Hard Yards
Good morning, I know it’s a little earlier than usual for your dose of chuckler.org, but I thought I’d spice things up a bit with a change. I’m at work work early today because I woke up early. Stupid internal body clock. How unjust!
Speaking of unjust, Edward and I had the same conversation we have every 6 months or so, when he says that “we all have to do some long hours and get stuff done,” when he actually means “you have to do some long hours and get stuff done.”
It’s the old results vs effort argument, and we have it all the time. He himself is at work 80-100 hours per week, which as a director of a small company, is expected IMO, but there’s no way he’s productive for that many. Less than half, I’d say. Me? I do roughly 45-50 hours per week, and I’d say that I’m productive for about 30-35 of them, in general. But it’s a sliding scale.
Let me elaborate. My argument is this: as work hours increase, productive hours increase to a point we’ll call x, but after that begin to slide. I realize that the bulk of my reader’s aren’t idiots, but allow me to cite an example:
Say you work 40 hours, and are productive for 30. Due to workload, you increase this, and work 50 hours for 35 productive hours, which isn’t so bad.
However, if you then increase this and work 60 hours for 37 productive hours, your ratio is slipping. If you increase it to working 70, and being productive for 35, you might as well’ve only worked 50. If you work 80 and are productive for 30, well … perhaps you suck at your job. Or you’re working double shift simply to look good.
Do I begrudge having to work harder and/or longer? No. I think a certain amount of overtime is expected with my job. Do I begrudge having to do it indefinitely, or for an extended period? Yes, frankly, I do.
I had a conversation with Godfrey last week about “hard yards”. We agreed that everyone has to do the hard yards in their chosen career if they want to establish themself. I worked for this company like a dog straight out of school for a few years, until I left and started consulting. I scraped whatever contracts I could, before I went west and worked ridiculous hours for 6 months, and made hella cash. I scraped around Brisbane for a year or so, and then went to Canberra for 12 months. I think I’ve done my hard yards, and I don’t want to do them again. :nono:
Am I off base here? Any comments people want to make by blog comment or email are appreciated, as always. :hugs: Hope you all have a nice day.