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Am I'm getting lazy or am I just trying not to add too much to my plate

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Anonymous

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Am I'm getting lazy or am I just trying not to add too much to my plate

My coworker has mentioned in the past that they love to keep busy. I believe in maintaining a balance. If I notice something that appears like we're giving ourselves additional work or too much work on top of our responsibility. I mention it and ask "are we giving ourselves too much work by taking on this task? " To be honest, there's some processes that have been broken for years and I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to fix it, but at the same time realize there are limits.

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  1. Anonymous

    I don't think you're getting lazy. I think you have gained enough experience and judgment to know when something is beyond the scope of your job title and responsibilities, and have set some appropriate boundaries, and that's a good and healthy thing!

    I also have a coworker who prefers to stay busy, but often rushes through tasks and doesn't give them the level of detail they require (and then I am asked to review their work and make adjustments - it drives me bonkers). While I like to stay busy as well, I recognize that taking on too much just leads to resentment and burnout (and don't even get me started on all the extra work not being recognized by my supervisor on my performance review).

    Someone has to be the bad guy and say "We just don't have the capacity to take on this task right now" or the extra work will NEVER stop coming. So I think you are trying to set some reasonable boundaries, and please keep doing it! You're not lazy because you don't want to work yourself to an early death.

  2. Anonymous

    Work smarter not harder. That adage still rings true. If the end result is not worth the work you put into it, then you must find another way to resolve the matter, or make improvements. Efficiency is key.

  3. Anonymous

    Balance and motivation are the key to the answer. "Busy work" is not what it takes to be effective, so I agree with you there, but what is your motivation behind not wanting to explore improvements to your processes? Are they so broken that the "fix" is worse than muddling through despite the current flaws? Sometimes change is hard, and I have known many employees who would rather quit than improve a process they have come to understand, even if the "new way" is more efficient and provides more for the company. We had two people quit when they computerized our client system from a paper-only system because they didn't want to "deal with" the conversion or learning the new system. The reality was that, yes, the conversion was hard, but after it was done, the company had much better insight into who it was serving and was able to meet the needs of all of its clients, stakeholders, and donors in much better and comprehensive ways.

  4. Anonymous

    Someone who is at 100% capacity all the time has no room for a true emergency or a crunch time that require extra work.

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