When work demands more of your time...

I'm not working yet but I know working means not only 8 hours a day. It's half of your day. I'm working hard on internet jobs now as a student so when the time comes I can spend more time with other things.

hi dear dolce vita, I am not asked to do overtime but when I want to finish a project I make myself do overtime. I can always get out earlier from the office when I dont have such important things to do and in fact I built up something like 65 hours overtime and during the last three weeks I took a bit here and there and now I build it up again.

I work part time in retail and during the Christmas season, I was working over 40 hrs a week unlike my usual 25 hrs. My kids started getting upset with me because I was not around like before. It is difficult to manage a job and a family sometimes but you cant refuse most of the times!

Actually doce, we must maintain a balance among all these activities and a hectic routine out of our daily chores. i know, i often get stuck with my online writing so much so that sometimes my social life with my friends or with my own family is affected. they also know that. this is not good; we cannot justify ourselves neither to them nor to our own work. doing our work at the expense of sacrificing our beloved relationships is certainly is not a wise job. whenever, i have to choose between the work and my social life, i have always preferred the later no matter what..even if my work deadline is getting closer. i guess i made the right decision.

I know, this is very disgusting and frustrating, but one has to do overtime one the employer demands because an ordinary employee don't have enough job options and also can't leave the job in this highly priced world. But, if one has enough confidance of finding another job, than he should immidiatly deny employers order to work overtime or the employer has to paydouble money for that. After all, we are not his slave.

Well, that's why we have time management so that we can fit in all our activities without sacrificing our time for personal activities. I would make a schedule for all the activities that I have to finish. It is also sometimes good to say "no" to my boss if I know that I cannot do the task excellently. It does not mean that I do not want to take additional responsibilities but it is just a way for me to relieve myself from stress and burnout. Also, if I know that I am not good at it, the quality of the work will be sacrificed.

There must be a balance between work and relaxation. Only work will make like boring and stressful.Many times i have to over do work on occasion when there was labour problems.I have experienced what it feels like to work all day with no relief.Entertainment is a must after a day of hard work

It sounds like an excellent opportunity to me! Any time work demands more of my time, due to increased business activity, etc, they will always pay for it - often at a much higher rate. Yes, it's true everything else suffers, but that just means we need to organize ourselves better. In Japan, there are rumors of a long standing tradition of factory workers working unpaid overtime for free just because they believe it will benefit their country... and it did! It is difficult here to actually keep one's job, more so than before due to increased competition & falling demand. Anything that we can do to cement into our employer's mind that we are totally irreplaceable is worth our urgent consideration. Furthermore, the more you say "yes" to their offers, the more likely your employer will be to make more & different offers. All should be taken as good opportunities to better ourselves. Organize, prioritize & accomodate. You can also work it the other way if you have savings & don't need the money so much. Once employers know your situation (that means communicate!), they may offer to reduce your hours as well as your pay or give you unpaid days off as you need them, with sufficient prior notice. However, that runs the risk of losing your job altogether if handled poorly. If handled well, it may just keep your job & skills set in the bad times. Perhaps the secret is, as they say in America, "keep 'em wanting more!" All The Best.

I think it is some important work for which they might ask me or anybody to stay for more hours which I don't like to do. Sometimes I have to understand the need and so I have to give them few hours, but in return I expect something also so it happens sometimes. It is good to be nice, but don't make it such that people start taking your for granted.

Hi for me the more hours I get the more money i have in my pay check.since im singel I have no one to be around at least at work I have people to talk to. I do not call my place a home, it just a place to sleep. a home for me is having a wife and family.then it would be a home.but when some one low income, it a waste of time to date. most of the ldaies that i dated ,tell me im a nice guy but they want some one with a livable income.oh yes they all say money does not matter but it does and i know im ok looking and a great cook.have a good day.

I have always been a workaholic and I never minded working extra hours at the office. I guess it was partly the reason why my marriage did not work out. It is difficult perhaps for others to understand but there are people like me who find happiness working. The kids understood why I was not present in most of their school programs, because they knew I had work. The good thing though is the kids also turned out to be like me, loving their work more than having a love life. I guess to each his own but there are always so many things sacrificed when one works so much. However, there are people who can create a perfect balance with their job, family and love life. They understand the word time management.

As much as possible, I will try to have it done or scheduled that will not coincide with important family gatherings. I love my career and the money it brings in but I love my family more and they are the main reasons why I work hard. I am sure that I can make the necessary adjustments with work and will try to have it bend so my family time will not suffer. Only when I have exhausted all means at work will I start considering if I can somehow juggle a few things on my family side so I wouldn't miss whatever it is that we have going on.

It's true, it takes away the time you're supposed to be with family, friends and for yourself. When I was in this situation before, the stress is going way too over my head slowly, day by day. There days I was working sundays and holidays in maximum of 14 hours, very tiring indeed, most of the employees were passing out while working. But to be fair, it also gave me a lot of chances. I had the chance to travle from places to places, buy stuffs for me and my family, eat well, dress well because of the salary I've worked hard. I guess this just life, we have to work hard to live and survive and enjoy sometimes.

Well,this is an interesting topic.I would definitely love to have a work life balance.I have faced situations where i needed more time for work than anything else.I do give time to work at that point of time.It is at times difficult with lot of things needing adjustment and things.But somehow i make up time or get additional help in professional or personal front.This keeps things rolling.But then,once the tough period is over, i would spend more time on personal things and get to make up the lost time for work.thus by end of time, it would be well balanced and things would be ok.I would take some extra vacation and take care of myself.It is not easy but then it helps.And during the off period,i would take job less seriously and more into personal things.I do agree we do certain sacrifices when we work at lot.But i guess its more than just relationships.It has impact of our health and overall well being as well.So far, i have been implementing what i said earlier and has been helping me for long.Thanks!

I've been through that kind of situation where work took a lot of my time. I worked like 12 hours and I wasn't even paid hourly but the pay was twice my previous jobs. I At one point I don't mind as long as I didn't have to do a lot of multitasking. I prefer to work long hours if I am just focused on one task and one task alone. What I would give up on and get tired too often is having to multitask, when I'm asked to do one thing and check on another thing.