A lot of it has to do with the time of year. Everyone realizes they're running out of time before freeze up and my schedule is bursting with another job to be completed every day for the next few weeks. In many cases the time allotted to me isn't nearly enough to do a complete and thorough job. Ten hours scheduled to do a project that ends up requiring me three twelve hour days of field time and then people come to me asking why I'm falling behind. The blank thousand yard stare is the response they get. Yesterday, after combining data from a wide range of sources, I made a mistake in my computations. Fortunately I caught it and fixed the problem before anyone else became involved, but that pressure ... I can't say it's not getting to me a little. Waking up at 3 a.m. and wondering what I missed and how it will come back to haunt me, doesn't make me a very pleasant person the next day. One day at a time, I tell myself over and over, I can do this, but I realize that stress isn't healthy and I've got to be proactive and be on the offensive or find myself on the ropes looking for a way out. I love what I do, but some days I fantasize about basket weaving and throwing pots or something. Just ranting, needed to vent I guess. Got to suck it up and get back to it. No rest for the wicked.
Good luck getting through this, Williwaw. Your handle sounds appropriate right now.
(for those that don't know: In meteorology, a williwaw is a sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea.)
Tom Adams, post: 393362, member: 7285 wrote: Good luck getting through this, Williwaw. Your handle sounds appropriate right now.
(for those that don't know: In meteorology, a williwaw is a sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea.)
We'll that settles it. Time to head for the beach...
I handle stress by not keeping on their schedule and keep everything on my time.
When I let them know it is an 8hr job then don't ask me to do it in 4hr because it will only cost you more for that.
If you need another brain or hand, get one.
Already turning down work over there to be here today.
Wife is glad I don't call out line and corrections in my sleep any more........lol
What do you do for stress? Arnold said it in Red Heat, "Vodka"
Leave the job at the jobsite when you drive away and never give it a thought till you get back there tomorrow.
"get r done"
When it comes to stress I've always held with the old saying "What does not kill you.......will only eventually kill you later."
I use to carry the weight of all my projects on my shoulders. I worried about everything. Somewhere along the line I realized that worrying (stress) did nothing but make me work in a frenzy and therefor probably make more mistakes. How can you focus on the job you're at if you're already thinking about the next one?
You cannot control how others perceive your work, but you can control the quality of your work. If quality requires time, then so be it. If another surveyor can get it done quicker or cheaper, let them try. The one thing you can (and should) do is give the job you are on ALL of the expertise and QC you have available. The next job is on down the line. Worry about that one when you get there, but get the one you're on right now done right...no matter how long it takes.
I stopped doing construction staking work a few years ago. I feel much better. Builder jamming mcmansions onto lots, touching setbacks on all sides. Just nightmare inducing. I still wake up in the middle of the night wondering "what if...". It really became a problem. I'm not even going to go into the "we have a problem" call. Gut wrenching, sleepless nights. I know I do everything to the best of my ability, and anytime I've been asked to check my work, it's always been tight, but still had those black thoughts in the middle of the night.
For me, the answer was awareness meditation. Realizing that the brain thinks the way the lungs breathe. I can now feel the thought, recognize that it's not a real thing, and let it go like a passing cloud. These thoughts used to give me an adrenaline rush right down my forearms. I am now able to just let them go. 10 minutes a day and I'm good to go.
paden cash, post: 393376, member: 20 wrote: When it comes to stress I've always held with the old saying "What does not kill you.......will only eventually kill you later."
I use to carry the weight of all my projects on my shoulders. I worried about everything. Somewhere along the line I realized that worrying (stress) did nothing but make me work in a frenzy and therefor probably make more mistakes. How can you focus on the job you're at if you're already thinking about the next one?
You cannot control how others perceive your work, but you can control the quality of your work. If quality requires time, then so be it. If another surveyor can get it done quicker or cheaper, let them try. The one thing you can (and should) do is give the job you are on ALL of the expertise and QC you have available. The next job is on down the line. Worry about that one when you get there, but get the one you're on right now done right...no matter how long it takes.
The problem stems from the folks in charge of my schedule having no clue what time a job will take and my inability to read the tea leaves for the next series of jobs with 100% of my focus on completing the mission at hand without making a hash out of it. These people are writing checks of my time that I can't cash and drinking myself silly isn't really much of a sustainable solution. I try and spend as much of my precious time in the present moment. Little tip my hounds taught me along the way.
I know what you really meant by "throw pots", but maybe it wouldn't hurt to find some old pottery to throw around and enjoy the smash sound! Releasing frustrations can be useful, if done constructively. (I could suggest chopping wood, but that's work no matter what)
Williwaw, post: 393378, member: 7066 wrote: The problem stems from the folks in charge of my schedule having no clue what time a job will take and my inability to read the tea leaves for the next series of jobs with 100% of my focus on completing the mission at hand without making a hash out of it. These people are writing checks of my time that I can't cash and drinking myself silly isn't really much of a sustainable solution. I try and spend as much of my precious time in the present moment. Little tip my hounds taught me along the way.
Sounds like the person (probably boss) scheduling you has made their problem your problem. Do your best and if you succeed brag about it. If not ask the guy scheduling to show how to do it faster. Try not to laugh if he or she takes you up on the offer.
Hi, my name is Steve. I'm a workaholic.
Williwaw, I feel for you. Having others higher up the food chain demanding more than you can handle can be quite difficult. Probably a large part of why I went into private practice.
Do your best and work at the pace that you feel still allows for you to perform the work properly. I know that is easier said than done. But taking a bit to long would probably be much more acceptable than making a big blunder.
I have met many surveyors with ulcers, heart conditions and more from the years of stress they placed on themselves. Just as suggested above, learn to turn it off.
When you clock out at the end of the day, truly clock out. If you catch yourself thinking about work quickly change your train of thought. With time it will become more natural to you and your health with thank you for it.
I've said this many times... We only get this life once. I've seen a lot of friends and family pass. Never did any of them say to me "I wish I would have worked harder". Most have said things more about enjoying life, family, friends or particular hobbies.
If your still thinking about work at home, days off and in your sleep, you are robbing yourself of precious time. Learn to let it go and if your working tons of overtime to meet those demands your probably doing more harm than good. Sure the extra pay may seem great but over the course of time it will haunt your health. Plus, years from now, you will look back and say you wish you would have spent more time with other matters and not have invested so much of your time, pushing yourself so hard, just to fill your bosses pocket.
[USER=7066]@Williwaw[/USER]
Success and stress is like peanut butter and jelly, they love one another. You will handle it. 🙂
Geezers will recall the days when the only way to pass around something really wise or cute was to make copies on some sort of copy machine then hand out or mail the copy to others. Nearly all were on 8-1/2 x 11 plain paper. People would plaster their office walls with such things.
One I saw about 35 years ago was on the wall of a Government employee. The drawing was of someone experiencing all the symptoms of too much stress. The caption read: STRESS--What you get when you DON"T choke the everylovin' $#it out of someone who really needs it done.
You see. The problem is we don't eliminate the stressor. We were all raised to play nice, DAMMIT!
JB, post: 393377, member: 346 wrote: the brain thinks the way the lungs breathe
Williwaw, post: 393378, member: 7066 wrote: I try and spend as much of my precious time in the present moment
"Willi" this was a very well written OP. Hopefully the mere act of getting some of this off your chest amongst us friends who "get it" helped in your ventilation process.
Also I just wanted to repeat these quotes here too:
(Well apparently the iPhone prefers to put the quotes "up there". Now where is a clay pot I can smash?)
Thanks for all of your suggestions and support. I didn't post on here looking for sympathy, maybe a little reassurance perhaps, but not pity. I'm blessed to be where I'm at, but learning how to handle stress is important for one's long term health and sanity. I've gotten very good over the years at bottling up my emotions and keeping my cool under some very trying conditions with people that have their own struggles. The old saying 'misery loves company', only I refuse to comply and try to seek out my inner Zen peace of mind with whatever gets thrown at me, but it's moment to moment. The power to control my own thoughts that left on their own would chew me up from the inside and spit me out. No way to live. Good tips here, especially the breathing and occasional smashing of pots in private. I do chop wood and find it very therapeutic. With six months of winter around here, I have a pretty well stocked wood shed.
Peace. Williwaw out and back to work.
Williwaw, post: 393354, member: 7066 wrote: A lot of it has to do with the time of year. Everyone realizes they're running out of time before freeze up and my schedule is bursting with another job to be completed every day for the next few weeks. In many cases the time allotted to me isn't nearly enough to do a complete and thorough job. Ten hours scheduled to do a project that ends up requiring me three twelve hour days of field time and then people come to me asking why I'm falling behind. The blank thousand yard stare is the response they get. Yesterday, after combining data from a wide range of sources, I made a mistake in my computations. Fortunately I caught it and fixed the problem before anyone else became involved, but that pressure ... I can't say it's not getting to me a little. Waking up at 3 a.m. and wondering what I missed and how it will come back to haunt me, doesn't make me a very pleasant person the next day. One day at a time, I tell myself over and over, I can do this, but I realize that stress isn't healthy and I've got to be proactive and be on the offensive or find myself on the ropes looking for a way out. I love what I do, but some days I fantasize about basket weaving and throwing pots or something. Just ranting, needed to vent I guess. Got to suck it up and get back to it. No rest for the wicked.
Double your rates! You'll have half the work and half the stress... And - learn to say no. You don't have to take every job that comes in the door. It took me about 30 years to learn this, and I am a MUCH happier person.
Whenever my workload gets really heavy -- like it is now -- I wake up early (4:00-ish) thinking about the job when I'd really rather get another 2 hours of sleep. I try ( and usually succeed) to sneak a nap in sometime in the afternoon, and that helps a lot even if it's only 20 minutes it so.
The best long- term advice I have is regular exercise. I put in 22 minutes on the Stairmaster nearly every day, and I think that goes a long way toward keeping the stress in check. Combined with the exercise I get in the normal course of field work, it seems to keep me in good shape.
Jim in AZ, post: 393493, member: 249 wrote: Double your rates! You'll have half the work and half the stress... And - learn to say no. You don't have to take every job that comes in the door. It took me about 30 years to learn this, and I am a MUCH happier person.
Jim, I wish I could. I'm a union surveyor for a phone coop. My rates are fixed by contract and I have no complaints in that regard. But I'm the only licensed surveys to cover an area the size of some East Coast states and the rapid development here, particularly with fiber optics, has me running all over the place trying to keep up with a dozen of our construction crews and several sub contractors. Throw in wireless sites on top of that .... I don't want the company to have to sub out my survey work because I can't handle the volume and pace. I'm lucky to have a darn good PC to help me keep the wolves off my back, mostly anyway. I refuse to implode from the pressure, have to learn better how to manage it and when to say No. Something I find difficult to do. I'll say yes having no idea how I'll pull it off, but somehow, I always do.
Williwaw, post: 393499, member: 7066 wrote: Jim, I wish I could. I'm a union surveyor for a phone coop. My rates are fixed by contract and I have no complaints in that regard. But I'm the only licensed surveys to cover an area the size of some East Coast states and the rapid development here, particularly with fiber optics, has me running all over the place trying to keep up with a dozen of our construction crews and several sub contractors. Throw in wireless sites on top of that .... I don't want the company to have to sub out my survey work because I can't handle the volume and pace. I'm lucky to have a darn good PC to help me keep the wolves off my back, mostly anyway. I refuse to implode from the pressure, have to learn better how to manage it and when to say No. Something I find difficult to do. I'll say yes having no idea how I'll pull it off, but somehow, I always do.
" I don't want the company to have to sub out my survey work because I can't handle the volume and pace. "
I understand you completely - but your health and happiness is just not worth it. It really isn't...
We aren't happy until you aren't happy.
Williwaw, post: 393354, member: 7066 wrote: A lot of it has to do with the time of year. Everyone realizes they're running out of time before freeze up and my schedule is bursting with another job to be completed every day for the next few weeks. In many cases the time allotted to me isn't nearly enough to do a complete and thorough job. Ten hours scheduled to do a project that ends up requiring me three twelve hour days of field time and then people come to me asking why I'm falling behind. The blank thousand yard stare is the response they get. Yesterday, after combining data from a wide range of sources, I made a mistake in my computations. Fortunately I caught it and fixed the problem before anyone else became involved, but that pressure ... I can't say it's not getting to me a little. Waking up at 3 a.m. and wondering what I missed and how it will come back to haunt me, doesn't make me a very pleasant person the next day. One day at a time, I tell myself over and over, I can do this, but I realize that stress isn't healthy and I've got to be proactive and be on the offensive or find myself on the ropes looking for a way out. I love what I do, but some days I fantasize about basket weaving and throwing pots or something. Just ranting, needed to vent I guess. Got to suck it up and get back to it. No rest for the wicked.
