What Idiot Picked THAT Time?

If you’ve followed me for very long at all, you’ve probably noticed a few things.

• I like hiking and camping in Utah’s great outdoors
• I really love what I do
• I do a LOT of it

I work a lot. It’s not unusual for me to put in 50-60 hours per week. Some days start well before dawn and continue long into the night. We recently changed our organization structure so that I have more flexibility over my schedule. My position went from being mostly task driven to mostly performance driven, and I was granted a large amount of autonomy to choose my tasks. You would think this would be awesome. (And it many, many ways, it is.) I’m reminded of the saying,

If you get to “write your own check,” write a big check!

The issue is the same problem I had when I was self-employed. Being the only person who does what I do in my company, I tend to get caught up in a million different initiatives. People in dozens of departments are working with me to either provide services from them to my other contacts, or expect me to get services from my other contacts for them. And, I really have no one to complain to about my schedule.

Tonight, we have an emergency maintenance that was just scheduled for 1:00AM. It will last at least two hours. Of course, I have to be on that call. Who picked this horrible hour?

I can tell you all the reasons that 1:00 AM is the right time for this work to be done. And I understand how terrible it is to try and work at that hour. I would even listen to you if you wanted to complain about having to get up, or stay up until the middle of the night to do this work.

I just won’t be joining in on the complaining. After all, talking to yourself can be evidence of a serious problem.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. 

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