I am invested in outcomes.
In the beginning, the sense of a job well done could be measured in days. I would rock up, hack out some code and by close of business, be able to test it. Daily outcome complete.
Now, my outcomes seldom manage to be less than three months from one side to the other, often half years or even years; by way of example, having a complete feature built, rolling out a product or upgrade, or simply building a new business unit through hiring.
Inevitably, you must take a break or have some time off during these extended periods of “getting things done”. I am writing this at a busy hotel breakfast buffet somewhere hot. The smell of sausages relaxing in the warmer and an equally hot and potentially annoyed chef stuck on a fried egg repeat loop. People are going about their business of extracting coffee from the groaning and grinding machine, an ordered queue around the toaster… All these things and more have nothing at all to do with my work.
It’s very noisy here; this is a minor annoyance as I need some minutes (A lot, really, but I’m working on that) of silence early in the day so my head has a chance to start up.
And yet my noodle occasionally flicks to work-related thoughts; this is not because my family isn’t adorable and engaging but rather the difficulty of switching off from medium-term, unrealised outcomes that I spend so much of my time willing into existence.
For any outcome to materialise no matter the time required, for the result to be worthwhile and give you satisfaction, you must care about it.
Fomoow (Fear of missing out on work) is the sense that, having disconnected however briefly (relative to the task), the outcome is somehow at risk of degrading.
Any one of us should believe that we’re critical, intrinsic, and required for a job, task or feature to reach its full potential. If not, then either the role or your colleagues aren’t right for you.
There is no point in setting out a principle without some actional conclusion. You can draw this whole kit and kaboodle back to the age-old: do you live to work or work to live?
In the broader world of self-management, the applicable principle is “mindfulness”. Recognising why you feel a certain way and then putting together a purposeful strategy to manage yourself.
There’s nothing wrong with Fomoow; occasionally, you might be caught out by whatever company you’re in that you’re not engaged, listening or participating because you’re thinking about work things. So long as these moments of distance aren’t abundant, you’re in a good place. There is no need to fight with what is a positive and expected behaviour based on having attuned yourself to the work which, in some ways, defines you.
Thank you, friends, for reading my blog; welcome to those of you who have just signed up and apologise for the delay since I last exploded onto your feed. I like to write but I’m not always in the right headspace for it, or when I am, perhaps the timing is not right. Details, details! See you next time.