Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Workplace Tyranny

Have you ever had a tyrannical boss?  A person that requires more work from you than is possible given the time allotted?  Do you feel astonishing stress because of the workload that is put upon you by this individual?  I do.  And it is worse than ever right now!

Don't misunderstand.  I love my job, and I love my place of work.  It is a near perfect environment.  I have the greatest people to work with, and they all bring amazing talent and energy to what they do.  The person that I answer to is a great supervisor.  He does not stand over my shoulder, nor does he micromanage what I do.  

"So just who is this tyrant?" you may ask.  Well, the tyrant is me!  I have given myself so much work this month that I am nearly unable to cope!

How is it that those of us who plan our own schedules and our own jobs are so much busier than those who have direct supervisors assigning specific tasks?  Truthfully, I cannot imagine any rational supervisor asking more than about 50% of what I have assigned myself!  Perhaps I am too interested in my own profession.  Maybe I am so committed to what I do that I should actually be "committed!"

But I have noticed something about those great people that I work with.  They have done the very same thing to themselves!  I'm not kidding!  We are all quite overworked, and it is because we each carry a tyrant within ourselves that expects excessive output.  It is truly amazing that we all love our jobs!

But this month, I am not happy with the tyrant that has forced me (yes) to do everything that I am doing right now.  And after some relief comes at the beginning of the new year,  he'll do it all over again in about 4 months or so.  

I've never worked this hard in my life.  Ever.  And I wouldn't trade it for anything!