I find that if I have 8, very full and busy, overworked, crazy, non-stop, head-down-butt-up, taking on more work than one person should sanely do, hours in the office, I am never as burned out as I am doing the same amount of work in that 8 hour day that spills into 2 hours of overtime! I do what I can in the best and most efficient way possible today, and that’s all I can do. Then I can go home and rest, create, cook, play, etc. and be geared up and ready to work tomorrow.

We all need that balance. However, I’ve really noticed that line become blurred once technology became so convenient. It is too easy sometimes to receive an email or text or phone call after hours about something that can probably wait until tomorrow. An old Manager would always try to contact me during holidays, after hours, and on weekends. Her famous line would be “I know I’m bugging you on your day off, but you can clock your time…” I did not want to ‘train’ her to think this was okay and acceptable. So after it happened a few times, and we had family visiting and were in the middle of a big family dinner, I told her that giving up my family time was not worth the pay I would be getting from ‘clocking my time’ so I would talk to her at the office on Monday about it. She actually apologized and stopped contacting me during my home time. My boss may ‘own’ me during my 8 hours/day, 40 hours/week at work, but when my day is done, my time is all mine:)