Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Why is it always Feast or Famine ?

It always seems to be "Feast" or "Famine" for me at work.  Let me explain.

As a Supervisor, my responsibilities are often not tied to specific dates and times.  Sure I have scheduled meetings, etc. but most of what I do simply needs to be done before "X date" instead of a very specific time.  This allows for a fair amount of flexibility in setting up my day-to-day activities, but it also requires careful planning and constant adaptation to changing priorities.

Eventually it always feels like there is either:
 way too much work and not enough time
... or ...
 plenty of time and nothing that has to be done right now

Given the choice, I prefer the "Feast" (where I am just so busy that I have to raise my performance to meet the challenges of fitting everything in).  Although, it is nice to have the "Famine" (ample amounts of "down time") periodically.

I think the biggest challenge that I personally face is that I'm often looking forward to whatever is coming as opposed to enjoying the here and now.  When I'm "swamped" I think about how nice it will be when I'm caught up.  And when I'm in a lull between things I look ahead to busier days and get excited for the challenge that is coming.

Maybe if I planned better I would be able to even these peaks and valleys more ... but I think that the scenery would then be boring, even if it were more comfortableTalk about your no-win scenario!  :)

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