{"id":218,"date":"2008-05-30T21:36:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-30T21:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/?p=218"},"modified":"2008-05-30T21:36:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-30T21:36:00","slug":"just-a-little-bit-more-than-you-want-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/30\/just-a-little-bit-more-than-you-want-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Just a little bit more than you want to…"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my life, I’ve often found it necessary to work hard to get what I want.\u00a0 (Whether this is the right thing to do<\/a> is another matter).\u00a0 But how much is too much, and how much is enough?<\/p>\n

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Sometimes I’ve been in startup and crunch mode where I had to work weeks or months on end, sometimes to good end, sometimes not.\u00a0 Once I even worked thirty-six hours straight when a surprise bug forced a rearchitecture of a key software component – but the work was clear to do, the results easy to test, and the deadline ultimately easy to meet.\u00a0 But you can’t do that all the time, and from time to time I’ve had to look at what I’m doing and dial it back.\u00a0 I find if you’re not working so you spend most of the time ready and refreshed, you don’t have the jazz to go to crunch mode if you have to.<\/p>\n

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Other times I’ve had so much going on – recuperation from illness, moves, life issues – that I’ve had to look at my work and say: hey, buddy, you need to do more.\u00a0 I’ve never had a boss tell me that that I can recall; I try hard to figure out when to tell that to myself.\u00a0 In the end, I want my employer to feel like they’re getting their dollar’s worth, so they keep on giving me the dollars; and I don’t want or need supervision in order to do that, I want my employer to get that level of performance for free.<\/p>\n

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But if you feel like you need to get more done, how do you do it?\u00a0 Go to crunch mode?\u00a0 And if you’re in perpetual crunch mode, are you trapped there?\u00a0 Is there really no way out?<\/p>\n

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No, and no.\u00a0 In my experience, when things are going well at work — when it’s not an actual emergency — you need to put out just a little more effort than you want to<\/em> to really get things done\u00a0 That’s it.\u00a0 Not a huge amount; not crunch mode, not ten hours a day.\u00a0 Actually not much at all.\u00a0 It might take you an hour – even just a few minutes – to:<\/p>\n

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