In an earlier post, I mentioned how, for the first time in my employed life, I chose to no longer scramble to meet a deadline. Here’s another first: I denied their request for overtime this week.

It came as a request, not a demand, so I said no. I used to feel pressure (from myself) to work overtime when asked. I always wanted to be a good little employee. This time, however, I did not want to be a corporate sheep. A colleague later asked me why I’m not working overtime. I told him I took their polite request at face value and made my choice. He said he took it as a mandate and seemed genuinely surprised that I didn’t take it as such. Who’s right? I don’t know, but I do know I value my time far more than what they’ll be paying me for overtime, especially since I’ve started to work on my own software. So I made my decision based on that. I sense that as the deadline approaches, I may no longer have a choice; I still need this job so I’ll assent to overtime at that time. But until then, I choose time for myself and my own projects over more money.