Slacking at work
Sometimes I feel like a slacker while I'm at work. It's strange, because I'm an incredibly motivated person, but when the pressure is off I struggle trying to be proactive. Don't misinterpret this, I am a hard worker with a good work ethic, but sometimes my thoughts just wander and I find myself thinking of anything but my work. I have all sorts of side projects - this blog, my Worlds Revealed site, I'm also in the midst of reading The Da Vinci Code - which I do in my spare time, and I'm incredibly focused with those. I don't know what it is, maybe because no one is telling me to do those things.
I often find myself sitting at my desk in my cubicle thinking of and doing all sorts of things, which are usually never work related. But when the pressure is on, I always perform. In fact my reviews thus far have always been great, and when people have work to be done, often they request that I do it, knowing the quality and timeliness will be good. I even remember at my previous job, the speed with which I finished my tasks often led to amazement by coworkers and superiors.
As I sit at work, I will lay out the tasks which I hope to accomplish, then somehow I convince myself that I will get down to it with full focus later, or maybe tomorrow. Then I end up reading the news, listening to the radio, writing my blog (as I'm doing currently), reading others' blogs (which incidentally seem to be updated during work hours as well, hmmm), checking my email, doing personal research, daydreaming, checking stocks, thinking of ways to better myself, etc, etc. And if it's any consolation, I really do feel guilty about this.
All this often leads me to one thought. I know how much I slack, I know how much I work, and I figure that if I had non stop work to do and constant pressure to do it, I surmise that I could be 100% more productive. That's right. 100%. Which really means that I'm only operating at 50% capacity in relation to what I could actually achieve. So my question is, what the hell do all the other people sitting in offices all day actually do if this 50% performance is impressive?
On a slightly different note, sometimes I wonder if this performance is actually acceptable to employers. I recall when I was in my first year or so at my job, after I would complete and submit work on a project, sometimes several days would go by before I would get another assignment. And I know for a fact that it was known that I had no work to do. That really made me wonder.
Another reason I wonder. Companies are constantly downsizing and cutting work force, and from what I understand, the end productivity doesn't necessarily decrease. Which means to me that there was slack somewhere. (I realize that sometimes this is due to the remaining workers being forced to work more hours.) My company had a RIF (politically correct corporate lingo, Reduction in Force) several years ago, and my group lost 2 of 6 employees, meaning 33% of our force was immediately gone. Following that time, I did pick up more work, but still never worked more than 40 hours a week, and as far as I know none of the other remaining 3 did. So to me this these two facts are evidence that companies are aware of the slack, and only care about it when money is tight or productivity is deceasing.
I often find myself sitting at my desk in my cubicle thinking of and doing all sorts of things, which are usually never work related. But when the pressure is on, I always perform. In fact my reviews thus far have always been great, and when people have work to be done, often they request that I do it, knowing the quality and timeliness will be good. I even remember at my previous job, the speed with which I finished my tasks often led to amazement by coworkers and superiors.
As I sit at work, I will lay out the tasks which I hope to accomplish, then somehow I convince myself that I will get down to it with full focus later, or maybe tomorrow. Then I end up reading the news, listening to the radio, writing my blog (as I'm doing currently), reading others' blogs (which incidentally seem to be updated during work hours as well, hmmm), checking my email, doing personal research, daydreaming, checking stocks, thinking of ways to better myself, etc, etc. And if it's any consolation, I really do feel guilty about this.
All this often leads me to one thought. I know how much I slack, I know how much I work, and I figure that if I had non stop work to do and constant pressure to do it, I surmise that I could be 100% more productive. That's right. 100%. Which really means that I'm only operating at 50% capacity in relation to what I could actually achieve. So my question is, what the hell do all the other people sitting in offices all day actually do if this 50% performance is impressive?
On a slightly different note, sometimes I wonder if this performance is actually acceptable to employers. I recall when I was in my first year or so at my job, after I would complete and submit work on a project, sometimes several days would go by before I would get another assignment. And I know for a fact that it was known that I had no work to do. That really made me wonder.
Another reason I wonder. Companies are constantly downsizing and cutting work force, and from what I understand, the end productivity doesn't necessarily decrease. Which means to me that there was slack somewhere. (I realize that sometimes this is due to the remaining workers being forced to work more hours.) My company had a RIF (politically correct corporate lingo, Reduction in Force) several years ago, and my group lost 2 of 6 employees, meaning 33% of our force was immediately gone. Following that time, I did pick up more work, but still never worked more than 40 hours a week, and as far as I know none of the other remaining 3 did. So to me this these two facts are evidence that companies are aware of the slack, and only care about it when money is tight or productivity is deceasing.
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