Do you keep track of your extra hours?

Many people don’t. And in many workplaces extra hours come as an obvious expectation with your salary.

That also means you cannot compensate time, nor will any hour be paid out.

That’s ok as long as you know it and as long as you still prioritise your own health over your job.

And that’s the trap.

I sometimes ask clients to do a reality check, which is rather simple: “Will anyone say thank you to you for hundreds of extra hours if they have to make you redundant for whatever reason?”

I likely don’t have to answer this for you now.

Yes, I understand that specific projects and certain times require us to put in that extra effort. And that’s fine. That’s part of it. We’ve all done overtime for the sake of making a deadline, for the sake of making clients happy. In certain industries it doesn’t work without this.

But it shouldn’t become part of your lifestyle, no?

Work is not meant to be carried into your weekends.

Writing emails at 10pm on a Friday? Guess what: Nobody will read it and anyone reading it on Monday will be stressed because of that email in their inbox. It’s quite a double-edged sword.

Most importantly your health will suffer from this.

It’s important to want to do great job. And you need to work hard to climb the career ladder (though I’d like to add that maybe your network will play just as an important role as any work you do.. ).

I’ve worked with clients who were prescribed time off by their doctors, yet they showed up to work. Because “I’m the only one who can do it”.

That’s sheer misery. Nothing more.

Work should be thriving, not surviving.

Where do you stand? On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being ‘surviving’ and 10 ‘surviving’) – where do you stand? Take an honest look at this and ask yourself how you could move up one number.

What does it take for you to make a change?

Who can support you in this?

What else needs to happen?

Do you know what action you should take to change the situation?

And if you make it:

What will be different?

Who else will notice a difference?

Your time is so precious. Don’t waste it. Make the best of it.

That includes your work.

Want me to look into this together with you? Also connect with me on LinkedIn.