Tied to your work?

The graveyards are full of indispensable men.

— Charles de Gaulle

It’s a stretch to say that de Gaulle was describing everyday workers when he uttered this often-quoted line. Nevertheless, there’s something here to consider over the long Labor Day weekend — assuming you’re not working, that is.

We’ve all known — or, at times, been — someone who was “indispensable” on the job. If you are leading a new project, for example, or if you manage key relationships for an account that’s very active, you are pretty hard to replace at that moment.

In a healthy organization, the role of being indispensable shifts from person to person. Everyone is important, but people fill in for one another as well. That kind of balance allows each person some breathing room and a chance to step away. It also gives other workers the opportunity to stretch without having entire projects dumped on them all at once.

Unhealthy organizations, on the other hand, expect each worker to plow ahead full tilt, taking on more work with fewer resources. The idea seems to be to strap the person into the harness so fully that he or she won’t have time to realize how untenable the situation is.

AMY LINDGREN

WORKING STRATEGIES

That’s bad, but what about people who do the same thing to themselves? These folks “have to be there,” even if it means working more hours than required, because no one can do the job as they can.

They cultivate a sense of being indispensable by refusing to delegate, by staying in constant contact — even while on vacation — and by taking on more projects than they can handle effectively.

What’s up with that? My theory is that the road goes both ways. That is, people make themselves indispensable at work because work has become indispensable to them. It’s more than a way to make a living, to build relationships or to stay sharp; it’s the defining factor in their lives.

This can be tricky, career-wise. At first, the intense focus can seem like a magic elevator to the top. The more you define yourself by your work, the more you choose activities and friends to help you maintain that identity. Your spare time and outside relationships are devoted to things that enhance your work performance, and you begin to see the rewards of the effort.

But the elevator eventually slows down and even may get stuck between floors, so to speak. If you’re not careful, you can become so one-dimensional that even your work performance begins to suffer. One reason for the decline is that people who don’t tend to their outside relationships and personal growth have fewer inner resources to draw on during stressful situations.

If the career can become indispensable to a person, so too can a particular job — and with far worse results. A lot of people hold onto jobs that aren’t particularly good fits, under the assumption that these jobs are the best available or that they wouldn’t be skilled enough for other employers.

Without even checking the market, people trap themselves in jobs that have taken on far too much power in their lives. They feel as if they couldn’t possibly find other, better jobs, so they’d best hang onto the ones they’ve got.

Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy! The more certain you are that you can’t do better, the more likely it is that you’ll be right.

Another way we trap ourselves is by building the belief that the current job eventually will transform itself to meet our needs. Whether it’s salary, meaningful projects or just a friendly team of colleagues that is lacking, we hang onto the idea that things will improve. The longer we wait for someone or something else to make this difference in our lives, the longer we delay taking charge of our own happiness.

This Labor Day, take a few minutes to reflect on the role your job or career has assumed in your life. Are your energies balanced between work and home? Do you enjoy going to work? Do you enjoy going home?

Our nation’s history tells a rich story of very dedicated people who struggled in the labor movement and in the legal system to bring us the choices we have in our work lives. The least we can do to honor those efforts is to enjoy work lives that are balanced, meaningful and productive. Happy Labor Day!

- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecaree rservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.