If you are very organized and efficient...

[Anonymous]

... does this affect how busy you feel at work? I am naturally very organized and efficient, almost ridiculously so compared to most people I know. Not sure why, its just how I am. In jobs, I never feel as crazy busy as other people seem to feel/be, and yet no one questions my productivity. I've always been quite successful performance/career wise. And yet I am constantly worrying (over multiple jobs now, and almost two decades of professional life) that I'm missing something -- not doing something -- that makes others so busy but not me. You'd think I could get over it by now, but I can't.
Not even sure what my question is. Just wondering what others have to say. Anyone else experience this?

[Anonymous]

I have a board member like this. She just takes on a million commitments. If you looked at her CV you'd think it was a lie.

[Anonymous]

I know some people with high productivity but the quality of their work is lacking and no one seems to notice because they are popular.

[Anonymous]

I'm like this too OP. Always have been. Not just at work but also at home in terms of getting stuff done around the house,etc. I'm very successful career wise. One thing I've learned is you kind of have to pretend to be as busy as everyone else. Typically I'm getting way more done than everyone else and still not stressed and overly busy. But I keep that to myself.

Glad to hear there is someone else out there like me! People are amazed at how efficient and organized I am. I have plenty of faults but rarely get overwhelmed when I have a lot to do. My house is always organized and it come naturally and easy to me.

[Anonymous]

I wondered about this at a couple jobs. Others seemed overwhelmed and stressed and I thought the workload was minimal. It freaked me out. I went into the database of work we have and I was doing just as much as others.

[Anonymous]

I'm like this too. It may not just be efficiency and organization, you may have skills that just play well to your job. For example, I am a natural writer - always have been. I could crank out term papers in college the night before they were due and get As - that was 15 years ago and I have polished the skill. My job requires a lot of writing, and requires it to be elegant. My first drafts look like other people's 4th or 5th. I guess that's efficiency, with a finer point on it. I just make sure I'm doing at least my share, and then I pay bills or take care of personal matters at the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm like this too OP. Always have been. Not just at work but also at home in terms of getting stuff done around the house,etc. I'm very successful career wise. One thing I've learned is you kind of have to pretend to be as busy as everyone else. Typically I'm getting way more done than everyone else and still not stressed and overly busy. But I keep that to myself.

Glad to hear there is someone else out there like me! People are amazed at how efficient and organized I am. I have plenty of faults but rarely get overwhelmed when I have a lot to do. My house is always organized and it come naturally and easy to me.

Me too -- perhaps not around the house, but work-wise. It doesn't stress me out, nor do I have to pretend I am busy. I AM busy -- not crazy busy, but busy enough -- and I get done twice as much stuff as most of my colleagues. Unlike many of them, I don't need to ask for extensions, I don't complain that I have too much to do. Often I don't have enough because I go through it too fast, so I ask the boss for more work when I feel I need it, and pitch in to help others who aren't as productive. If I want to spend a few days working less, I chill in my office and surf the web or whatever, and feel no guilt. I sometimes feel bad for my colleagues who are so stressed out by the workload, because honestly, it just isn't that bad ... if you are organized and plan ahead. But some people don't operate that way.

[Anonymous]

I could have written that, OP. The only job I ever had where I felt like my days were full was the one where I took on all the duties of a laid-off colleague. Two jobs just about did it. But I didn't feel stressed. I'm in a job now where I'm slowly taking over other people's tasks. The first six months were awful, just doing what my predecessor had done. I was finished by 1pm every day, and my Fridays were all internet surfing, all day. I don't even feel like I'm especially organized; I honestly don't know to what I should attribute this gap between my productivity and that of others. Maybe what PP said, about being a natural writer. My job requires lots of writing, and I know others agonize over it.

Same with home life. So many people are always moaning about being "crazy busy" and I just don't get it. The only time when I feel like I'm not getting it all done is when I don't have the desire to do it (whatever "it" is). Usually making dinner, in my case. I'm home in plenty of time, the fridge is stocked, etc... I just don't wanna.

[Anonymous]

I feel like I isit around playing online all day with a few interruptions here and there. But my thinks I am doing a great job! So I don't flaunt my lack of work but also don't worry about all the down time.

[Anonymous]

I wish I were like you. How do you think about things that makes you so organized?