10 ways you know you’re working too much

If ‘crunch time’ is all the time and you dream in billable time modules, you might want to ratchet it back a bit.

I’m in crunch mode right now, that dreaded time that inevitably comes on every project where you have to stay head down, nose to the grindstone to make everything work.

I am in that mode in a serious way, so I thought I’d share my “How to know you’re spending way too much time at work” list.

Without further ado (because I don’t have much time) …

You know you’re spending too much time at work when:

1. Your 13-year-old sings the background tunes to the conference call music he hears on speakerphone eight hours a day.

2. The dark circles you’re sporting under your eyes these days look like they’re becoming permanent.

3. You spend more time with your work partner than you do with your life partner.

4. A 10:30 p.m. conference call sounds like a perfectly reasonable request.

5. You have no groceries in the house and the kids are eating pizza for the third night in a row, but when you run out of coffee it suddenly requires an emergency trip to the grocery store.

6. Dreaming about stakeholders and deliverables is a nightly occurrence.

7. Your kids and significant other know the best way to reach you is via your work email.

8. You find yourself powering up the laptop with coffee in hand at 7 a.m.—on Saturday morning.

9. The dentist refuses to let you schedule any more appointments because you’ve canceled the last three due to work “emergencies.”

10. You’re at a major league sporting event, supposedly enjoying the game, but are instead coming up with “Ways you know you spend too much time working” blog posts.

What would you add?

Sheri Browning is a Partner at PeopleResults, where a version of this article first appeared. She will not be lifting her head up for the next 2 ½ weeks. After that, you can reach her at sbrowning@people-results.com or on Twitter @sbPResults.

Topics: PR


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