Work is Like...

When you first get a job, it's as if they hand you a satchel and tell you that your job is to carry the satchel and not let anything fall out. You think to yourself "This satchel is not so heavy. I'll just sling it over one shoulder, and that still leaves plenty of space for the stuff I was already carrying."

You go on like this for a brief period, and then people at work start handing you extra things to put in the satchel "Oh, by the way, this is part of your job too, and your also responsible for this, etc" None of these items is very large or heavy, so you just keep stuffing them into the bag. Pretty soon the satchel is getting kind of heavy, but you figure it's not that big a deal because you can keep switching it from one shoulder to the other.

One day you realize that nothing, not one more tiny thing, can fit into the bag. This is the point at which 25% of new teachers say "That's more than I want to carry!" and they put down the satchel and walk out the door for good. The rest of us decide that maybe a new backpack wouldn't be such a bad idea, and maybe a coat with lots of pockets?

After a while you start to learn that it's bad to volunteer for everything. In fact, some people cope with the problem by flatly refusing any and all requests. I loath these people because they try their best to skate through on the assumption that "someone else will do it." For those who continue to engage, even "good causes" must be scrutinized with extreme care.

People will come up to you and say "Look at this important thing. It really needs some attention from a caring person like yourself. It's just a tiny little thing anyway; you'll hardly notice it among all the other stuff." Sometimes they convince you, and then you have to find a place where you can cram the thing. In truth, sometimes things fall out again. At some point, you just have to start putting things down.

My only real professional experience is in education. However, I suspect that many other kinds of jobs probably work in much the same way. The difficult part is finding a way to remain energized and enthusiastic about your work without eventually getting your back broken. I’m still working on this.