good work takes emotional investment

I've been thinking a lot about this lately because my emotions have been running the gambit between rollercoaster and plateau over the last few months. I've found myself in the middle of some big challenges this year and one of them has been my emotional investment with my work.

I have always been your traditional Capricorn -- overachieving and perfection while looking for the next great thing is my middle name. I have always been dedicated to complex problem solving and I have a strong dislike of not being able to be in the thick of it.

But it's also the toughest part of who I am. I am almost always overly invested in my work, the impact, and how things shape up. The personal critic of a Capricorn is ruthless and I experience more burnout from my self talk than I do from anything else.

So how do you do good work, keep yourself in check with your emotional investment, and stop being so hard on yourself?

All good questions that I'm going to try and answer for myself that will hopefully help you answer them, too.

how do you do good work?

Well, this is debatable. Some people say less than your best work is just fine. And in most cases, I would say that it is. Not everything is an awe-inspiring task, but there are some tasks that you can knock out of the park with the right environment, attitude, and preparation.

For someone like me...my best work is where I thrive and doing my best work takes a lot of moving parts and pieces to make it all come together. Here are a few ways I get focused to do my best work:

• Tea, always and forever. And usually many cups depending on the level of focus needed. I have what I call my "big ass mug" for days when my brain is hurting or I need an extra pinch of focus.

• Background noise = productivity -- the quiet drives me nuts, so having something going on in the background like lofi music or coffee shop noises makes the world a better, more productive place for me. Here's a playlist I turn on every now and then to keep the juices flowing.

• Finding inspiration for projects that are important/meaningful/hard for me to tackle. One of my favorite things to do is create a vision board of how I want a project or metric to look like at the end of it all. I work backwards from there, put into a fancy project planner like Notion, and crank shit out. I normally use my remarkable notepad to sketch things out before I get to work on any complex processes or strategies.
• Attach myself to the why -- if I can't find a reason to get happy/sad/mad/inspired by something...I won't do my best work. I truly need to find a way to attach myself to the task at hand to feel the impact of it all. Whether that's me putting myself in the shoes of someone else or actually helping someone accomplish something, I do my best to attach myself to a task or problem so I can truly understand what a resolution or success looks like.

how do you keep yourself from being too emotionally invested in your work?

I know there are a number of reasons why I've always put so much stock into my worth and value as a person based on my work. It has in some ways (and for many years) caused turmoil both internally and externally within myself and my surroundings. I have spent many days learning that emotional investment, while important to your work, can also be at your detriment if you allow it to creep out of control.

In order for me to keep my emotional investment in my work a positive thing, I've had to learn, unlearn, and do things a bit differently.

• "We're not in the ER" is what you'll often hear me say to my team. And while this might not be helpful for those of you who are in the emergency room every day, it's my go to mantra when things get a little hairy. I catch myself reminding me of this when I'm waking up at 3AM worrying over some problem I haven't solved at work.
• Healthy outlets are key -- getting back into the gym gave me more confidence, mental fortitude, and physical strength. I find myself being less upset or frustrated over small things these days because I'm taking care of myself outside of work. Getting outside in nature also does this for me and reminds me that my emotions around work, while well intentioned, don't have to control how I feel outside of work.
• Building community and reciprocity -- we all need people who know how to hold us up when we are struggling. Thankfully my community at work and in my personal life know how to show up for me. I've also had to learn reciprocity...I used to be the person to get all worked up about something, vent about it, and then leave that person who just listened to me to go about their day. Now, I make sure those channels are open both ways. The people in our lives are so important and can help us up when we get knocked down, but we have to be there to help when they need us, too.
• Leave work at the laptop -- this is easier said than done, especially because I work from home. I've had to be diligent about setting boundaries and putting down my phone every time I sign off of work (and yes, there are exceptions). Getting into a routine after work has helped me own my boundaries more -- going to the gym, cooking dinner, spending time with the dogs, and picking up reading again has helped me stay afloat when I could easily get sucked into 14 hour days at the desk.
• Rest and disconnect -- There are now days where I don't touch my phone. I pick up a book, go sit outside and have lizard time, or become a couch vegetable. I used to be go-go-going all the time and it added a level of stress to my work life that I couldn't sustain. Resting and disconnecting has helped me show up more at work. (And for any other bookworms out there, you can add me on Goodreads so we can share our book lists!)

how do you stop being so hard on yourself about your work?

Being hard on myself has always been easy. There has always been a stack of work waiting for me to pick it up and some days I can work quickly and other days feel like I'm slogging through a swamp back in Louisiana. I have thousands of ideas and not enough time to make it all happen. It's very easy to get swept up in the coulds, woulds, and shoulds when you have so many dreams, opportunities, and thoughts.

I may have found great outlets and the right things to keep me focused, but this is by far the hardest part of the job for me. Thankfully, I have a lot of great people around me who remind me that not everything can be successful or happen overnight.

The dogs have also helped me see that work isn't everything. Rory, the oldest in our pack, is going on 11 years old and has kidney disease. Her diagnosis last summer really hit me hard. It made me realize that our time together is short and I shouldn't be worried about work so much that it keeps me from experiencing life with her and our family.

This part of the deal is hard for me still, but I've spent a lot of time thinking about what matters most to me and while a meaningful career is important to me, it's more important for me to be present with my people and my pups.

Also, who can be hard on themselves when they get to hang out with silly gooses like these?