Linked: How’d they do it without you?
Seth’s point here is one many workers would do well to remember:
“It’s easy to use our indispensability as fuel. Fuel to speak up and contribute. That’s important. But it’s also possible for that same instinct to backfire, and for us to believe that if we don’t do it, it won’t get done right.
That’s unlikely.”
It is unlikely, and yet many of us go about our workday assuming that things will not get done correctly if we aren’t there to do them. So, we remain available during our time off, if we even bother to take time off, or we spend a ton of extra hours working on a project instead of delegating the tasks or asking for help, or we go way out of our way to not leave a current employer for fear of seeming disloyal or leaving or coworkers in a pinch without us.
What we too often forget, is that work probably got done before you ever got there, and should you drop dead tomorrow, the company will go right on doing what it does and bring in a new “you” as soon as they can. It will not stop producing work because you aren’t there to do it anymore.
So stop giving away your life in exchange for their work. It’s not worth the trade-off. Seeing yourself as too invaluable to be away from the work only benefits them, not you.
