Friday 7 November 2014

Why you NEED to love what you do (it's in the maths)

I spend a minimum of 8hours a day at work. (40 hours per week)
I travel roughly 2 hours each day. (10 hours per week)
I spend between 30-60minutes getting ready each morning, this includes my breakfast and everything with feathers or fur (lets say 4 hours per week)

That puts us at 54 hours.  (32%)

I also sleep for at least 7.5 hours each night. (52.5 hours per week)

I like food, it keeps me alive and takes up anywhere from 30-90 minutes for cooking and eating dinners. Plus another 45 minutes for breakfast, lunch and snacks since they're generally simpler meals. (7 hours worth of dinners. 1.5hours worth of breakfast/lunch/snacks not counting weekdays - I've already counted breakfast time above, and lunch is had at work)

Now we're up to 115 hours on working and surviving. (68%)



I also shower! That's pretty important and takes anywhere from 5-15 minutes depending on my mood and what needs shaving. Add 5 minutes for drying off and getting dressed again. (1hour, 45minutes)

116 hours and 45 minutes is just a few minutes short of 70%.

70% of my life (and probably yours) is spent working for the man, or doing the things to make sure you are fed, rested and presentable to work for the man.  So you want that man to be pretty good looking.


And a little bit eccentric
Some days I don't love what I do. Other days I don't like it. But there are a few things that get me through, and mean I spend more time at work smiling than not.
1. My co-workers are pretty rad.

2. I get paid pretty well. That is, balancing stress and skill, I don't feel short-changed by my employer, speaking of which...

3. My boss is amazing - getting credit for the work you do is a real boost.

4. I get to improve my skills - I don't love re-writing bureaucratic content. I'm sure someone out there likes fiddling with terminology and trying to polish outdated content into something that is useful and makes you want to read it, but I'm not that guy. In fact I hate editing. But I enjoy writing, and doing one without the other is not fair on your eventual readers.

5. Also, we do stuff like this whenever we get an excuse

Halloween Luncheon!

Bossman's head in a Jar
Photo Credit: I Dea Design

I'm really lucky to have these things. But I also have bad days. The human experience was never meant to be confined to a 40 hour work week. On those days I struggle to focus, and I'm drawn in to click bait like Homer to a donut. So I cheat a little bit.

I over organise things. Sure I don't need forty post-it notes to remind myself what I do every day, but sometimes I get stuck. Sometimes I need to read "Update the progress log" ten times before I put down what I'm stuck on for long enough to do the simple tasks.

I take the stairs. I work on the ground floor and I pee on the seventh. It's a great excuse to get away from my desk for ten minutes. Plus it makes me feel better about sitting on my butt and snacking all day. Speaking of which...

Snacks. I probably eat too much at work, but snacks help me break up the day.



Tea. So much tea, I vowed when I started working in town that I wouldn't develop a caffeine habit. Plus I started working in winter, so I drink bucket loads of herbal tea. Which I keep telling myself is caffeine free, even if my sleep habits disagree.

Yelling at my co-workers. I probably shouldn't recommend this without a caveat, Know thy co-workers, yell with thy co-workers. The people I work with get fired up about the same issues, so a little temper tantrum from me will generally spark one in response. Swapping stories about the stupid thing that person on the nth floor did today helps lighten the atmosphere.

Sometimes, I shut up and work. Nothing feels better than walking out of work proud of what you achieved.

And some days, I leave. They're called mental health days for a reason. If the sun is shining eat outside. If it's 4pm and you want to rage quit, but you technically should stay till 4:30, bugger it. Go home, come back tomorrow and stay till five.


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