Just how important is your work? Does your life depend on it? Will you die without it? Or will u just not feel right without doing it? People view and value their work differently. The level of responsibility and commitment differs on an extensive range.
Personally i feel work should belong only in the workplace and only during the specified workhours which was agreed upon when the job is promised. I understand that this is sometimes not possible, therefore i can accept overtimes perhaps at a rate of 10-15%. I feel beyond that is plainly overcommitment which will mean overnegligence in many other aspects in life. Life is not just about work, work is essential as it give us the experience and money to self-sustain. If the job is also a personal interest, it just make the job slightly easier.
But when the job becomes over-consuming, we have to think through our processes and priorities. We have to ask why are things progressing so slowly, what's wrong with the process and immediately make changes to it so that things can get back on track asap. Plainly trying to put more hours into the work and not solving the root which is causing the problem will not help get the job done faster. It will only cause more problems to surface as you carry on. It like a leak in a dam, if all you try to do is to patch up the leak and not think about releasing the pressure from behind, all you get will be more leaks spring up as you try to patch up more cracks. It a vicious cycle, and it just keeps on spiraling until you feel that it's normal.
No, it's not normal at all. It's a very big problem waiting to explode. Sometimes while you are involved, immersed in the situation, you don't see the big picture. You just get so engross about solving your little part of the problem and hope everything else will just go well and fall into place. This is when you need someone to tell you that, there's a problem. And the problem is not on the surface, but right at the roots. And this is when, you face a very very tough decision. Often we will not have the resources to solve the problem at both ends, i.e. patch the cracks and relieve the dam pressure at the same time. And just as often, the root requires much more effort and time to solve as compared to surface problem. That's why most people choose to constantly patch up the crack.
Like I just said, it's a tough decision facing a snowballing issue. But when sometimes you just have to make the TOUGH choice. Relieve the dam pressure, although it's gonna take a while and most likely a few areas are going to get flooded due to the cracks not being repaired. But it is the tough choice, you lose some areas at first, but you save even more from the fate of a dam burst. And that's the big picture. So what's the rationale in working overtime almost everyday, when the only problem you are trying to solve, doesnt really solve the problem?
When leaks appear, it's never without reason. Please look at the root of the problem at the larger scale and stop wasting time patcing up holes here and there. Utimately you could have spent 40hrs patching up 40 holes while you could have just spend 36hrs diverting some of the dam water to another river.
Sometimes it's just your attitude, come on and toughen up against the problem. It's like making another tough decision, even though you personally have chosen to solve the problem at the root. You'll just have learn when to stop patching up cracks only, and start addressing the real problem. There will always be people who may not see your point, and people who will be at the receiving ends of the unpatched leaks. You have to brave through those people and make the correct decision, some people just have to wake up their ideas and they won't know pain until it really hurts. Some people will just have to be sacrificed for the greater good...
