Category Archives: working

One month at my new job and the results are . . .

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1) A lot less email each day to deal with. This was an unexpected bonus.

2) Fewer hurdles to jump through to get work done. This killed me at my old job. Swimming up a waterfall is what it felt like to move projects forward. How many people does it take to make one decision?

3) Great people who are creative, talented and hard-working. This is similar to my old job. I did work with great people. It was the myriad processes that made it hard.

4) More time spent on work that matters = more writing of curriculum, research and proposals. No more constant rewriting of, and agonizing over, PowerPoints for the president to use one time. We called it disposable work. Or, writing on toilet paper.

5) Fewer processes, which is good and bad. There is no on-boarding manual at my new job. No roadmap or thick book of “rules not to trip over.” No one-day new hire workshop. Luckily, I feel comfortable figuring out stuff on my own. Otherwise, I would have been hosed.

So, that’s life at my new career. It doesn’t mean it’s been frustration free. Every new job comes with challenges, but I’m glad I made the move.

I haven’t blogged because I worked every day for the first three weeks to make a good first impression. But I enjoyed it. That was the best part.

I’m more engaged and the effort I give feels like it matters more. Whereas at the corporation, constant turnover at the management level meant starting over often and the complete destruction of past successes and sacrifices. Here, I think it will be different.

On the downside, my medical costs will be higher, but it seems like a small price to pay for a happier work life.

So far, so good. Luck is on my side. Knock on wood (I’m tapping on my head right now).

Giving it all to my job right now

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I’m leading part of a large training event at work right now and its sucking up all of my creative energy to complete it. And I’m working long days and putting in hours on weekends to finish all of the deliverables on time. Luckily, I’m working with a good team.

I traveled by car last week and was so tired on day 2 of the training session, I looked right at someone I’ve known for 12 years and couldn’t remember his name. Just blanked. Name gone. Later, I had to Google, “fatigue and memory loss.” Yep, it can happen.

My memory improved with a good night of sleep. But why I was so tired was something most of my co-workers didn’t understand. What they didn’t know was when I go back to the hotel, I have 90 minutes of treatments to complete before sleeping. Then I get to wake up early in the morning to knock out another 90 minutes. So, working long hours and having CF is a bad mix on the road and equals limited sleep.

And I have more travel coming soon – on a plane.

I don’t remember the last time I was on a plane. It must have been at least three or four years ago. I’m going to give it a try again for this project that has consumed much of my time these days. I’m not looking forward to flying, and a small nugget of fear in my head grows larger as the day approaches. I will self-medicate for the flight.

One worry I have is that I now use O2 at night. I need to find a place that rents O2 generators in the other city. My center couldn’t help. So, I’m going to call the CF center where I’m going to ask if they can help.

That’s it for now. I miss blogging. But there are bills to pay and a 12-year old to send to college. No rest for the weary.

Working in the USA defies logic sometimes

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I haven’t been blogging due to work. But that’s good and bad.

It’s good because we have a new manager who doesn’t require the bandwidth of our old one. I’m no longer supporting a nice guy, but Senator-type, with ADHD. So now I can do the job I’m paid to do and not admin support prepping the manager. In return, I’ve been doing a lot more writing and creative work.

Happiness.

On the flip side, I work at the speed of light. I’m the Pizza Hut Express of creative training development right now. Churn and burn. Thus, I’m doing my part to keep unemployment in the USA high. That’s a joke on my part, but not far from the truth.

How are USA companies reporting record profits right now?

Well it’s not because they’re hiring the number of people they need to get the work done.

My least favorite management motivation pep talk: We’ve got to do more with less. The business schools need to can the class where future managers learn this motivation-killing tool.

Bring in the book that got me riled up.

Overwhelmed: work, love, and play when no one has the time, by Brigid Schulte.

It’s a great book, but I must admit it feels like it’s meant for the smarter sex.

This feels like an important book and a must-read for my daughter when she gets older.

This feels like an important book and a must-read for my daughter when she gets older.

If you’re a guy, don’t read it because you’ll probably feel guilty about how much work your wife and the mother of your children does. I gained a much better awareness of this, and I’m now picking up my socks and putting them in the laundry basket. I cleaned out a cabinet and vacuumed yesterday.

However, beyond the facts showing how great women are, which I 100% agree with, there are other facts in the book about how we work here in the USA – longer hours, but not as productive per hour as many European countries, very few worker rights, fewer rights for parents, health care challenges, limited flex time, etc.

It’s an eye-opening read about the way we work in this country, which so many like to tout as the best in the world. The numbers just don’t support that anymore. We’re not as progressive as we once were. Heaven forbid we pay someone a minimum wage they can live on. Sad.

I’m not here to criticize the USA. It’s our corporations and rich politicians pulling the strings. I just hate the illogical idea of supplementing companies that pay a low wage to workers with government funding to help these people survive. And I don’t like the manipulation of the exempt worker who is paid for 40 hours but works far more than that every week, helping to keep companies from having to hire more workers. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Work/life balance. Hmm.

Or, are we living in the Matrix? Have we become interchangeable batteries without rights?

Those are the questions that keep me up at night.