A New Challenge - part 2

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash 

Today marks 2 months since I started my job so it's a good time to recap to see how things have measured up.

First up - the people I work with are 100% the nicest workplace of people I've ever been in. I can't even explain the multitude of ways they're the most pleasant and caring group of people. Even when there's a disconnect, no bad words are said. Complete strangers will check in just to see how I am. Our household came down with Covid recently which resulted in 2 weeks of chaos and it was no problem at all; people were proactively getting in touch to see how I was and discuss leave options because I hadn't been there long enough to have much. Amazing!

I've also discovered some things about myself and my capabilities in the last 2 months, which of course is part of the journey and part of this experiment.

1. I have a "GenX" mindset, which doesn't truly reflect workplaces today. I was totally focussed on hours and making sure I did more than that every single day, because that's what I'd always done, at least before I started my own business. But these days the expectation is to get the job done, whenever and wherever. It's been an adjustment.

2. I'm older than a lot of people I work with. I remember when I was 20-something, thinking people my age were ancient. Now I don't feel ancient at all, but I suspect some of them might think I am! Happily a benefit of being this age is it doesn't bother me in the slightest!

3. It took about 2 weeks to realise my confidence issue was unfounded. (Now I get to live with my husband's told-you-so-ish-ness but actually he was right). It's been really good for me to realise that not only haven't I lost any real skills, but running my own business and gaining a degree and raising kids means I've actually got even more than I used to.

4. Unfortunately, I'm not getting to use them all. I'm doing a role that is 2 levels below what I was last doing as an employee and… I'm already a bit bored. The hierarchy is not configured very well, the workflow and processes aren't well defined and it's quite a reactive environment. The problem is, I prefer proactive, and my previous experience means I can see what needs to be done but I'm not in a position to be able to do much about it.

On the one hand it's easy to say "just chill, ease back in, do your job and have plenty of time to do other things, get that work/life balance you've never really had". Sounds great! But on the other hand - yawn.

At some point I'm going to need to make a decision - either slow down into an easy work/life balance with really nice people, or accept boredom is just not me and never will be.

 

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