Work-Life Balance

Last week, I turned in my letter of resignation and two weeks' notice at my current employer.  I have switched jobs several times before, but probably never with as much hesitation as I've experienced this time around.

I really like where I'm working now.  I'm quite happy here, and I really believed I would be at this company for years.  What ultimately enticed me to leave was something I hadn't given a lot of consideration to until recently: the new job appears to offer a very attractive work-life balance.  Most of the employees at the new place--where I'll start in 2 weeks--compress their schedules to accomplish a full work week in only 4 days.  While the days are almost a couple hours longer, this effectively gives everyone a 3-day weekend every weekend.

The thought of this is very appealing to me as it would give me more time with the family and also more time to finish many of the extra things I've had on my to-do list.  My Action emails folder is at 81 emails currently.  I keep knocking out several big tasks and thinking that it's about to shrink fast when I realize that there are other new ones I want to add to the list.  To be fair though, a LOT has happened recently, so overall, I feel i've done a decent job juggling everything.

But that doesn't change the fact that I really want see the bottom of this email stack again.  I used to see it so regularly, but it's been a long time since then.  I really hope the new position allows me to do this.  Being on top of this to-do list (my Action emails) is probably my number one goal over the next few months.

Maybe there is such a thing as being too task-oriented...

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