After the Opening Ceremony last week D and I stayed up all night talking. We talked about all things big and small until eventually it was light outside. One of the subjects that came up was work and I said that sometimes I reckon I care a bit too much. He didn’t agree.
By nature I’m a person that goes the extra mile. I care about the outcomes of the projects I work on, just as anyone of us should. Ok has never been good enough for me. My bars are high and I will go out of my way to ensure that what is delivered is much better than ok, no matter how basic or simple it is. Done for me is not when the clock hits a certain hour and I can go home. Done is when I know that what needs to be covered is covered. And this is the first part of the caring too much aspect that I was discussing with D in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The second part was related to certain situations in the workplace that really get to me. Most of them involve frustrations around a project not being under control or managed properly, or when the right persons aren’t on it which in turn is having a negative impact on the team and the project itself. These situations eat up my energy, play on my mind, causing stress and at worse result in that I don’t enjoy going to work which is neither good for me, D or the project itself.
To cut a long story short the reason why I said to D that sometimes I think I care too much is that in both situations I tend to put the project before myself and my own needs. Where others may have said that you have to get another person on board, even if budgets don’t allow it, I tend to offer to help out resulting in long days and taking on too much work. Not surprisingly, the projects that “require” the long hours are often also the ones with the frustrating work situations. The situations that I let get to me. Out of the two, working too much and the frustrations, the latter is without a doubt the one that has the biggest negative impact on me. D has seen it happen a number of times and what we concluded in those early hours was that caring in itself, about the outcome of a project, can’t be too much. However, how you handle the aspects of what you care about can.
As I was writing about yesterday when enough really is enough, and at times way before that, you need to put your foot down. Most things can be sorted and there is only so much you can do or take on. You can’t always be Mr Nice Guy and say ‘yes’, but you can definitely always be Mr Nice Guy who takes a big breath when frustrations or increased workload arises, do what you can to help the situation, but then hand over the responsibility to those who actually need to work it out. But caring too much? Or as I asked D on Saturday morning – Should I care less? No, don’t do that. Just care in a way that is both good for you, your loved ones and the project.
Tomorrow – Day 215 | Patience is a funny thing
Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/jflinchbaugh/2455292681
