Josh Parkin suggested that I should keep a blog. OK, so its 18 months since I, sort of, started this one but it got me thinking.
Maybe I should keep a blog on a regular basis - not really a diary but more the old ramblings of a middle aged, balding etc......
The question now I suppose is where to start. I suppose I could just post the review of the year that we always send out to family and friends at the end of each year saying what we have (or haven't) achieved in the year. Alternatively I could review where I currently am and how I have ended up here. So, here goes.....
Last May following various issues I ended up having some time off sick (don't worry, I'm ok) and this lead to me looking at my life in depth, where I am and all the other stuff you're meant to look at at my time of life.
So, let me consider that old favourite, the old work/life balance. Many years ago I was made aware of a company where staff had to take their (generous) holiday entitlement and if they didn't then they were penalised on their annual performance management - this was the company making sure that their employees spent time with their families, staff were discouraged from working overtime (if this was necessary then it was seen as an error on the employers part as the extra work should have been anticipated).
But not all can be like that - Professor Cary Cooper was on the radio saying that if you are working 11 hour days regularly then you are heading for all sorts of health issues (I can't remember the statistics but they were not good). Prof Cooper was relating this to self employed people and I can believe it as many people who I have known over the years who run their own companies end up running themselves into the ground but how do you turn off?
If you have a 9 - 5 job then its, relatively, easy. But if your job is more flexible then how do you avoid working 24/7? 10+ years ago when I worked for First National I asked the Director in Charge how he coped with the number of emails that he used to get on a daily basis and how it worked when he was off. His answer was simple; when he was off he set an auto-reply to say he wasn't in then when he returned he deleted everything that had been sent and started afresh. As he was getting around 100 emails a day this was brilliant and it worked.
Similarly either turn your mobile off or let works calls go through to voice mail and sort them in works time. If you are on holiday then treat it as that - if you are not expected to work weekends then don't.
How's that Josh - a reasonable piece of advice?
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