Saturday, June 22, 2019

Anxiety and Dealing with Work

Nothing gets my blood pumping like not knowing why something isn't working. As I dabble in web work, that unfortunately happens often with the hodgepodge of technologies I work with. And all the self affirmation in the world won't help get the stressed-out vibe out of my body This is especially true when you think you have a working knowledge of a topic but are lost in explaining the "why" when things aren't working.

After 20+ years of being in IT, you would think I would be over this by now. So after having talked this over with my therapist, we looked over my work habits and it was plain to see that I work obsessively at problems. Not knowing answers isn't the core issue, its the fact that I keep throwing myself at things that I can't fix and keep expecting something to change.  So interventions are in order.

First thing is first, I have to approach my work behaviors systematically. That means giving myself time to work and time to take breaks. Not doing this leads to burnouts. So, I'm adapting the
Pomodoro Technique, which would be a 30 minute work cycle followed by a 10 minute break. Rinse and repeat. Second, I'm going to give myself a "three strike" rule, which is to say that after 3 failed  attempts at fixing something, I stop and search for alternatives.  In this way, I separate learning initiates from production. If I can't figure something out, likely I have to learn more and need to cut time out to do so. So as a personal productivity issue, I can't let learning issues sit in my production timeline because one is monetized and the other isn't. It all gets down to admitting defeat and not letting my ego/compulsive behavior sabotage my job.