I am working too much. I am making this a protected post, since really I am just talking to myself here — I mean, even more than usual. So, if you are reading this and thinking that I am being indiscreet, I’m really not.
The thing is, I am simply working too much. I need to quit that. I am working at my full-time job more than 40 hours a week, not because anyone asked me to or pays me to, but just because I start working early in the morning and keep going till I have to do something else. This is stupid, and I need to quit it. It is true that I have a lot of work to do for the store, but I am the only one who really cares when it gets done, and there are no real benefits to me or to my family in my doing that much work.
Then I am working at my business too much. I took this on at a time when I needed a job that I could do for no more than 10 hours a week, and at which I could earn a couple hundred a month. The first month went just as it should have, and I earned a lot more than I expected. The second month was slow, and I stepped up my time investment to get things rolling again, and now I am spending 15 or 20 hours a week, which is not what I had planned. I need to quit that, too.
Part of it is set up in the business. I work as an independent consultant,and can set my own goals, but the Central Office has a bunch of rewards they offer us. To get all the rewards, you need to be a full-time consultant, not a quarter-time one like me. So, for November, I have the little goal of holding two shows to get a prize from next spring’s new product. I’ve met that goal, and earned my couple hundred dollars. But I also could do $1500 in sales for a larger incentive, and $3000 in sales for all the new product, and I find myself working toward those goals almost automatically. I also can, if I sell another piece of cookware by December 8, get a free stir-fry pan, and I sometimes find myself fretting over that, and I can have another $100 in free product if I turn in 5 more shows in that time… There are always prizes to win, and it is easy to get distracted by them from the fact that what I needed was a 10 hour a week job that would cover #1 son’s tuition payments.
Meanwhile, I am not getting the housework done or feeding my family properly or getting in that essential 30 minutes of exercise every day, let alone my arts and crafts, which are important to me, or just enjoying my life. It is as though I am permanently in Back to School mode.
So I am writing this so that I can come back sometimes and see it, and remember not to work so much.
With my most sincere sympathy — and considerable hesitation, since nobody asked me for my advice — I suggest that you nip this tendency in the bud if possible, and that you do it without ever sitting down and figuring out how much money/prizes/awards/et cetera you would have accumulated if you hadn’t nipped it in the bud. It’s like any other self-destructive habit; the longer you let it go on, the harder it is to give it up. And you’re right: It most definitely has to stop. Why in the world should you live like that?
Sometimes people have to do the kind of thing you’re doing because they really truly have no choice; if they don’t do it, they and their families are going to be homeless. That’s a valid excuse. But it’s not an excuse that fits your circumstances.
Cheering you on here….
And you have just told yourself what I’ve been wanting to say to you but decided it would not polite. It’s fine working that hard if you really have to and/or you enjoy doing it. If that amount of work is not strictly necessary and you are not enjoying it then STOP! (I’m not worried about being polite at the moment
) Working yourself to death before #1 son finishes college is not a good idea. You made a comment to me some time ago about the addictiveness of WoW – sounds to me you are in danger of addiction to the reward scheme of Pampered Chef. Fortunately a slow internet connection, headaches caused by too much computer viewing and a lot of interesting research stuff to do prevent me from getting addicted. I’m not sure if you have that sort of protection. Not being a polite linguist like Ozarque – rather being a psychologist who tends to be less polite to friends than to strangers – I’ll say this again (I have learned some of my mother’s nagging talents) – ease on down. Making sure you have time to relax is not a sin – it’s a reward for work done well. OK, I’m finished now 🙂