Been posting a little here and there, and today began my first day of OE - just started my first J2!

I will admit, it’s a bummer that I can’t share the excitement with anyone but my partner, since “loose lips sink ships.” I am very thankful for this thread to be a soundboard!

What is oddly the most difficult part for me, is the mental perspective shift of how I work at my jobs, and subsequently, how much effort I put into them. I have always practiced “working hard to get ahead” in my positions. And it really has served me well. I’ve survived countless layoffs and networking has always encouraged leadership to view me as more of asset than my colleagues.

Even on Day 1, I find myself wanting to make this stand-out reputation for myself, and I do not know how to get out of this mentality.

I keep reading “do the least amount of work possible” but it almost feels like I’m failing if I don’t exemplify my own potential, especially when trying to build that reputation.

Before starting, I was worried about things like conflicting meetings or remaining “Available” on Microsoft Teams. Those concerns are still there, but have taken a back burner to my trying to learn the line between what level of work is satisfactory or not, as I’ve always strived to over-achieve.

TL;DR: I’ve always been an overachiever and I’m learning it’s going to be difficult to understand the line of “satisfactory” versus “exemplary” levels of work. I’m quite literally concerned my history of over-performance will work against me, and I’ll commit too much of myself without realizing it.