Needle, Meet Haystack

How much time do you spend working?  Does it feel like it’s consuming your life?  Maybe it’s time to take a step back and give youself some well-deserved relaxation.  After all, there’s literary, religious and cultural proof that it’s good for you.

During a trip around Europe, I spent some time in Madrid, and discovered the siesta firsthand.  A break in the midday schedule, it’s a time when people go home to rest or take a nap.  It seems so simple (and reminiscent of preschool nap time, but in the best way), but according to Wikipedia, it is full of physical and psychological benefits.  It’s a chance to accept the afternoon sluggishness to return later, more relaxed and refreshed.  Anyone who’s ever worked a 9-5 and come back from lunch should realize just how important this is.

In The 4-Hour Workweek, author Tim Ferris argues against taking retirement at the end of one’s life.  Instead, he argues, it’s better to take mini-retirements throughout, taking time off from work to focus on oneself and get a reminder of what hard work and perseverance can achieve.  If a goal is a lot further off, both chronologically and (seemingly) financially, it’s harder to rationalize putting one’s nose to the grindstone.  Instead, it might be prudent to take breaks from work and the stresses of a career to unwind.

According to some religious scriptures, there is one day each week (usually on the weekend) that should be set aside for rest, relaxation, and personal reflection.  It’s actually a mandate that those who do this abstain from work, and take this day to break from the stresses of the other six days to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Each of these different sources offers a different perspective on the relationship between work and reward.  The duration and frequency of resting time varies among them, but they all stress one thing: gratification at a more rapid pace than one might find it otherwise.  But our focus shouldn’t be so much on time, frequency, or purpose – it should be on the deliberate nature of resting.

When was the last time that you really gave yourself a day off?  A day without work, chores, errands or plans?  A day that you could have all to yourself, creating your own adventures, doing whatever you want to do?  If you’re like most people, days like that are few and far between.  But why?

Stress can consume a life more easily than almost anything else.  But it doesn’t have to.  Whatever your daily issues and pressures are, the time will come when things will start to fall by the wayside, even with an all-consuming schedule.  And without taking action, you could snap.  Some might point to a subconscious need to keep busy, or comfort in a routine.  The problem is, life does not abide by routines or business.  The world will keep spinning and people will keep living their lives, regardless of your decisions and work ethic.  Hell, even the President takes a vacation once in a while.

So set aside time to rest, relax, and do nothing in particular.

I tried it this weekend – I gave myself a day with no plans besides enjoying myself.  I wound up being productive in the few minor emergencies that arose (more slight annoyances, really), rediscovering lost passions, and enjoying myself more than I had in a long time.  For the first time in half a decade, I picked up my drumsticks and played.  I watched old movies.  I took an afternoon nap.  And the next morning, for the first time in months, I woke up without hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock.  This week, I’m more relaxed around the office than I have been since I started.  All it took was a day of rest.

Many people subscribe to the mantra, “work hard, play hard” – but what about relaxing comfortably?  Schedule some time to rest and enjoy yourself.  You don’t need a directive, rules, or a time limit.  Just enjoy yourself and what you’ve accomplished that allows you to take some time to do nothing.  It can do more than you’d think.

Here’s a really stupid question: have you ever done anything with a group?  It doesn’t matter if you were the leader, follower, slacker, or that one person who pretends they’re a follower but undermines the leader and is really sarcastic and bitchy the whole time.  There’s no relevance to if this group was formed for school, work, leisure, or some other community-related organization of people.  Chances are, you have at some point done things as a part of a group.  But here’s the more important question: how good of a group member were you?

It’s easy to be dismissive view your solo contributions as the only thing that was worth doing.  After all, group activities are just as likely to bring you down as they are to bring you up.  Maybe you hated your group.  Maybe they hated you.  But regardless of if you’re dealing with bosses, peers, customers or strangers, there are some key strategies to help you manage everyone involved – including yourself.

1. Communicate clearly.  When we are expressing a like or dislike for something, 93% of the message comes through in tone and body language.  So if you’re communicating online, your voice may not be heard the way you want it to.  Save everyone a bunch of headaches and arguments down the line by expressing everything clearly and concisely.  If it takes a bit longer for you to hash everything out, that just removes possible errors down the line.  Don’t take any chances – make your messages clear the first time.
2. Stay on topic.  It’s easy to lose focus and drift into the realm of the non-sequitur.  Entertainment, personal issues, stories, sexy texts, coffee breaks, LOLcats – there are plenty of distractions floating around, and any of them can derail the work you’re trying to do.  Focus as best you can and work on bringing derailed conversations back to the point at hand.  It’s just as easy to say, “I saw the funniest thing on YouTube today…” as it is to say, “So what do you think is the next step we should take here?”
3. Remain impartial.  Regardless of whether or not you feel that you’re dealing with idiots, morons, nincompoops, incompetent jerkfaces or plain ol’ poopy-heads, you have to keep calm and refrain from passing judgment as much as you can.  While you don’t have to supplicate anyone*, just try to move past it.  You’ve got a common goal: getting things accomplished so that everyone is happy and can go home.  Don’t let little bits of rage converge into a white-hot anger storm that will completely destroy everything you’ve worked for.
4. Under-promise and over-deliver.  Guard yourself and those around you against future issues relating to time, productivity and the end result by scaling back on your predictions.  In this way, there’s less pressure on all involved, and anything extra comes out as a happy surprise.  If you’re locked into providing a set result, do your best to meet it, but don’t hoist all the responsibility on your own shoulders if you can avoid it; distribute the work more evenly.
5. Follow up and follow through.  Whether it’s checking to see if anyone needs help, taking care of a little extra work, or going back to get a thing or two squared away, it never hurts to make sure that everything is being taken care of.  Sometimes, people won’t ask for help, and sometimes, they won’t double-check what they’ve done.  If you have any concerns over how complete something is, take the time to find out.

Management goes beyond handing out responsibility, and you don’t need to be a leader to do it.  If you take the time to manage yourself effectively, it can go a long way to making sure that things that you do with others are taken care of efficiently and effectively.

* Not a double-entendre.  it means “to ask humbly.” [Source]

Before we get into it, let me just say that I don’t like the term, “entrepreneur” – it sounds like the worst combination of pretentiousness and disgust, like if a snooty person was being judgmental and said something like, “Oh, so you’re an entrepreneeeeeuuuurrr…interesting…”

Man, I hate snooty people.  What with their monocles and pocket watches and pencil-thin mustaches.  And that’s just the ladies! (ba dum bum!)

I think a better term would just be “business owner” or even “head of a new start-up.”  Something a bit more ambiguous and professional.  ”Entrepreneur” sounds almost amateur, like you’ve got something to prove.  It’s got that feeling of “unemployed, but this is what I tell people I do to cover my ass” about it.  So let’s just use “business owner” and forget all about the E-word.

That being said, I don’t talk much about my work as a business owner.  That’s because there isn’t much to say about it without discussing myself.

My first real experience with independent business ownership began at the age of three, when my parents opened a hair salon (an interesting stretch from their having been a college professor and elementary school teacher before that).  During the 13 years that the store was open, I saw the physical, emotional and financial toll that it took on them.  And from that experience (including working at the shop for around 40 hours per week over all 7 days), I decided that I would never go into business for myself.  I wanted none of that responsibility, none of the stress, and none of the risk.  From that day on, I vowed to work in the corporate world, enjoying the protection and security of working for a bigger company that would take care of those things for me.

This ideology progressed until my junior year of college, when I came to the realization that I needed experience, and no one was just going to give it to me.  So I created my own micro-advertising company, taking care of all aspects of the craft and using my friends as clients.  I did work for their bands, social clubs, side businesses and charity projects.  And through it all, I managed to learn a few things.  But I saw it as a means to an end, and leveraged that experience into an entrepreneurship with a larger advertising firm.  And in that time, I started to see the advantages of freedom.

The second business opportunity came after graduation.  Having no solid job prospects, the opportunity to start a record label with my best friend seemed like a risk worth taking.  The results of that decision have been documented on this blog before in the retreat to move forward series.  Long story short: it didn’t end well.

And the third?  Well, I’ve mentioned one of my bosses before (who, depending on what we’re doing, is either my boss or business partner, depends how technical you want to get), but beyond that, all you need to know is that I learned quite a bit from my earlier experiences, and so far, those problems have not come around.  But the lessons of being a business owner three times over have taught me a few things that I wish someone had told me straight off the bat:

• Everything is personal. Since the company is your work and based on your ideas, everything that happens to it reflects on you.  A few months ago, I commented on a post on Sydney Owen’s blog about entrepreneurship where I tried to explain the psychological issues that come with owning a business.  And one of the biggest things is this: you’ll need to have a thick skin about everything.  Following a dream, a passion, a hobby, or a friend blindly into what you hope will be a success all means that you’re putting a lot of yourself into the final result.  So your business becomes an extension of you, a defining part of your life.  So when a client is upset, a contractor does a bad job, or a payment doesn’t go through, you feel it more than if you were just doing work for another company.  It’s yours, and everything that you do reflects on your business.  And vice-versa.
• It’s not about working harder, just smarter. This might make me lose Penelope Trunk as a commenter, but Tim Ferriss is kinda right.  His book, The Four-Hour Workweek is all about finding ways around overly complicating your business, getting other people to to take care of the small stuff, and getting to focus on what matters.  And while some may argue with his methods, the core of the book is spot-on: you don’t need to pull ridiculously long shifts and do everything yourself; you can get help, outsource, hire assistants, or try new ways of doing things.  Your customers will never know all of the details of what it took for your good or service to get to them, and they probably don’t care*, so why put so much weight on it?  Just get the job done.
• There’s no such thing as balance. I used to think that I could balance two jobs, this blog, my occasional music ventures, a bunch of evil plans, a social life, exercise, and a decent amount of sleep without issue.  But I quickly realized that I couldn’t.  Try as you might, something will always come up to derail your plans, and you will have to sacrifice something for it.  It’s the opportunity cost of having your own business.  So you have three choices: kill yourself with stress, stop planning things entirely, or give something up.  There’s always a cost to what you do, even if you’re not aware of it.  And you’ll never be able to have anything close to balance unless you give a few things up.
• You may fail.  Prepare for it, but never hope for it. Failure is never good.  It means that you didn’t succeed.  And sometimes, you’ll get the two confused.  But while failing is bad, not having an escape route planned is worse.
• Always make it look easy. Your business, as mentioned before, is intrinsically tied to you.  So if people see you sweat, they’ll think the same of your company.  You don’t have a big brand to hide behind, or a good team of spin doctors (or The Spin Doctors) to help you diffuse whatever issues you’ve got going on behind the scenes.  Whether it’s financial woes, employee problems, product issues, or some other concerns, don’t go telling everyone you know.  Keep it to those who are in a position to make changes or help you out.  The more you gossip about your own company, the worse off the both of you appear to others.

There are a lot of good and bad things about being a business owner instead of working for others.  And while it may be easy to write off the whole thing as risky, stupid, crazy, or brave, it’s not that difficult to get into.  As long as you take the time to really think about what you want to do and how to do it, you have a pretty decent chance of success.  Unless you call yourself an entrepreneur.  In which case, you might be a snooty jackass.

* Unless you sacrificed some living creatures or something

Despite what Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat might have told us, opposites don’t always attract.  You’ve heard the old adage about oil and water (oil and water don’t mix, for all those in the class who were sick that day), and it’s very true that some people don’t get along.  Of course, this shouldn’t worry you.  Unless, of course, you have to work together.

I’m not talking about someone not pulling their weight or failing to get proper recognition.  I don’t mean figuring things out with your archenemy (this person is probably more of a nemesis, anyway).  No, this is about coming together in a non-cliche way to accomplish a common goal without feeling the need to find more common ground, respect, or trust for one another.  Because let’s face it, sometimes you don’t want to make more friends.  And sometimes, you just really don’t like somebody.  And that’s okay.

Some people will suggest that you acknowledge the animosity between you two and suggest a few alternatives.  But the problem with that strategy is that it is contingent on both of you being aware of your mutual dislike for each other, something both parties may not even be aware of.  Also, they could put in the dig, “Well, I like you…”, which will exacerbate the situation.

Some others will say that it’s a good idea to limit your contact with the other person as much as possible, keep to yourself, and do your own work.  In the case of this solution, that requires that both of you do an amazing job on the task in a way that makes it seem like you worked together.  If one or both of you does poorly, the animosity will only increase.

No, the best way to deal with this situation is to work together.

And by work together, I mean that you collaborate, focusing only on the task.  No conversational non-sequiturs, no attempting to bridge the gap, and as few arguments as possible.  When you’ve tried to work with this person before and failed, consider those experiences a point of reference on how to keep from things going pear-shaped.  If you feel that an argument is coming on, follow the old British World War II slogan, and just keep calm and carry on.

And, hey, here’s a dumb question: is the person who assigned the two of you to work together aware that you don’t get along?

It’s always a thrill for a leader to unite two disparate people or groups; it helps them work on their own leadership skills, and is a good show of their accomplishments when it comes time for them to report to their bosses.  They might think that all of the two of you need is a little push to become the best of co-workers.  But if you’re uncomfortable, let them know.  You might feel like a tattletale, but it’s worth saving your professional image (and your sanity) to be up-front about it.  Heck, the other person might have told them the same thing.

Sometimes, two people don’t work well together, and that’s okay.  But if you try to ignore the problem or fight it, things can get ugly rather quickly.  Well, not as ugly as having a cartoon cat rap and sing about being your lover, but close.

Have you seen American Pickers?  It’s a show on the History Channel about two guys who go around to homes that are one dead cat away from being on Hoarders and then buy some of their stuff to refurbish and sell at an antique shop.  Or at least that’s what I think it’s about.  All I really remember from the bits I saw were scenes where they’re trying to haggle with a bunch of collectors about beaten-down signs, old bicycles, and assorted knickknacks.  The entire show seems to enforce a single message:

Something is only worth as much as people are willing to pay for it.

Sounds simple, right?  That’s pretty much the tenet of any capitalist market, after all.  It’s the reason why we have stocks, jewelery, VIP rooms at clubs, corporate brands, sommeliers, and organic food.  If we didn’t put a premium on certain items over others, we would have a mono-level system, where quality (or a lack thereof) could not be identified.  Some people would say that this is a good thing, since it puts everyone on the same level.  I say those people are no-good Communist hippie hoboes who are probably supporting their bongo-playing, illegal substance-smoking, silly hat-wearing habits through food stamps and generic brands and should be kicked out on their hemp-clothed butts.*

We pay more for certain things because we perceive that they have a higher value.  That’s why diamonds cost a lot. That’s why some menus have absurdly expensive items. And that’s why some people get paid more than others.

Experience, education and reputation can increase perceived value.

Regardless of one’s actual work-related skills or competencies, sometimes, it’s one’s social skills that make all the difference.  It’s how the phenomenon sometimes referred to as Why did they promote that jerk? exists in the first place.  Some people can play to social niceties better than others, and it can pay off for them in the workplace.

In other cases, promotions (and usually raises) are given by performance metrics as a sort of meritocracy.  Proof of productivity and improves performance are essential here, and can make all the difference in moving up the corporate ladder.  But in many cases, employees have to make their employers aware of this; if a boss thinks you’ll do better work for the same pay, they’ll continue to give you the same pay.

Companies may produce any number of goods and services, but they all invest in human capital.  They rate their workers on their comparative value from the tasks that they are assigned, and budget accordingly.  Sometimes, these numbers are deflated or inflated.  So much like a stock trader, it falls on the worker to correct the mistake (or not).  Sometimes, this means negotiating a raise.  Sometimes, this means shopping around for a position with a competitor.  And sometimes, it means biding one’s time to prove their worth to the company.

The cost of working at any job should be less than or equal to the cost of not working somewhere else.

So how much are you worth?  Well, that depends on how much your company is willing to pay for you.  And if you think that you’re being undervalued, maybe it’s worth your time to see if you can get an accurate appraisal.

* Kidding, I’m sure that you’re a charming bunch, but you should really look into economics and how a global market works.  Just sayin’.

Are you a team player?

Do you support others?

Do you work well in groups?

Do you believe that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts?

Well then, congratulations!  You’re about to lose at a little game called “getting ahead in life and business!”

Think about it: how many movies, TV shows, books and news stories drill into our heads the whole “one person can make a difference” message?  How many times do we focus on the star player on a sports team, or the lead singer in a band?  How often do we focus on a single figurehead, be it a CEO, President or Prime Minister?  We focus on breakout stars in movies.  Solo acts springing from bands.  Fan-favorite characters from ensembles.

People will always give more praise to one member than the group as a whole.

Sometimes it’s deserved, like when you’re pulling the weight of your entire team.  Or if one person is already a standout before they enter the group.  But regardless of the situation, the whole is not judged by the sum of its outputs, its parts, or even its strongest member: it is judged by its most interesting member.

Organizations don’t promote teams; they promote individuals.  Similarly, an entire team will not get fired at once (usually).  Though we may work in groups to do things better than we could solo, the actual effects of working with others are quite malleable.  For example, let’s take two of the greatest music acts of the 20th century: Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

Now, we could argue till the cows come home over who had the greater impact on pop culture, had better songs, and so on, but here’s what we’ll focus on: Elvis was one dude, while The Beatles were four.

Let’s assume that at the height of their respective popularities, Elvis and The Beatles each commanded a concert fee of around $100,000 per show.*  That means that Elvis made $100,000 per show, while each of the Fab Four made $25,000 per show.  Ah!  But what about the backup musicians, roadies and techs that Elvis used?  Consider that The Beatles had the roadies and techs, along with (possibly) some backup musicians.  And since Elvis was the marquee name, the people doing musical accompaniment made less than if they were in part of a band.  Elvis would never join The Beatles, since that would make him lose money.  But any of The Beatles would want to go solo, since that would help them to earn more.

So in short, it’s bad to be in a band if you’re a singer, but it’s great if you’re a drummer.

Teams will always work in the favor of the weakest link (and drummers are not the weakest link – as a drummer myself, I refute the notion of that idea); the other members will need to contribute more to bring the work to their usual level.  The higher-end achievers, meanwhile, suffer from working with others, as their own efforts are diminished by sharing in the accolades of others.

If you’re looking to stand out from others, working in a team is the worst way to do it: you have to share and contribute, compromise and reduce your overall contribution.  Working on a team means that you have less work that you need to do, but that also turns into less work that you’ll get credit for.  And ultimately, everyone on the team is working alone, anyway.

Teams will assign tasks to their different members, and although there will be some crossover in the final work, the plan is that everyone plays to their strengths.  And while working in a group can help to inspire or excite its members, it won’t do much to change their overall output.  So instead, contributions are limited so that even with a single output, group members can point to different parts of it and claim it as their own.

Working in a team is a difficult task, one that can ultimately offer little reward.  And although it can be a necessity at times, it’s better in the long run to shoot for being a solo act.

* Number made up by me for example purposes

Finding some semblance of a balance between your social life and professional life can be a harrowing experience.  There’s lots of potential for missteps, and it can be easy to go overboard.  So how are you doing when it comes to getting your ducks in a row?  Take this quiz and find out!

1. Which of the following best describes your employment situation?
   1. Full-time
   2. Part-time
   3. Freelance/Consultant/Contract
   4. Unemployed
   5. Moss grows on the North side of a tree
2. On average, how many hours do you work per week?
   1. Over 40
   2. 21-40
   3. 15-20
   4. 14 or under
   5. “Work?” I don’t “work!”  I just do stuff.
3. Please next to each of the following that you participate in on a weekly or monthly basis.  You must perform the task at least once a month on average to give it a mark.
   1. Religious organization (observances, social gatherings, etc)
   2. Charity/nonprofit work (runs, volunteering, donations, etc)
   3. Sports league/gym/training (anything athletic where you change clothes to do it, and I don’t mean “do it” do it)
   4. Social club or group (book club, bowling league, discussion group, etc)
   5. Going out with a group (bars, clubs, coffee shops, restaurants, movies, etc)
   6. Romantic expedition (date, ONS, etc. If you’re in an LTR, you get a point here)
   7. Doing things with your pet (if you have a pet, check here)
   8. Family events (if you see immediate family/in-laws at least once per month)
4. Choose the word or phrase to complete this sentence: “I __________ my job.”
   1. Love
   2. Like
   3. Loathe
   4. Hate (with the burning intensity of a million exploding suns)
   5. Am unemployed and wish I could talk about
5. Please pick only one response.  What is the best part of your job?
   1. The job itself
   2. My co-workers/boss
   3. The money
   4. BWAHAHAHAHA…”best”?!  Oh man, you really had me going there…
   5. Cookie Day!
6. Please pick only one response.  What is the worst thing about your job?
   1. The hours
   2. The pay
   3. My co-workers/boss
   4. The dress code
   5. Overabundance of flair and lack of red staplers
7. If your ten-year-old self could see what you do for work right now, he/she would probably…
   1. Give me a high-five
   2. Scowl at me, but understand it
   3. Cry
   4. Kick me in the man/lady parts
   5. Buy an almanac with details about a bunch of sports games over the past few decades
8. How often do you bring your work home with you?
   1. At least several times per week
   2. Once every week or two
   3. At least once a month
   4. Hardly ever
   5. Doesn’t matter when it’s due; that shit STAYS in the office
9. Honestly, do you think you are being paid adequately for your skills?
   1. Yes
   2. For the most part…
   3. No
   4. Definitely not
   5. My skills are too great to be described in terms of monetary compensation, other than “eleventy kajillion dollars an hour”
10. Would you say you are a morning person?
    1. Darn tootin’!
    2. Maybe after I have some coffee
    3. Bleh.  No.
    4. The night is my mistress.
    5. Zzzz…
11. If your life was a movie, it would be a…
    1. Comedy
    2. Drama
    3. Horror
    4. Sci-fi
    5. Short film about Andy Warhol eating a hamburger
12. Are you currently looking for another job right now?
    1. Nope
    2. Sending out my resume to get a feel for the job  market, but nothing serious
    3. Somewhat actively
    4. Oh, HELL yes
    5. I’m already the lord sovereign of a box of cupcakes in my fridge.  I’m set.

Answer key: Tally up your points!

Here’s how you did:

0 – 11  No life!

You’re too relaxed!  Sure, you might have been goofing off with your answers, but you may need to start taking yourself and your career more seriously.  Stress can be good for you, and a little responsibility never hurt anyone.  After all, you can be a contributing member of society and still watch “Spongebob.”

12 – 23  A bit too calm

You’re on your way towards a good balance, but you’re not quite there in terms of understanding the balance.  You might call it zen, but you’re a bit closer to laziness and apathy.  Get yourself more involved and focused – it will help you with the rest of your daily routine.  In fact, a bit more experience and planning are all you really need to hit the right balance.

24 – 32  Perfectly level

You’ve got your act together!  Sure, there might be some stuff you want to work on improving about yourself, but you understand priorities and boundaries.  Give yourself a cookie.

33 – 45  A little too strict

You need to relax a bit and loosen up!  While you might be really focused on proving yourself and getting your life going, you’re running the risk of having too many plates spinning.  Take a step back and evaluate what you need to do to achieve the balance you want.

46 – 52  Primed to explode

A little high-strung, are we?  Your priorities are too focused on one aspect of your life: work.  Whether it’s because you like it too much or hate it with a passion, you need to find a better outlet for your energy.  With all the stuff you do, you’re burning the candle at both ends and stretching yourself far too thin.  Use up some of those vacation days, or take a sick day if you have to.  If you don’t have time just to relax, you’ll begin to unravel.  Life isn’t all about being serious and professional.  Take it easy once in a while!

First off, I want to allay any suspicion or concern that this is turning into a fashion blog.  While I like suiting up as much as the next fella, I don’t think that I’m particularly inclined to start doling out advice on clothes.

No, this is about personal definitions.

For generations, jobs have been separated into that either-or category: either you’re a blue collar (manual/physical labor) or a white collar (office/mental labor).  Much like the white hats and the black hats of the Old West, there was no cause or reason for further delineation.  Either you worked with your head or you worked with your hands.  But then, a funny thing happened.  Industries started getting in on the act.

There were soon green collar jobs for alternative energy/agricultural/conservation positions.  I’ve heard of medical, volunteer and disaster relief work referred to as red collar positions.  And there might be some morticians or morgue operators who fancy their collars to be referred to as black.  The career wardrobe has begun to expand.  In fact, some people may have several different colors and types in their job closets.

Whereas careers might have been once defined by whether someone was working inside or outside (the simplest way of separating white and blue collars), now it’s a matter of specialization.  How are you using information?  Where are your skills applied?  In what way do your tasks fit in with the organizational hierarchy and operations?

It can all get so terribly confusing.

Pretty soon, we’ll have people defining their work with paisley collars, tartan collars, polka dot collars, popped collars and no collars.  Companies will make every effort to differentiate their work by giving their employees new collars.  But really, it’s indicative of a new trend in the working world.

The competencies and skills needed for many jobs continue to grow and expand to such a degree that they become overly specific.  Instead of becoming well-lopsided, people are becoming trained in specializations that ensure that finding a different career will become increasingly difficult for them.  In an age of high employee turnover, companies are fighting back by making their workers proficient in such small niches that they may not be employable anywhere else, even for competitors.

This specialized knowledge comes at a price, though.  If an employee does leave, they create a knowledge vacuum that can be difficult, if not impossible, to fill.  Or, to stretch back to the original metaphor, it’s like taking essential clothes out of one’s wardrobe.  Like socks.  Or underpants.

As much as we may strive for better definitions and comprehensions of our careers, there comes to be a point when things get too specialized and categorized.  Sometimes, it’s better to stick with the basics, for both employees and employers.  After all, it’s just a collar – not the whole shirt.

I think I might be addicted to workahol.

I have two jobs (in addition to this blog, if one could call that work) that take up the lion’s share of my day.  I have so many business ideas that they’re starting to come out of my nose.  I practically eat, sleep and breathe work.  And I love it.

This past weekend, I actually had to go in to finish some work.  When I mentioned this to several friends, their reactions ranged from “That sucks” to “Eeeewwwwww” to “That [expletive deleted] sucks.”  But it’s not that big of a deal.  In fact, it shows me what I need to work on: time management.

If you have trouble getting off work at a reasonable hour, it isn’t always because of the workload (see #5 on this list).  More often than not, it’s an issue with priorities and personal scheduling.  Of course, there are exceptions.  But if you can get a lock on your time management and communication skills, working over the weekend will become a thing of the past.

I’ve realized what my problem is, and it goes beyond time management.  I need to hunker down and focus more on the job itself, rather than the fact that I have it.  Also, I need to go back to drinking my own Kool-Aid.  And hopefully, the weekend will become mine again.

For relaxing, I mean.  Not more work.

Busywork.  We’ve all had to deal with this mind-numbing, soul-crushing, oft-ridiculed yet somehow essential task since our earliest school days (coloring, anyone?), and yet few ever learn how to master the most tedious of all tasks.  We sit in quiet servitude, procrastinating and hitting our heads against walls as we try to deal with the most boring of all possible workplace responsibilities.

Well, I love busy-work.  And it’s all because I’ve developed a number of strategies to deal with what most people see as an encumbrance to getting out of the office early, and made it fun.

Hogwash, you say?  Why not try out one of these tactics first and then decide for yourself…

1. Develop a story.  Yesterday, I was a spy who had to crack the code to fix a website that a fiendish villain (“Dr. Misalignment”) had mucked up in a plot for world domination.  I had to rescue hypnotized villagers whose confinement was making them ask questions on the support desk, and only answering the questions correctly would heal them.  By re-contextualizing your work into a more exciting story, you can increase productivity and focus, especially if you make accomplishing the task a part of the story.
2. Narrate in the third person (internally).  ”Andrew looked at the stack of unsorted invoices, noting that it would probably take an hour just to make sure they were all facing the same direction…” And so begins a tale I like to call, “Andrew and the Stack of Unsorted Invoices,” a story I continuously narrated within my head for one day at one of my old jobs.  By taking myself out of the situation (even though I was doing it), I was able to be more relaxed, and kept my focus on the work.  It was almost like listening to a book on tape!
3. Try to figure out a new method.  Sometimes, the way you do things, be it entering info into a database, making calls or organizing files, is done inefficiently simply because you haven’t tried to figure out a better way.  break your routine and experiment with other methods to increase your efficiency and effectiveness.  By breaking your usual patterns, you’ll approach the task like you were doing it for the first time.
4. Batch tasks.  I check work email no more than three times a day.  I check support tickets twice a day.  I call my boss as little as possible.  All of this eliminates the chance of distracting myself with other uncompleted tasks, and allows me to focus on what needs to be done.  Instead of worrying about what other stuff I can do to waste time, I get it all out of the way so I can put more focus on my essential responsibilities for work.
5. Make a game of it.  For every twenty emails I send, I get a point.  For every three points I get, I’m allowed one minute to just relax an air out my brain.  By setting up a basic reward structure for performing busywork, I have more incentive to get the work done.  I occasionally combine it with #1 when stronger motivation is called for.
6. Move around.  Our minds process time differently when we move around – going to another building, another floor, or even another room (or just outside) makes time seem to go faster.  If you can, change up where you work.  The new scenery will make anything you do there feel like new, and you’ll feel more accomplished once you’ve finished.
7. Un-partition the task.  Busywork can seem imposing because there can be several components that need to get done in a large quantity.  By condensing the work into its core elements, then batching them (see #4), you’ll be able to move through it quicker and with less stress.

It’s easy to get bogged down with a lot of work that seems frivolous.  But this work is often a necessary evil.  So try looking at it from a different perspective to keep your spirits up, and you’ll be done before you know it!