8 weeks to go for 2005
With only 8 weeks to go to 4Q and 2005, it’s time to work on those remaining todos that I’ve been procrastinating for the last few months. Some of the items, like product certification and cleaning up my team’s knowledge base on WebSphere should prove quite entertaining as I stare at the deadline…
When you’ve been working several years for a corporate giant, it’s sometimes difficult to let go of those habits when you go back home. How many times have I told my wife I want to finish painting the house in 2Q… only to get an empty stare back. The other difficult thing is that with a laptop and working from home sometimes, it can be difficult to let go. There’s always a supposedly good reason to try and squeeze more in a day. I have now taken the resolution to work 8 hours a day. No more. I know there will always be exceptions, but that way, I can regain some of my time back to do things like play outside with the kids, go for walks, and just enjoy that personal time a little more.
And at IBM, there will never be any shortage of work (yeah, many of us are workaholics), and I know that in my type of role, I will never really be done, just because I always seem to have some side projects. And on that note, I’ve decided to slash in those as well. I’ve led or participated in about 10 departmental projects this year, and that’s just too much. Because those require extra time. And that eats up in family time. For 2006, I’ve decided to seriously analyze the projects I work in, and make sure I choose the ones that offer the highest ROI, on a personal and professional level.
One of the major effort will be going for professional credentialing within IBM, to become a Certified Software IT Specialist. There are many requirements to being recognized within your profession in Big Blue, and to me, that’s an example of a very real ROI for the efforts I sink in. It certainly won’t be easy to try and let go from my habit of trying to improve business processes, but I intend to give it a fair try.
If you hadn’t noticed, the underlying trend in all these decisions is to simplify my life, and try to make the most of the time that passes. To chase less rabbits. And as the saying goes, nobody ever got to their deathbed wishing they had worked more…