7/24/2013–In thinking about my job I’m trying to decide if it’s where I’m supposed to be. Everyone does and should. I work a lot. I work when others play i.e. nights, weekends, and holidays. An effective restaurant manager–one who gets his or her priorities done first–has little autonomy regarding where he or she works. The great majority must be in the restaurant. You cannot work at home often; cannot leave work and come back. You are bound by the shift. This is the external effect (the effect my work has on my non-work life).
The internal aspects of my job also are being analyzed. To achieve results–a.k.a. get the right things done–I must make almost all my decisions on limited information. The information I do gather must be gathered “when possible” for the most part. I get to work with a greater variety of people than any other job I can think of. I get to develop and encourage young people on a daily basis. In short, there are elements of my job I feel don’t support the daily life I want, and elements (internal) I feel do support that life. So now I will decide what daily life I would like.
Perfect day:
- Play soccer
- See close friends
- Meet a new person
- See family
- Cook or eat something new
- Play music
- Learn something new
That’s about it. Anything I can’t think of after three minutes probably isn’t vital to a perfect day for me. These don’t need to all happen every day. But I think I should arrange them as though they could, and see where it’s difficult. As of now, I work from 1-12 at least. This leaves two days off, usually not spent w/anyone as they’re week days. I get to play soccer once per week. I see family two-three days per week (my two days off and a day I get off early). I see close friends once a week at best, usually at the expense of family. I make progress w/directs daily b/c I have so many –a golden part of my job. I meet a new person occasionally. I mean one with whom I’ll keep in contact. I play music almost daily before work, unless I have non shift-related work to do. And I rarely am able to schedule time to grow academically. Perhaps meeting a new person isn’t required.
7 things remain that I find make my life full. Currently I enjoy 2 daily, which I find alarming. Each week, I enjoy 5. So most days I’m missing out on 75% of what I enjoy in life. Each week, 75% on 6 days and 40% the other. Maybe I’m naive but as time accelerates I feel life is too short for those percentages. In my current role I’m not well-rounded. I hesitate and fear to think the grass is always greener, but there must be 1,000 ways to use my strengths to make $ while allowing this life. I don’t feel as though I’m fully using my strengths in my job either. I’m not challenged mentally or physically. My patience and passion are tested daily, as with any job, but I don’t often feel like I’m operating at peak performance. So I play soccer (2 hours) music (1 hour) academics (1 hour) cook/eat (2 hours) see family (3 hours) friends (2 hours) and make progress w/directs at work. 11 hours + 8 sleep/misc leaves 5 hours to do work I don’t find vital to my thriving. Currently I work > 11, + sleep/misc 8 = 19. Five free to do other work and hobbies, and those five hours are not when friends/family are free. I need to adjust.
10/14/2017 review: If I’m on a “path”, I can clearly trace it’s origin to this point. Today I get to do most of these things that I wasn’t doing as a restaurant manager. The biggest thing that’s changed since this time is that I’ve identified a purpose (enabling others), which is now more of a guide than this list of interests. I play soccer once or twice per week, play music daily and am playing in a band at work, cook daily, have my oldest friend as a roommate, see close friends often even though they’re not in my city, communicate with family a few times per week, and meet tons of great people every week at work. This was the future back in 2013, but it’s the present today and it looks pretty close to what I envisioned back then. All it took was some thought, planning, discipline, and support from great people along the way.