Ghost Writer contemplates her role as an idiot in her village while I'm sure Marti is busy being much smarter and self-aware.
So if the village has too many idiots, I'm beginning to think I'm one of them. Today, while ostensibly on vacation, I did my monthly report. Why? Well, I'm the only one of my peers with no staff, no secretary and no back-up plan. Clearly, I'm an idiot for not standing up for myself -- either to have a plan or beg my boss for some resourcing. [And I type that thinking, "Ya, right. That ain't gonna happen."]
This isn't the first free-time I've donated back to the company, and I'm sure it's not the last of my donations. As Marti mentioned in "Carrots Aren't Tasty Unless They're Gold", it's all about reward systems, but really, and I have to continually remind myself of this quote from a former manager, "The difference between good and great is 3%. Make your choices."
Yes, I'm on the management incentive program that is worth far more than 3%, but that's awarded based on company performance far, far away from my daily controls, so I look at it more as a random act of kindness from the company rather than a reward for hard work. Like so many high performers, I am intrinsically motivated by this internal desire to do the best, be the best, achieve the most, that the paycheck is really secondary, and MIP is at best tertiary.
In my world, this results in me selling out my personal life in the name of my job. Which when the chips are down in the world of work, it leaves me feeling like the Queen of the Village Idiots, because yes, I am still a woman and still give them more than they pay for every day. My world is one round of backlash after another -- the life of a crash dieter in the world of work. Give too much to work. Vow to be different. Cut back at work. Start feeling like I'm getting behind. Dive back in to the jello mold. Or worse yet, see a tasty project and get sucked back in like a Weight Watcher's participant to a pint of Ben and Jerry's after weigh-in day.
So really, if you have any advice for the Village Idiot, I'm open to it, because clearly I'm an idiot addict without the resources to help herself.
So if the village has too many idiots, I'm beginning to think I'm one of them. Today, while ostensibly on vacation, I did my monthly report. Why? Well, I'm the only one of my peers with no staff, no secretary and no back-up plan. Clearly, I'm an idiot for not standing up for myself -- either to have a plan or beg my boss for some resourcing. [And I type that thinking, "Ya, right. That ain't gonna happen."]
This isn't the first free-time I've donated back to the company, and I'm sure it's not the last of my donations. As Marti mentioned in "Carrots Aren't Tasty Unless They're Gold", it's all about reward systems, but really, and I have to continually remind myself of this quote from a former manager, "The difference between good and great is 3%. Make your choices."
Yes, I'm on the management incentive program that is worth far more than 3%, but that's awarded based on company performance far, far away from my daily controls, so I look at it more as a random act of kindness from the company rather than a reward for hard work. Like so many high performers, I am intrinsically motivated by this internal desire to do the best, be the best, achieve the most, that the paycheck is really secondary, and MIP is at best tertiary.
In my world, this results in me selling out my personal life in the name of my job. Which when the chips are down in the world of work, it leaves me feeling like the Queen of the Village Idiots, because yes, I am still a woman and still give them more than they pay for every day. My world is one round of backlash after another -- the life of a crash dieter in the world of work. Give too much to work. Vow to be different. Cut back at work. Start feeling like I'm getting behind. Dive back in to the jello mold. Or worse yet, see a tasty project and get sucked back in like a Weight Watcher's participant to a pint of Ben and Jerry's after weigh-in day.
So really, if you have any advice for the Village Idiot, I'm open to it, because clearly I'm an idiot addict without the resources to help herself.
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