Quote:
Originally Posted by look 171
Merv is so right. I think I mentioned this before, we are about the same age and retirement has been on my mind since I was about 46 or 47. I had a minor stroke at 40 hauling ass not taking care of "me" instead, I took care of everyone else running these bigger high end projects. They kept me there for a week, ran test after test and found me healthy. All test came back negative. The doc leaned over and said, you are type A. Change or else it will eat you alive. Since then, I dial back 40% and stop doing those big restoration jobs and switched gear and taken on mid size projects with nice and sane folks. No more Hollyweird crowd and their fancy homes. Thankfully, I have no ill effect from that damn stroke and started beating myself up on the bike again a couple times a week. I have gotta to get me some "Me" time before its too late to do the things I really wanted to do like taking my kids to see Asia for 6 weeks. Aint got too much time left is the way I see it.
Problem is, Vash, guys like us who run on this stressful high do not retire. You will always look for something to do to fill in that time and the high that's gone missing. There's only so much riding I can do unless I start racing then it will consume me again.
How about tuning back some and work lateral transfer for the county or city? I know the guys that read plans behind the counter are all engineers. Many do not have a lic but just a degree. I am not sure what the pay is like compare to what you make, but its a job that you get to deal with the public and look at drawings all days long and hash things out. You seem like a people person and the pay isn't bad. No real stress and do the job of 3 people and you go home on time, no phone calls. Somehow there will be a time you have to tune it back and live out those years cruising instead of hauling ass. it will take its toll on you. More shooting arrows, sharping knifes and flash lights. Its good for ya.
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similar to look 171, I over pushed my own work/stress boundary's and paid with my life, luckily I got away with it and was back to normal in a few months. Many people sadly aren't as lucky as us!
I now put my stake in the ground early so new clients know where my OVERWORK limit is, up to them to plan/resource allocate accordingly. As Seahawk suggests I offer solutions but do not make it my problem.
I quite enjoy being OVERWORKED, knowing each day I'll have a job list longer than I can do spurs me on to work harder which give me more satisfaction I've achieved something with my time
3 years ago I jumped from being an employee to doing my own thing working freelance, no regrets at all. I'm very lucky I can chose the interesting jobs and I've not had to look for work yet.
The best bit of being OVERWORKED for clients (usually because of their lack of planning/resource allocation) the more hours I work the more I earn and when it starts to become too much when my limits are not respected I can just leave and turn it all off
Only you can decide what your OVERWORKED limit is and if your compnay can't respect this then I'm sure there is a long list out there of other companies that would value you so don't be afraid to make a move