Rules to work by?

[drwex]

A while back there was a series of postings about peoples' rules or guidelines for life. I'm wondering if you have similarly pithy rules for the job you do.

Comments

[gentlescholar.livejournal.com]

Avoid discussions of personal life while at work.

Never trust kids to relay messages to their parents--not even the seemingly really reliable ones.

Sometimes, shut up and let them talk. Sometimes, interrupt them and say what needs saying. Those are both important and both good to remember and consider.

Pace yourself. There is such a thing as too much work in one day, deadlines or no.

[drwex]

Good rules, esp the kid ones.

[xthread.livejournal.com]

Avoid discussions of personal life while at work.

This is strongly dependent on the local culture of the workplace. In some workplaces, this is a very, very effective technique to isolate oneself.

This does, of course, become additionally complicated if one has a significantly non-standard lifestyle.

[drwex]

Having worked in environments like that I found that it was sufficient to be willing to participate in others' discussions of their personal lives. It's a form of misleading, since it tends to get them to think you're just like them - why else would you be willing to listen to their tales of bowling night or the kid's recital? - but isn't that the point.