Too succesful?

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So I think I might have a sort of unusual situation in my job life. I work for a large corporation and have been working with them for just a few years and I have been promoted 3 times so far. I have also been sent overseas because I have been good at saving the compoany money.

The reason I beleive I have been succesful is my direct style and not caring about feelings and just getting the job done. I know some people dont like me for this, but the bosses love it because it makes them look good when I save alot of money or keep machines running. I unfortunaetly need to interact with many people each day from many different countries and it is very draining on me. To be able to communicate with others seems to wear me out as I have to think about every word I say in order to seem as normal and caring as possible (though its probably not very succesful). I also have concern that I may be asked to start managing people soon and I can't imagine doing this right now.

When I get home from work I usually pass out for a good two hours and sometime take naps during the day. Of course this is not much of a life but they pay is good. Has anyone been in a similar situation and decided to take an easier job to reduce stress/ tiredness from work?

Do you enjoy your work?

I do enjoy the work, but I think its only because I get excited about doing a good job. So its a self perpetuating cycle of wearing myself out because I need to do good to enjoy what I am doing. If that makes any sense.

I don't think there's anything wrong in taking pride in one's work and being driven to be the best you can be. The world could be a much better place if more people had such a mentality. Still, probably best not to strain yourself too much.

And to you I say:
Dang! XD Lucky! I wish I had a job: What kind of work do you do (more detailed)? How'd you end up with that job?
Why'd you pick it over others?

On topic: If you're as good an employee as you say you are, I would think it safe to say you have sick days/vacation time? If you do, maybe you could use them, to chill out and think this through. If you're an aspie with a job (that kind especially) then you're definitely capable. If worst comes to worst you ask your bosses about references or something.

[quote="GoldenOne"] I also have concern that I may be asked to start managing people soon and I can't imagine doing this right now.quote]

would there be repercussion for not accepting further responsibility?

The work I do is hard to describe, but an oversimplification of it is that I find inefficiencies in the company and redevlop the process to make it simpler, more efficient, and less costly. I also do work around reducing working capital, but that is a new hat I just started wearing recently. I ended up with this job because it was the only company who offered me a job, needless to say I don't interview well. It turned out in the end that I was hired accidentaly but since I was doing adequete they decided to keep me. I was not any good when I started and have been improving my skills continously to work with others, but it is nothing that will ever come naturally and as I move up in the company they demands keep growing.

I find that if I think of work as a game that I need to conquer, then I can justify my faking and cope with pretending to be someone else for 8 hours though it can be grueling. I think you may be right and I need to take a vacation. I do get 4 weeks but never use it all for fear of missing something at work and I tend to take too much work home. Maybe some self impossed limits and forced vacations will solve this problem of getting burned out. I have a fear of leaving the company as it will be hard for me to show another company that I would be valuable because they will sense something is just a little too different with me during the interview. I would almost feel like a failure if I turned down a promotion to manage people, but I guess I have to think about turning it down.

Good to have some people to bounce this off of, thanks.

Vacation might help disconnect you a bit from how you have zoomed in on your tasks (to the point you say you're afraid to take vacation). Maybe gaining a bigger perspective on what your priorities are would be good. Relax...you don't have to be perfect all the time. Slow down a bit.

On the other hand, the discipline and confidence given by a job are something precious. Your example kind of shows something that I believe is kind of underestimated ...the fact that AS people can be successfull, very appreciated at work. Now your job seems HARD. Don't you think anyone in that position would be tired and stressed out at the end of the day? That anyone in that position would feel SPENT after having to deal with so many people and responsibilities? I think any person would feel the need to doze off Give yourself more credit and certainly more room to relax

take care

*** my 2 cents (newbie here)

A rough title would be industrial engineer. Take the vacation time. You need it for something this stressful. And congratulations on your success. Your story rocks.

Yes, definitely if you can take the time off do it, I run into that problem with my work, I get too stressed out that I just have to take days off to chill.

Sounds like you already know what you need. You have proved that you can be a success, now kick back and enjoy it. It's not about working harder but smarter, getting more done in less time, and putting some chill out time back into your life.