…do you feel:

• Guilty like you’ve gone and selfishly removed a day’s worth of productivity
• Worried that you’ll have so much piled up when you come back
• Anxious because you are so essential people can’t get by without you
• Relaxed because you’re helping yourself get better
• Semi-productive because you end up crawling in bed with your laptop and working anyway

or any variation of those? I’m sick today and have been all weekend. Luckily my firm is of the “don’t come to work when you’re sick, we’ll still pay you” mindset.

But, it makes me feel guilty. That guilt leads to semi-productiveness. And that semi-productiveness leads to me sending out emails and putting out as many fires as I can from the comfort of my home. I’m still getting rest. I have plenty of tissues at hand and I’m comfortable in my sweatpants.

Unfortunately, I know people who don’t get (free, unlimited, or any) sick days. Are you one of those? Do you have a laptop you bring home? My suspicion is you don’t. You’re not doing guilty work at home like me.

I’ve stopped. I’m of the school of thought that a resolution is an excuse to make small steps towards big goals, and then give up because it was too lofty to begin with. Plus, why does it need to be done at the arbitrary beginning of a year?

Okay, the holidays are over and you can stop eating poorly. That may be the one reason you resolve to eat better/exercise more/live healthier.

A year is such a long time (or should be, if you live your life the right way) and I’m not a fan of long-term goals. Sure, you want to have a direction to head (California vs New York) but you don’t need to know which path you’re taking (I-70 vs I-80).

Sure, you can be flexible with your resolutions but then we should just keep them in mind throughout the entire year, not just in January. Can you remember your goals from previous years? Do you monitor them?

There’s a multi-story office building going in right next to my light rail station. It’s about 7 stories tall and the structure is largely complete. The light rail stand is level with the third floor.

Nearly everyone waiting at the station watches the construction workers build away. At any given point in time, nearly half of us are turned around, facing away from the tracks, to gaze at the new building. Why?

Is it because construction is fascinating? Definitely. It’s neat to see a collection of materials and labor turn into a tangible object.

Is it because we’re bored and would like to watch construction workers rather than highway traffic and a empty set of rails? Of course.

But I also think, deep down, a lot of us sit here waiting to ride 40 minutes to Denver, to start our 9-5, to do the work that only sometimes speaks to our strengths, only sometimes makes us feel fulfilled, and only sometimes produces something tangible that we can point at and say “look, that’s something I did!”

Something tells me I’m not the only one that envies the construction workers.