Retiring Early Creates a Perspective Shift at Work

This week has been crazier than usual and has me a little out of sorts. I hadn’t felt in the right mindset to write anything even with a funny idea like “Our retired greyhound needs an ikigai” sidenote – she does though, the transition from racing 69 races to retired has been a little rough on her. Even animals go through a transition from career to retired and it’s not always smooth.

It’s been a bit hectic at work, which is a nice change of pace, and the work has been fun but man, some people just haven’t figured out their new roles in this reorg. This week has made me so glad that today is my Friday. Yippee for the 9/80 schedule where I get every other Friday off! Seriously, since 9am Monday morning, I’ve been looking forward to today. Even with a positive perspective shift on Monday morning, it still only took 3 hrs of work before I was ready for the weekend. Here’s how it got to that point so quickly and why I’m excited about spending tomorrow outside, trimming bushes, doing yardwork, and weeding the flower beds.

Road Rage Monday Morning Kickoff

It all started in traffic Monday morning. Houston drivers typically act one of way two ways. They’re either super aggressive or they’re scared of driving in traffic, ugh… Monday morning, I had someone cut into my lane and nearly sideswipe the front of my car. I hit the brakes and honked and they looked up from their phone, flipped me the bird and stomped on their brakes. Yeah, I love Houston traffic. You’d think it would stop there, but no. This person then spent the next ½ mile yelling into their rear view mirror before I decided I’d just change lanes and avoid the situation. I move over 3 lanes and go on my way only to get cut off and brake checked by this same guy 3 miles later. I again just change lanes and maneuver to get to my exit, and think nothing of it other than being “adrenalined up” now.

After exiting the interstate I get to the first stop light, and who zooms up behind me and starts honking and flashing their lights – random road rage guy. Seriously, what a way to start a week. Good Lord…

That guy needs to let a lot of rage go...
That guy needs to let a lot of rage go…
“Outside of Scope” Annoyances

Imagine you’re working on a new project and that work is going smoothly and is on track, when someone not on your team or working on your project shows up to one of your weekly meetings and tries to derail the whole thing, causing a lot of extra work for you to do that didn’t need to be done just because they don’t understand the project to begin with. It was the kind of meeting where I wish I could just stand up and say, “Get… Out! You’re adding no value and bringing up things that have nothing to do with the scope of this project.” Ugh, it was a treat for all involved.

The real joy however, was when he showed up Monday morning to gossip to me about a meeting he was in last week and no one in there understood anything they were doing, but he set them straight about it all. I set down my tea, looked at him and said, “Tom, I was in that meeting, and you caused me a lot of unnecessary work from your suggestions. The few points that you brought up that were relatable to our project have already been addressed prior to that meeting. What can I help you with, because I need to get back to work.”

I’m generally not that short/rude with people, but after the traffic incident and the meeting incident from last week, I was not in the mood to deal with “Tom”. After a short dialogue, he was on his way and I realized it was only 9 am on Monday and I was ready for the weekend.

No case of the Mondays here!
No case of the Mondays here!
This Isn’t Going to Last Forever

Then I got a perspective shift. I sat down (I have a standing desk and normally stand at my desk 6-9 hrs a day) turned around and just watched the sunrise and the non-stop stream of traffic out my window. It occurred to me, none of this really matters. Yeah I’ve had a rough morning, but unlike “Tom” I’m not going to have another 20 years of rough mornings due to work. Talk about changing your persepctive for the better. Whoa!

My boss is always telling me he’s amazed with my laid back demeanor and the fact I don’t let things get to me even when it’s a ridiculous demand or deadline or being told I need to redo everything I spent the last 2 months working on because the petrophysicists decided their models were wrong… Yes, that happened. I would say that at work, yep, I’m pretty laid back.

'Nuff said...
‘Nuff said…

Maybe it’s because I know this isn’t the end all be all in my life. Maybe because some part of me knows that there’s an end – and it’s mostly going to be of my choosing. I mean I could still get laid off at any point, but beyond that, I’m looking at 2 more years tops that I would need to keep working.

I think that accounts for a lot of that perspective shift and being able to not sweat the small stuff at work. In 3 years working here, I’ve found it’s all small stuff.

Okay it can't ALL be small stuff
Okay it can’t ALL be small stuff

Plus, I have tomorrow off. I can get out my lawn hat, put on some shorts, and go trim the bushes, weed the flower beds, mow the yard and generally “Zen out” doing yard work. I get a nice meditative sort of feeling while sitting there just pulling weeds, trimming bushes and doing all the stuff most people find annoying. So, I can’t wait for the alarm to not go off tomorrow and just wake up when the kids get me up. Get them dressed and walk them to school and then come back, sip some coffee, and get ready to begin my day.

Do you think your perspective at work would change if you could see the end of your working days coming up soon? Do you ever have weeks like mine – it didn’t stop at Monday, or get any better. What do you do when you have those days/weeks?