Courtney Guerra’s “Working Hard or Over-Working” Was Great

Class slide, used by permission.

I haven’t had the chance to mention it yet, but I virtually attended Courtney C.W. Guerra’s “Working Hard or Over-Working” class last week!

You know Guerra as the voice behind Dear Businesslady and the author of Is This Working? The Businesslady’s Guide to Getting What You Want From Your Career. I am happy to report that she is also an excellent teacher.

I don’t want to give away the whole class, but I appreciated Guerra’s distinction between the types of projects that are more likely to keep you excited about your work and move your career forward vs. the types of projects that are more likely to lead to burnout. (“Projects with no clear end date.”) Guerra frames these as projects you should say yes to and projects you should say no to, but she also acknowledges that we don’t always get to choose what we work on and we don’t always have the power to say no, so she offers some strategies for dealing with those situations.

She also gives some very good advice about email: if you can turn it off when you’re not working, do it. Close the apps and the tabs, do whatever you need to do so the notifications won’t show up on your phone, etc. Just seeing a new work email—even if you don’t have to respond to it right away—will hijack your thoughts during your non-work time.

I’m going to change my own email notifications later today.

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