Be careful with letting things slip out, Jay. Sometimes it doesn't work the way you intend. Case in point is our old estimator. Granted he didn't let it slip that he was looking, he said he had another job. Apparently, he really didn't have another job, he just said he did in hopes that we'd beg him to stay and give him a raise. We accepted his resignation, promptly hired his replacement and said good riddance. We heard he did finally get another job but I'm certain it is without many of the perks we were giving him.
I second what alinnell said. I think your friend is wrong, JZJ.
Even though most companies assume that their employees have other options, they don't take well to the implied threat of another job. If you're going to take another job, do it because you want it--don't use job search as a strategy at your current job.
And I agree too. Anyway, surely all that manoeuvring and wheeler-dealering would be very stressful - especially on top of your day-to-day stress and strain.
Oh no, JZJ, no no no no. I'd never tell them I was looking.
At my job, you should look happy happy happy until you're actually on your way out the door.
No, they began complimenting me because I've been stressed out and they've noticed I'm juggling several things at a time. It may have occurred to them that someone who's that stressed out is a "flight risk."
They were strangely shocked when my ex-manager departed, even though she'd lost her department head position. They thought that she'd still stay.
Remember they're running the greatest company in the world, and it's a privilege to work here.
I would not tell them I was looking till I had a signed offer letter, with its FedEx envelope, a successfully completed background check & a start date elsewhere.
Saturday morning, and I'm drawn to my laptop like a moth to the flame, because now I can't imagine living without checking email. What I need to do is make a to-do list, rather than have a vaguely uneasy feeling of undone things, which will shrink it down into something manageable, rather than a formless dread. And then I can set that list aside and ignore it.
Weigh-in: 138.8, after two days of not checking
Meals for Today:
Breakfast: Coconut mango muffin; egg bake with spinach, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes; blueberries and cinnamon with yogurt
Snack: Bare Fruit Cinnamon Apple Chips, the 180-calorie bag
Lunch: Spinach salad with roasted vegetables, goat cheese, pecans and goji berries with many forkfuls of lemon hummus
Dinner: Sirloin steak, steamed asparagus, steamed broccoli
Dessert: Cinnamon bun Quest bar
Exercise for Today:
20 minutes on recumbent bike, resistance at 10, then Workout 1A of the advanced Strong Curves program, which I managed just fine but later workouts intimidate me a bit. (I hate the name of it, but I'll write it here one time & get it over with: It's the Gluteal Goddess Workout, and the one that I just finished is the Booty-ful Beginners Workout. Yeah.) After that, a Pilates mat class.
saef Good plan with the to-do list. I break out of routine (or walk in a shallower rut at least) on the weekends and find I need a list of all the stuff I have to do. I make one list for Saturday and one for Sunday.
And then I cut half the stuff off each list, rewrite them, and cross off the 4-5 items on each as I do them. I can complete the essentials but not make myself crazy on the two days I sometimes have "off".
This is why I love to go away on vacation and to go by myself. I have to physically break with my daily grind and I can do it so well in that situation.
Weigh-in: 137.7, which is pretty good for Sunday morning.
Meals for Today:
Breakfast: Coconut mango muffin; egg bake with spinach, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes; blueberries and cinnamon with yogurt
Snack: Bare Fruit Cinnamon Apple Chips, the 180-calorie bag
Lunch: Baby arugula salad, roasted vegetables, half an avocado, pecans, some forkfuls of lemon hummus, goji berries
Snack: Plum
Dinner: Ham, steamed green beans and broccoli, ear of sweet corn
Dessert: Cherries
Exercise for Today:
20 minutes on Cybex arc trainer, resistance at 10, then Workout 1B of the advanced Strong Curves program. The step-ups onto a plyo box just slightly higher than my knees were killer. Maybe six weeks ago, I wouldn't have had enough strength in the injured leg to do these.
Monday morning, and I am paying for making the mistake of not checking email on Sunday night, when many people at my company begin their work week by trying to get ahead on tasks. I had a long list of stuff in my inbox.
Weigh-in: 140.7, in which I managed three pounds in just one day. Look at yesterday's food! This has to be roughage and salt.
Meals for Today:
Breakfast: Coconut mango muffin; egg bake with spinach, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes; blueberries and cinnamon with yogurt
Snack: Gala apple
Lunch: Arugula salad with tuna, roasted eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes, green beans, olives, sunflower seeds
Snack: Two apricots
Dinner: Steak, steamed asparagus, sauteed broccoli rabe, ear of sweet corn
Dessert: Chocolate chip cookie dough Quest bar
Exercise for Today:
At physical therapy: 12 minutes on Cybex elliptical, hill program, 4x12 goblet squats, first with 20lbs then 25lbs, alternating with 20 crunches with legs in tabletop; 3x12 quad raises and hamstring curls; 3x12 abductor/aducctor.
Saef- checked email Sunday night, stress cortisol went up, cortisol causes fluid retention, plus ham has a lot of salt. I bet you peed a lot less than usual overnight and Monday AM. I don't think you ate 3 extra pounds of volume ("roughage"). Stop weighing on Mondays!
Tuesday, feeling like a tired swimmer who can finally see a shoreline, which is the impending three-day weekend.
Weigh-in: 140.4, down just a little
Meals for Today:
Breakfast: Coconut mango muffin; egg bake with spinach, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes; blueberries and cinnamon with yogurt
Snack: Gala apple
Lunch: Baby arugula salad, roasted vegetables, pecans, goji berries, bleu cheese crumbles, forkfuls of lemon hummus
Snack: Bare Fruit cinnamon apple chips, the 180-calorie bag
Dinner: Pot roast, sweet potato, steamed cauliflower, sauteed baby spinach
Dessert: White chocolate raspberry Quest bar
Exercise for Today:
At the gym, 20 minutes on recumbent bike, then 1C of the Strong Curves advanced program. Fascinated by how the single-dumbbell bench press works all parts of the body as it tries to stabilize itself. And then the Turkish get-up: I had to do a modification, the so-called "naked get-up." What a strange exercise, which I know that I did wrong.
Wednesday, resolved to explore another job opening within my company in a different department.
Weigh-in: 138.9, down more
Meals for Today:
Breakfast: Coconut mango muffin; egg bake with spinach, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes; blueberries and cinnamon with yogurt
Snack: Gala apple
Lunch: Arugula salad with Mexican coleslaw, smoked turkey, a bit of brown rice salad and sunflower seeds
Snack: A plum and two apricots
Dinner: Chicken leg quarter in feta, oregano & tomato sauce on whole wheat egg noodles with broccoli
Dessert: Chocolate chip cookie dough Quest bar
Exercise for Today:
At the gym, 20 minutes on Cybex arc trainer, then 1A2 of the Strong Curves advanced program. At one point found myself with a 110-lb barbell resting across my lap, thinking, "Is this such a good idea?" But I also discovered that I can bench press a pair of 30-lb dbs now for eight reps and easily row 35-lb dbs for eight reps, enough so that I'll move up to 40-lb when I do this exercise again on Saturday.
Thursday, waking to a day in which I knew what I needed to do, but also knew I couldn't possibly get it all done. Apparently my new manager wants a lot of dashboard reporting on the first day of the month, and already I'm behind. Soon I'll have to do midyear reviews for 10 people, none of whom reported to me until May. And the high-profile document I've been working on for three weeks now is going to be late.
Weigh-in: 139.5, upward instead
Meals for Today:
Breakfast: Coconut mango muffin; egg bake with spinach, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes; blueberries and cinnamon with yogurt
Snack: Gala apple
Lunch: Spring mix salad with roasted vegetables, almonds, goji berries, feta cheese and some last scrapings of lemon hummus
Snack: Bare Fruit Granny Smith apple chips, the one-apple bag
Dinner: Chicken leg quarter in feta, oregano & tomato sauce on whole wheat egg noodles with cauliflower
Dessert: Apple pie Quest bar
Exercise for Today:
At the gym, 30 minutes on recumbent bike, the hill program, lots of sweaty pedaling with the resistance up to 10.
Breakfast: Coconut mango muffin; egg bake with spinach, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes; cherries with yogurt
Snack: 180-calorie bag of Bare Fruit Fuji apple chips
Lunch: Spring mix salad with roasted vegetables, almonds, goji berries, goat cheese and some forkfuls of garlic hummus
Snack: Two apricots
Dinner: Ham, steamed asparagus, roasted cauliflower, half of a sweet potato
Dessert: S'mores Quest bar
Exercise for Today:
At physical therapy, which was, surprisingly, open for business on the Friday before the 4th of July: 24 minutes on Cybex arc trainer, hill program, two warmups basically, one after the other, and I found myself puffing a bit, having lost some cardio fitness because of all my strength training; then 3x12 leg press, alternating with 3 x 15 crunches & 15 leg raises; 3x12 adductor and abductor machine; then 3x12 hamstring curl & quad raises.
(or walk in a shallower rut at least) on the weekends and find I need a list of all the stuff I have to do. I make one list for Saturday and one for Sunday.
