Splat...

[wildeabandon]

Well, the good news is that we basically did everything we needed to do for the big deadline today. There are still a few bits that need tidying up, but they're waiting for actions from other people, and will only take an hour or so of my time later today.

The less good news is that my ability to keep my productivity levels high was pretty much dependent on that deadline, and now the less urgent stuff that still needs doing feels a lot more oppressive. And although the crunch has now passed, it would be really helpful if I could maintain normal productivity levels for the next couple of weeks until my holiday. I'm not going to beat myself up if that doesn't happen, but it will make life more practically difficult for me if I completely hit a wall now, so I'm hoping there's a balance that I can find between ploughing on in utter misery and doing nothing.

Comments

[andrewducker]

It is totally normal for people to have lower productivity after crunch. You've burned through a bunch of resources and need to take it easy for a bit.

Do what you can, and take care of yourself.

[emperor]

This.

[the_elyan]

Good luck with it - from what you say, has it got to the point where whether the holiday is two days, weeks or months off has ceased to matter, because you can't imagine dealing with tomorrow?

I would say "ploughing on in utter misery" is a fair assessment of my current position too (new job, difficulties and things not in the JD pouring in, feeling like hell).

[wildeabandon]

Oh, gosh, no, nothing like as bad as that. I'm knackered, and could really do with a break, but whilst I have been doing Far Too Much Work for the last couple of weeks, it's still mostly work that I actually quite enjoy.

What I may struggle with tomorrow is less getting through it, and more making myself actually get anything done when I know that I could basically get away with slacking like a giant slacker until the next deadline starts to approach.

I'm sorry to hear that your new job isn't starting well. I hope it's just teething problems and things start to feel better once you've settled in.

[the_elyan]

Thanks - so do I. Some of it is information overload, but there are some genuine issues too (the IT infrastructure is scary - the key system I use is still on IE, which means getting info into anything else is a cat's cradle of bodges), and I haven't yet worked out how much of the "your first 6, 12, 18 months" on the JD is actually "well, now would be nice").
One day at a time...

As you said, finding a balance is the tricky thing where you are - maybe pick a task you enjoy and take it at a moderate pace, doing as little on everything else as you can get away with?

[ludy]

That sounds (reads) pretty normal - hope is just temporary floomping and you can be motivated enough to work at the next lot of stuff before it gets super deadline-y