Dec 20th, 2025 Saturday Sunny
There are many differences between being an excellent student and being a satisfactory staff. It goes without saying that one can hardly make the transition smoothly with no adjustment.
In some aspects, this could be particularly hard for those who used to ace all the exams, hand in all the homework on time, and feel guilty-free at the end of the semester. While they tend to be more academically inclined, work ethics towards schoolwork seem to predict the overall achievement – being very responsible, self-disciplined, and striving for highest standards possible.
The same qualities that all employers value, of course.
However, I start to realize that, treating professional tasks in exactly the same way as school assignments could lead to problems, sooner or later.
For instance, for most classes, a syllabus would be distributed at the beginning, clearly outlining the expectation, pace, and workload for the next four months. While not all the teachers follow it verbatim, few would deviate too much from it, lest they get into trouble with administration or accreditation. In other words, the syllabus serve as a road map, not only for the instructors, but also the learners. Once set, it rarely changes.
That cannot be said for businesses, especially corporations in complicated industries. Priorities may shift from week to week, and sticking to the same list of projects is often unwise. In the case that an urgent and important request comes in, even if you are in the middle of something else, it is better to pause and switch focus so as to take care of what is the most timely.
Another distinction lies in the boundary. All syllabi must clearly lay out the grading criteria, with the contribution of all the components that go into the final grade. Sometimes, even the cutoffs for A versus AB versus B are spelled out. Someone aiming to achieve a certain letter grade can allocate their time and effort accordingly. In addition, after completing everything that is required and getting positive evaluations on all, which guarantees an A, there is no point in doing extra work, unless receiving an A is not the only goal for the course. Naturally, this limits the maximum amount of hours one would spend.
But in many workplaces, the ideal that defines “supreme performance” simply does not exist. If you wish, there is ALWAYS more work that could be done, endeavors that could be undertaken, and processes that could be optimized. Even if someone, like a superhero, manages to cross off every single thing on his/her plate, new items will appear soon. A break is never warranted, with the exception of what is already scheduled. And it is not uncommon for the star employees to accumulate too many paid-time off, for the fear of disrupting the constant work flow.
You could imagine that those aiming for perfection would likely burn out, eventually.
The cure? Maybe adopt the approach of my kitties.
Yuuki and Sesame enjoy their daily exercises, yet they do not try to do more. As soon as they feel satisfied, they calm down, snuggle in a warm spot, and nap together. They know what is good enough.
After all, why not leave tomorrow’s fun for tomorrow?