Step AWAY From the Computer by Barbara Dijker The power of the machine is intoxicating. Any one who has been a system administrator for more than 3 years is clearly under its influence. The system and network present daily challenges and puzzles for us. I think there is a gene for the unrelenting need to prove that the computer can't win. We will make it do our bidding... no matter how improbable the request, it _should_ work, we'll make it work even if it takes all night! There's just something about a job that needs to be done. And the stack is never empty. For myself, a system administrator for almost 10 years, that's what keeps me here. Every day is a new day, a new situation, a new set of problems. Boredom and repetition are not in my dictionary. Three years ago, someone slapped me in the face and told me to wake up and "step AWAY from the computer." It's taken almost that long to actually do it. Oh, I thought I had a "life." But even taking two weeks of vacation a year and having a weekend or weeknight free now and again is not enough. So I quit my job and flushed my pager down the toilet (figuratively of course). Of course I'm not suggesting that you quit your job. For me, that was the only way to reduce my hours. After having worked 60-80 hours per week for five years, it's hard to convince your boss you need to hire another full-time person when the workload hasn't substantially increased. Your employer will likely expect you to give the job everything you've given it in the past. I have a pattern of leaving jobs and being replaced with 2-5 people. Suggestions: 1) If you aren't working more than 50 hours/week, don't do it, period. Avoid like the plague any situation where you end up doing the work of more than one person. 2) If you are working regularly more than 50 hours/week, cut back. Cut back now. You can do it gradually, but it must be decisively and significantly. Learn how to vocalize, "no." Learn how to say, "if you pay me time and a half." Discuss your plan with your boss. And don't go home and surf the net!! Replace the hours you were working with introspective time, reading maybe, or interactive time like with friends - not the TV show, actual people. Limit your at-home keyboard time. You'll be surprised at what you find. The world looks a little different without a screen in your face. But this is all a little easier said than done. I was able to quit my job. For you, more help may be in order. Does this sound like you? - skipping meals because there's too much work to be done - sitting at the keyboard for more than 2 hours without getting up - lack of sleep or difficulty sleeping - one or more messages per week where you have to let it sit overnight before sending (because you were upset) - urgent pages more than once a week - working more than 10 hours/day If so, you have SAD: System Administrator's Disease. The cure is to step AWAY from the computer. While you are at the keyboard, you need to follow this one simple rule: keep a one quart water bottle on your desk and drink it while you work. Heavy neuron work is very dehydrating. When you get up to relieve yourself, be sure to bring the bottle with you and refill it (with _water_ of course). If you get up to relieve yourself and it's lunch time, then eat lunch. If you get up and it's after 5pm, go home. You see, the trick is to get you away from the computer. The rest is easy. Besides, drinking water is very good for you. The biological urgency is simply a means to force you to do what you may not otherwise be able to do. As you manage to pry yourself from the computer with some regularity, it (and its users) will cease to control you. If you manage to regain control of your own work and life, you can look at things more objectively. You'll have the time and engery to consider your directions and make changes you may have only dreamed about. When I quit my job I started consulting. I specifically structured my work so clients could _not_ reach me outside of business hours, to maintain control. In addition to a flourishing local practice, I've helped start a company which is providing an essential community service. The best bonus is that I was able to focus on improving my health, family, and social life - which suffered as a result of the stress involved.