Your job is not your house. Deal with it, dammit!

I'm currently having a "one of those a-ha moments" conversations with RestrictionsApply that would basically need another blog altogether... We've been... um... affected by something that I will sure leave him to tell you guys about it. But while ranting and agreeing by phone the other day, talking about deep stuff (life, choices made, advertising, etc), there was one little iota of information that we really, really... REALLY need to talk about.

So first of all, I need you to mentally picture your office space. It can be a small cubicle or, if you are damn lucky, you have this amazing office with a view. If you are actually at work right now, please look around carefully at what you have there. Not at work at the moment? Congratulations! Now, remember if you can all the things you have there. Done? Good.

If you have a stapler, some papers, your computer, some stickies lying around, a shitload of pens and pencils and maybe a photo or two... stop reading this post. This, gladly, is not for you. Thank you for reading our little post. Now go visit Gizmodo or something. See you tomorrow!

Ok. Yeah. We're talking to you, dude or dudette, who insists on having way too much shit on your office space. Photographs of family members? Check. Cool toys? Check! A huge library that doesn't necessarily applies to advertising (examples? That Watchmen book that you have lying around, anything Star Wars related... and I'm not even going into the How to Draw the Marvel way crap). Posters? Check! Got the picture???

Look. We're not saying that you have a lot of shit. In fact, you are allowed to have as much crap as you want in your office. If you want to pile shit after shit, go right ahead. But that doesn't mean that it's right for you. Why? Let me say this very slowly... Are you ready?

Your office. Is not. Your house.

You should. NOT. Be as comfortable. At the office. Fucking. Ever. EVER!

Really guys. I know that having cute stuff around makes it better for some. I for one had bunches of idiotic and cliché ridden stuff at my longest job. And you know what? I never left early. I got too comfortable there and suddenly it dawned on me: almost a decade had gone by and my sorry ass was still working there. It took a divorce and a lot of life changing moments to realize that I was too comfortable and I didn't notice the moment that I needed a change.

The toys, the little photographs, the cute comic books, the makeup/perfume bags, books about anything not advertising... it all made me feel at home, so that when 8 o'clock came by and I was still at the ad agency, it wasn't that big a deal. You know what? IT IS! I will not lie to you, by having all those things around me, I actually considered my agency to be my second home. Talk about dementia. I felt good about going there to work (at one time), I thought that all those people were my sort of second family. Well, some have become great friends after I left, but letting myself believe that this was my home... was a very disturbing thing to do. Work is work. Nothing is personal. Ever. I'm paid to go there and work. Yes, I should enjoy it if I can. But I cannot love being there for extended periods of time.

Why? LIFE DAMMIT! When you are too comfortable, you don't mind getting a brief on a Friday night. When you are nice and cuddly at your cubicle, with all the cool gadgets and toys, you don't mind when a coworker slept on their balls and now you have to work the weekend. You know what? You should! Remember your wife, husband, kids... you know! YOUR LIFE IS WAITING FOR YOU TO GET OUT OF THAT DAMN COMFY OFFICE AND ACTUALLY ENJOY IT!

So what should you have? The bare minimum. Why? Because it PROGRAMS you to work your butt off so you can go home early! Want to read a book about Superman? Read it at fucking home! Instead of wasting so much valuable time!

Oh. I know what you might say. But what if I need a moment? What if I read that book or paint that little drawing so I can take a breather, hence me being more creative? Totally agree. But there has to be a balance. Your office space cannot look like if you added a bed, you might actually live there. No way. That is not healthy, people. Really!

A rule of thumb in my book is this: if by some reason you get canned tomorrow, if leaving takes you three days to pack... you have a problem. All your stuff needs to fit a two box maximum. Yep. I'm not kidding!

It's one thing to work, and another thing is to sort of live where you work. Nope. Your house is your house. Your toys, collectibles, books, pictures of your family... they should all be where you are most comfortable. You need to have them somewhere where - gasp - your dear ones are. I mean, come on... having all those little comforts at home might make it easier working your butt off, I know... but you need to draw the line somewhere.

Besides. And this you can take it to the bank. Bosses notice that sort of thing. If you are neatly packed and have all your shit there, it means you'll probably never leave. So when you ask for that raise, saying that if it's not your way it's the highway... keep dreaming about that money, 'cause it's never coming home. You are so comfortable, they know you are bluffing. They got you by the balls. It's not the same when you don't have that much ties. If they see that you can actually leave on a moment's notice, and they really might need you (although, not one person in an ad agency is that important than they cannot be replaced), they will actually think hard about giving it to you or not.

I know this is hard to read. I was there like you at one time. But by slowly moving my office life back to my house, my views on advertising changed for the better. I started breaking that very sick emotional bond with the agency and for once in my life, I wanted to have quality of life. It took years after that, but I finally found that balance, where work is work and life is just... awesome.

Try it. Much love. Me.