Don't aim to be indispensable. (...at least, not in your workplace.)

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Don’t aim to be indispensable

“Job security,” you call it. The workplace can’t survive without you, because you’re the only one with a certain skill or certain knowledge.

But that kind of job security can come at a steep cost. And it’s a cost that you may feel comfortable with, but your family may not.

When you’re indispensable in the workplace, you’re also perpetually interruptible. It’s hard to make and keep commitments to your family when emergencies at work could pull you away at any moment.

It may feel counterintuitive, but when you take the initiative to make sure that your skills and knowledge are shared with others in the workplace, when you make sure there are others who can cover for you in your absence, you often become more valuable, even as you become less indispensable.

And that can free you up to stay present where you truly are indispensable – with your family.

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