Your comment is impacting me in a positive way right now. I’m in a familiar role at a new company that seems to idolize working late. With 3 kids and a marriage I want, I don’t want to be here all the time and I could easily throw hours at my work all day. It doesn’t mean I’m any more productive. Thank you!

@ARC- ah, the jacket on the chair trick. An oldie, but goodie! And yes, finding managers who understand that productivity is more often achieved through reasonable hours than not is a key career skill. Even though I don’t work in an organization, I’m also finding the more I’m in this that I’m trying to be smart about what I take on. I really like not being busy!

I work in a very large company with a lot of flexibility to move around, so one of the things I look for is a team (and preferably manager) who has younger kids, rather than a team full of 23-25 year olds right out of school. Before I got a hobby, all I did was work pre-kids and it was fine because my husband was doing the same and I was well-rewarded for those long hours.

However, I’ve noticed as I advance, it’s now becoming more about influencing others, working collaboratively and choosing work that has actual impact, not just a laundry list of specs written and bugs fixed. It’s harder because now i have to choose what I work on wisely, rather than just throwing hours at things and trying to check everything off my list. But the flip side is that I *can* leave work at 3:30 a couple of times a week to pick up kids at school, and I rarely work on weekends any more.