh).
