Over the past few weeks and months I’ve been spending a disproportionately large amount of time thinking about work. I’ve been working hard at work just like always, for sure. But work has also been taking up a larger portion of my life, if that makes any sense. Working at night, from home, or just getting home late, or stressing out about my job more than usual, has lead me want to describe the things that I do and see every day. The things that I do to make my life tolerable within the confines of my job may not be helpful, or even relevant, to anyone else. But then again they might. So over the next few weeks I’d like to discuss some of the tips, tricks, and self realizations that have helped me become more productive, more focused, and better at what I do, within the context of an desk job. These aren’t any major revelations, or accounting specific processes, but rather, they are simply the little things I do to spend less time cutting red tape, and more time putting work to paper.

The only real problem that I seem to be facing in writing such a series of posts is, ironically, work itself. Bear with me in that regard. It might take me some time to flesh out posts in my ever diminishing free time, and more pertinent news may require posts that delay a ‘Surviving Work’ addition to the site, but they will come, until I’ve expended the vast array knowledge that I have on the subject. The current plan is to post one, maybe two in the series each month, until I either a) run out of things to post about, or b) finally feel like I’ve gotten enough jabs in at others poor work habits to sufficiently satisfy my need to rant.

Currently, the agenda looks as such:

• Power Zones - Managing your schedule to increase productivity, at work and home
• The Power of ‘Thank You’ - The need for manners in the work place
• Setting ‘Real’ Goals; And Sticking to Them
• Managing Expectations - Yours and Theirs
• Setting Timelines; And Then Forgetting Them
• How To Get Away With Not Wearing A Tie

Of course, more posts are sure to be inspired by my work on a daily basis, but if you don’t see a topic on the list, and if you feel for some strange reason that my input on the subject might be vital to your survival in your job, then please, by all means, feel free to send me an e-mail or leave me a comment, and I’ll try my best to address it. I feel like, so far, this is a very good jumping off point, and I’m very excited about sharing some of my views and opinions on a topic that I actually know something about, as opposed to asking open ending questions about life, as has been my modus operandi over the last few months.

The Girl and I were sitting on our porch at some point last week, probably having just finished dinner and beginning one of the many smoke-filled chats that we customarily get in to, when the topic of career goals and ambitions came up.

As an aside, our porch has become the place where most of her and my most thoughtful conversations occur. We fight, or discuss our future, or push the other towards self-reflection, while smoking, and maybe drinking a nice glass of Virginia wine. I don’t know what it is about the porch that makes it out apartment’s prime conversational area, but I’ll be damned if we don’t almost intentionally move out there and light up when it’s time for an important talk.

Anyways, we were talking about our careers, and what we want out of them, in both the immediate and intermediate futures. Our careers aren’t completely alike, but they are similar enough such that comparisons can be drawn when we speak about them. We both work in very time sensitive, high stress industries. Hers is a service based industry, with the requirement that she complete specific deliverables throughout the course of her engagements. Mine is a deliverables based industry, with an emphasis on service. However, without going into more detail than is necessary for fear of compromising security clearances, or the entertainment value of this post itself, the level at which I am able to contribute to the ultimate final product isn’t the level at which I am satisfied.

In other words, I don’t really get to make shit.

I remember, as a child, being very interested in the way that things work. This generally manifested itself in my destroying of things, such as my toys, or my mother’s kitchen floor. This curiosity, breeding destruction, was based in the desire for creation. And that desire is still with me, even if I don’t still break things to see how they work (at least not as often, or intentionally).

I wonder, where this urge, this need, or desire, to create comes from, and where, ultimately, it will take me. After thinking on the subject, and talking with The Girl about it on the porch, it occurs to me that, like anyone, I want to leave my mark on the world, my legacy. I want to be able to look back on my life and say “This is what I did. This is where my efforts, and my passion, went.” You know what? Scratch that. I want to look back on my life, and for my proudest and most memorable moments to have nothing to do with my job. But what I want from my career is to be able to say those things, because otherwise, why am I letting myself be pulled away from the other things that are so important to me for forty hours, at minimum, a week?

And so I think about the future, and what this need for creation means for my career. At this point, I don’t feel as if a change in careers is likely in the cards for me. But I do wonder if there is a better option for me; a better career path. I wonder whether I’ll ever be able to work less, and enjoy it more; If I will be able to look back and say, “Look at this these things, these peoples lives, that are better because of what I did.” I wonder where this ultimate journey will take me. No matter where that is, I hope that there is a porch, where I can sit, and converse, and enjoy a nice glass of Virginia wine.