Jamie's Blog

Lisa and I are on Spring Break this week. What does that mean?

Well, firstly, we have a break from classes which means five fewer hours spent at Temple’s Fort Washington campus. Secondly, we have five more hours to spend as we choose. Lisa chose to spend the larger part of those hours with our nephew. I only committed a part of my time to him. I also decided to catch up on some work whose deadlines are fast approaching.

I sometimes find myself questioning the amount which I work. I ask myself what it is my employer wants from me, as an employee. Is it my time? Is it my experience? Is it my skill? These are separate things I think, and yet most employers demand all these things. Since that is the case, I hesitate to work much more than the standard work week, and yet there is a part of me that desires the work. There is a part of me that yearns to produce and create something valuable. Still, my energies need not be directed at job. There are so many endeavors I wish to pursue, and yet I worry about deadlines and expectations. On some level, I don’t care at all about work–not in the way that you’d expect. I don’t care about being fired. After all, Lisa and I lack responsibilities and dependents. On yet another level, my job, which takes up a majority of my time, is an integral part of my spirit. That ineffable quality about me some might call a soul is all tied into the things I do and the people I interact with every day.

This line of thought soon gets tangled in its own tendrils, and I realize I missed half an hour of productive time, and I table further introspection for the next time.

- Jamie

I never write in specific terms about work, out of a concern that my words will somehow their way to the eyes of my bosses and my bosses’ bosses. It’s not so much that I fear retribution for an off-color remark. It’s more that I want my thoughts, set down here, to be the province of my personal life rather than my professional life.

Is this even possible anymore? The Twitterfication of the world is accelerating every day. Twitter, the online micro-blogging platform, allows one to connect with others quickly and constantly. The more interconnected we become with those at work and those at home, the more the separate spheres of ones life coalesce. A Seinfeld episode described this as the colliding of worlds.

Businesses that wish to stay competitive in a global economy, attracting the best talent worldwide, will become more flexible with their employees, leveraging this blurring effect to increase productivity. Work when you feel like it, when you’re most productive! Sometimes you’ll have to take a call at midnight, but a midday break to take the kids to the zoo will be okay.

This may be troublesome for those that cannot rapidly transition between two different frames of mind. The personal task-switching costs may be insurmountable for some. These personalities will be ousted from the global economy where productivity and entrepreneurship reign.

Despite this inevitable collision, for now, I’d like to write about work without it getting in the company newsletter.

- Jamie