During my job interview nearly five years ago I asked, in a pro-forma way, about work from home options. When informed that wasn’t an option, I accepted with resignation the reality that I would commute twenty-odd miles to downtown Seattle every day. Over time, that hour-plus-each-way commute felt less and less logical. I’ve asked myself time and time again whether it was worth spending nearly three hours every day traveling just to have this job. Three extra hours away from my family, hours I’m not spending with my kid, who’s growing up without me. Is that sacrifice really worth it? Heck, if nothing else, I could spend more of that time asleep! Continue Reading >>

I recently learned that, as part of a larger corporate overhaul, the Help Center I write will be abandoned within a few years. I found this out when my boss mentioned it in passing in an unrelated meeting. He didn’t even realize that he’d inadvertently delivered a perfect gut punch straight to my solar plexus.

Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time asking: Why am I doing this? What’s the point, if we’re going to throw it away in a year, or two, or five? I want my work to mean something. What does it mean if it’s discarded as unneeded baggage so soon? Continue Reading >>