The Biggest Piece of Advice, Ever.

NO. No, thank you. Sorry, can't. No, I won't. No. Non. Nein. Ohi. NO!

Learn to say it.
One thing people tend to forget is that, although they may work for their company, the company does not own your soul. And they shouldn't. Just because someone quits or gets sick does not mean you have to work for 12 hours. Unless you want to, of course.

More than likely you work for a corporation. In which case they will survive without you, and that's okay. X Corp is not going to pack it in because you decided to take a day off, nor will you impress your boss by becoming a workaholic loser who is going to burn out soon anyway.

Yeah, that's right. Burn out. You don't have to work for a company for a long time in order to exhaust yourself. So how and why does this happen?

I worked with a woman, let's call her Celia. When someone was sick, she was there. When someone was late, she would not allow anyone to stay late but herself. She never gave herself a day off and finally, her biggest mistake: she volunteered for extra work.
Not that taking someone's shift to make a couple bucks is wrong. Nor is volunteering to take care of, say, the back storage area as though it were your own. But when you do all that and more, and then still say, "yes" to every job that comes up, you have a problem.

That being said, let's run down the list of reasons why this is bad, still using Celia.

In the beginning, Celia would volunteer to do jobs that no one wanted. As such, she became the "go-to" person, always being the first to be asked if she wanted to take something on. Her work piled up on her so she began to stay later and later into the day, extending her shifts until she reached overtime.
She moved up in the company quickly, all the way to a salaried position. No more overtime for her. Her normal duties increased, paperwork became a part of it. She abandoned her coworkers to their own devices while she attempted to finish it all, getting a lot of nothing done. This situation was incredibly frustrating--try bailing out a boat with a holey bucket.
If you are a boss and all you see is that nothing is accomplished when it should be, what would be your response? As you can imagine, she was not congratulated on her abilities. Nor her wonderful time management. Nor her work ethic.

This "overachiever" started to feel under-appreciated, while her bosses felt like she was slacking.

Saying "no" to a competent boss will not hinder your upward mobility. In fact, the right boss will see this as a sign of responsibility and it says, "I know my limits and I do not wish to take on a task that I am not capable of completing to the best of my ability."
Of course, if you have an "over-achieving" burnout as a boss, too, say that instead of just "no." S/He'll understand then (hopefully) and may one day take your cue.

One thing to remember is this: No working situation is ideal. If you are with a small company, they are less likely to make it out of a bad situation such as a lack of people. However, no matter the business, if your superior is unwilling or unable to put forth the effort to correct problems or to pitch in and help, you may want to start opening the classifieds.

Up next week, we explore the dos and don'ts of being an ex-employee!