Are You a Perfectionist? Your Health and Career as a Court Reporter May Suffer
You don’t really take offense when people call you a workaholic. After all, you’re a court reporter in D.C.—entire cases rely on your taking your job seriously. But after a month of sleepless nights, nodding off at your desk, and a series of health problems, you’re wondering if being addicted to your job is affecting you in more ways that you thought possible.
Tight Deadlines and High Stress Are Major Causes of Court Reporter Burnout
You probably realize you need to take a break, but you keep putting it off. Your friends, family, and even your doctor recommend a little vacation time—but there never seems to be a good week to take off. It’s hard to accept that your job could be affecting your health when there isn’t any actual diagnosis to fall back on—until someone suggests that “stress” is a perfectly good reason to cut back on your work hours.
Here are a few signs that it’s time to give those depositions a rest:
- You focus on the negative. You probably have heard the words “detail-oriented” and “perfectionist” applied to you. You may even have used them yourself. But there’s a difference between focusing on the details and focusing only on the negative aspects of your work. By only seeing the mistakes you make, you’re focusing on your flaws instead of your positive attributes.
- You’re always making lists. It’s not a bad thing to be a list-maker; after all, it helps you accomplish many tasks and stay ahead of the next day’s work. However, you should ask yourself: is your health, sleep, or personal life on any of your lists? If it is, does it always seem to get pushed to the bottom?
- You have an inner critic. Do you feel like you are constantly second-guessing yourself, telling yourself that something isn’t good enough, or that you should finish one more task before setting your work aside? That critic can be a good driving force, but it can quickly rob you of your much-needed downtime…one minute at a time.
If this sounds familiar, you should probably look into a break. Better you take a short rest now than be forced to take an extended hiatus later!
