Currently, I have a full-time job in the public sector which I don’t hate, an equity-compensated role which is exciting, a couple personal projects on the plate which are exciting, an online class at a local community college, and a bit of hourly work from various places that provide me with extra spending money for things like small trips and new laptops. Being married and having a couple extra-curricular activities that I’m not willing to give up makes it so I am sometimes spread pretty thin.
The fact is that the lowest item on the totem pole, the hourly work, is what seems to induce the most stress upon me. This work is mostly tasks such server maintenance, HTML updates, modifications to canned eCommerce systems, and things of that nature; nothing that really gets my brain in action like the programming work does. In an attempt to please all parties, I have usually agreed to take on all assignments. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy extra money (especially in the times we’re in at the moment) and also building upon existing working/business relationships, but I’ve recently started telling people that I can’t take on their assignments, both in the short term, i.e. “I won’t be able to get to that for at least 6 weeks” or at all, i.e. “That assignment isn’t something I’m interested in taking.”
At first I was nervous about responding in that manner, expecting to receive negative feedback and upset clients but actually received the complete opposite; folks did understand that I have certain priorities, am only one person, and that I have the same limitation of 24 hours per day and require at least some sleep. Also, folks also seemed to appreciate my honesty with the situation and left the door open for opportunities in the future; let them know if I get some free time soon, when my schedule will open up, etc., so I don’t think I’ve burned any bridges.
The bottom line (for me anyway, and not just work-related) is being able to say no limits the amount of stressors I introduce into my life and empowers me to better manage my time and relationships.
What’s funny is that I began drafting this post yesterday (3/11/09) and this morning in my RSS feed reader 37signals’ blog Signal vs. Noise featured a post called The most powerful word is no which motivated me to finish up my post.
Slowly Learning to Say No
Currently, I have a full-time job in the public sector which I don’t hate, an equity-compensated role which is exciting, a couple personal projects on the plate which are exciting, an online class at a local community college, and a bit of hourly work from various places that provide me with extra spending money for things like small trips and new laptops. Being married and having a couple extra-curricular activities that I’m not willing to give up makes it so I am sometimes spread pretty thin.
The fact is that the lowest item on the totem pole, the hourly work, is what seems to induce the most stress upon me. This work is mostly tasks such server maintenance, HTML updates, modifications to canned eCommerce systems, and things of that nature; nothing that really gets my brain in action like the programming work does. In an attempt to please all parties, I have usually agreed to take on all assignments. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy extra money (especially in the times we’re in at the moment) and also building upon existing working/business relationships, but I’ve recently started telling people that I can’t take on their assignments, both in the short term, i.e. “I won’t be able to get to that for at least 6 weeks” or at all, i.e. “That assignment isn’t something I’m interested in taking.”
At first I was nervous about responding in that manner, expecting to receive negative feedback and upset clients but actually received the complete opposite; folks did understand that I have certain priorities, am only one person, and that I have the same limitation of 24 hours per day and require at least some sleep. Also, folks also seemed to appreciate my honesty with the situation and left the door open for opportunities in the future; let them know if I get some free time soon, when my schedule will open up, etc., so I don’t think I’ve burned any bridges.
The bottom line (for me anyway, and not just work-related) is being able to say no limits the amount of stressors I introduce into my life and empowers me to better manage my time and relationships.
What’s funny is that I began drafting this post yesterday (3/11/09) and this morning in my RSS feed reader 37signals’ blog Signal vs. Noise featured a post called The most powerful word is no which motivated me to finish up my post.