I've been workin', I've been workin' so hard (Van Morrison)

A friend and former colleague of mine included some notes from counsellor/presenter Aaron Ironside on her recent blogpost.  

The basic message was: I am not what I do - I am not my job. 

Who am I – is a different question as to What I do.  We cannot use our job to fix our view of ourselves, to upgrade our self-esteem, to make us upgrade our self-esteem – it’s not sustainable.

We need to keep our sense of self, who am I, the real me as a private concern.  Not one that is being determined or defined by work.

It’s just a job.  You are more than your job.  One day the job will be over.  Who will be left when it is all taken away?  It only muddles it if you let your work get entwined with your sense of self.

This is interesting because the lines between self and job are definitely blurred in my experience.

The way we lead/teach is an extension of our selves in many ways. Our individual style and personality and ability to form and sustain relationships is a fundamental part of how we do our job.

Our working life is a big chunk of our time - from 7.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday in my case (luckily there is no weekend sport or evening meetings like I had when Principal at Stratford High School).

I believe that our character traits affect our success or failure in life. My time at work is heavily influenced by my character traits. I am very much what I do.

Who I am and what I do are inter-dependent to a huge degree.

To an extent I do agree with that middle paragraph - there is a private me, and I do play a series of roles at school - all tangential ones - but me as teacher, as servant leader - that's who I am - to my core.

I've been working so hard (Van Morrison)

More cheese Gromit?
Working mode profile

Sorry - must dash! Back to work today!

Have to leave Jacky home alone today - but it's okay - she's doing research on our next getaway - for the Christmas holidays.

Through the windows of midnight moonfoam and silver (David Gray)

My daily routine part 2:

From 5 to 5.30pm, my end of the working day includes a check in my diary to see that I've done everything I wanted to/ needed to and some thinking about what is coming up tomorrow.

I also make some quick notes in my diary of things which happened in my day that my Community Administrators (C.A.'s) might need to know. They asked me to do a weekly email to them of these things, to do so, my diary notes have become crucial.

I can now pack up my stuff. I tidy up the paperwork into appropriate folders (I hate leaving current work lying on my desk - for some reason my brain dislikes the idea of half finished jobs).

Sidebar: Without consciously thinking about it, I have subscribed to the 5-S Principles Thomas Oppong mentions in his post on end of day routines - the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: Sort (Seiri), Set In Order (Seiton), Shine (Seiso), Standardize (Seiketsu), and Sustain (Shitsuke).

• Make work easier by eliminating obstacles (Sort)
• Arrange all necessary items so that they can be easily selected for use (Set In Order)
• Clean your workplace on daily basis completely or set cleaning frequency (Shine)
• Maintain high standards at all times (Standardize)
• Self discipline, also translates as “do without being told”(Sustain)

Having done those things, I leave school, head home and my brain starts forgetting about my working life.

Only in an emergency will I take work home. I got out of that habit when my children started coming along. It was okay with one (Keegan was very placid) but from January 1987 onwards (hello Adam) evening school work became nigh on impossible.

Keegan, Adam, then Samantha and Jade (and my wife, Jacky) made the need for work/life balance a new consideration back then and the need has continued to this day.