OK no, I didn’t really quit my job! I work for an amazing company that has given me a lot more than just a paycheck. It has given me a life. Not by the amount of money I make, perks or expense accounts, but by the fact that Dovico cares about my personal life as a building block to being a more productive and happy HUMAN and not just an employee. I love my company! I have friends who would give anything to come work for us; it’s not a job, it’s an experience!
However, I did quit… for a few days. I needed a break -a vacation if you will. I have been working on the same project now for 3 years and in the past 6 months we have been working ever so hard to get it completed. I recently have been putting in maximum effort into getting this thing to the finish line and in return I was feeling a little burnt out. I noticed that as I put more and more effort into this project, I was getting more feedback from others that what has been done is not good enough. I was beginning to feel crushed. It is normal to feel anxious before releasing a big piece of work, but this time around I felt a little more pushed than pulled. I started to get angry because I was feeling hurt.
I could have started down the winding and hilly road of blame. “Why didn’t they test more?”, “Why couldn’t they have told me this or that sooner?”…. why, why, why! But no, that is not the way to get a project done. When the fingers start pointing, you can be assured that you will fail and fail fast. I won’t point the fingers, we are all in this together and we will all get out together. Finger pointing only alienates teammates and creates silos of fractured work. I have worked in poisonous work environments where everyone is blaming everyone and nothing ever gets done. It’s fruitless and it leads to unhealthy stress and unneeded anxiety. So back to my current situation, all I needed was a break. I had to get away. I needed to recharge. I had to put my blame finger somewhere else.
So I went on vacation. A “me” vacation. Sure, it may sound selfish but that is farther from the truth. I needed to reconnect myself by disconnecting from routine and taking 3 days of uninterrupted me-time. What does one do when faced with some unexpected me-time? I didn’t stop! You see, when it is time for me to take a break from work, the last thing I want to do is sit around the house and binge watch a TV show and eat junk food until all hours of the night. Instead of all that “fun” stuff, I went to bed earlier and I got up earlier. I ate better and I exercised even more than usual! I went to the local bookshop and browsed for a new book to hit up in the evenings. I biked everywhere and took the long way home every time because I could. I enjoyed the present and never thought about work… I lived as though I had just retired and quit my job. I did what I wanted, when I wanted and I re-connected with me.
Our work lives, just like our family lives are all built around what we do outside of those lives. When our work life over-takes our family lives we loose that balance and of course shit hits the fan. Same can be said if your family life over-takes your work life. When either of those lives takes over your personal life, it is absolutely necessary to get back to yourself. If you don’t you will regret it. When I am outside of my work life, I like to expand and work harder on the habits that make me a better person. Habits that enable me to think better, feel better and be better. I like to work on my brain by feeding it oxygen, nutrients and rest. This is my idea of the perfect vacation! Sure, sitting on a beach with a funky drink somewhere has it’s place in the world… but I save that for when I need a break from my home life. But when I quit my job to work on me, I prefer to move rather than sit, create rather than consume and build on my strengths rather than destroy with my weakness.
Isn’t it about time you quit your job?