So before I get to the title of my blog, I wanted to mention what a cool weekend I had. Why was it cool? Because I had my first real picnic. We got food, a blanket, games, and even dessert. Then we just sat in a park for a few hours. It was awesome! Though, is it weird that we spent at least a half hour playing multi-player Gameboy Advance DS Lite games through our super cool wireless connection? I don't think so :-)
Anyway, moving on.
Yesterday, I realized how lucky I am. Or, maybe how cursed. Let's find out.
A woman in my office just returned from a 10-day vacation. As I was talking to her, she said that she was already counting down the days until her next one. And that surprised me. If she just sits around waiting for her vacation then why is she even here? I can understand needing a break. We all get frustrated and want to run away for a while. That's normal.
But that was the moment that I realized how different I am. You see, I like my job. If I wasn't here working with computers, then I'd be at home working with computers. I take on projects that excite me. I take on work that challenges me. I really enjoy my job.
Is that odd? Does it make me really lucky that I can wake up each day and be happy to go into the office? Or I am cursed because I'll likely become a work-a-holic? And if so, is that a bad thing? I mean, if this is what I enjoy doing, then shouldn't I do it a lot? It's like my hobby.
So here's the reader interaction section of my story. Do you like what you do? I mean, do you get excited about what you do? Or do you count the days until vacation?
Discuss.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Work-a-holics
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I think that you are incredibly lucky that you enjoy what you do for a living AND that everyone that you work with adores and needs you. This not only makes you happy to get up and got to work each day, it keeps you content when you don't have to work knowing that you don't have to drag yourself into your thankless job later. And when you’re happy, I’m happy.
I definitely think that being a work-a-holic is a bad thing *if* it intrudes on your personal life. If not, it's completely acceptable for you to want to work and work hard. That makes you happy and it keeps your bosses happy with you.
Personally, I like what I'm doing right now all right. I enjoy work most of the time, but I'm not into my career of choice yet. We'll see how happy I am when that finally happens. I can't wait.
Yes, I complain about the fact that I work A LOT and that I'm exhausted half the time. But there's no other job I'd rather have. I do love my job. And my co-workers. And that's how it should be. You will be spending most of your life at work, you might as well enjoy what you are doing. So I'm happy that you like your job Rob! Good for you!
There's an old eighties song that calls back to the fun days of European Techno (think the Hellfish episode of the Simpsons). It plays this swarthy beat and then at the end of each section some weird robot voice says "WORK-A-HOL-IC." I don't know if it's relevant, but I figured I mention it.
Loving your job and being excited to go to work every morning isn't what makes you a workaholic. I've lived with a workaholic, and the signs are the same as those for any other addiction.
Do you get irrational about what you get out of it versus what you put into it? Do you go to work even when you know you've got more important obligations elsewhere? When you're away from work, do you find yourself unable to tear yourself away even if it's inappropriate, like when you're on vacation? Do you find excuses for work to interfere with the rest of your life?
Now, there are some of those that don't really come into play for you because of the stage of life you're in. As a for instance, you don't have kids needing a chunk of your time. In all honesty though, I think you've just got a job you're really well suited to that you happen to enjoy.
If you ever DON'T enjoy your job, but keep putting in the extra hours or running to work to escape because it's better than dealing with non-work, that's when you need to start asking the workaholic question.
I think everyone's fairly clear on how much I love my job. I get paid to make wetlands. What more can I say?
Post a Comment