I saw a great post by my good friend Krista Francis recently on honeymoons at work, and it came just as I was crossing my first “work anniversary” at my current employer. If you haven’t read it yet, it will cause you to stop and think when you realize how important the first interactions new hires have with your company (hint: the “honeymoon” stage should last more than one hour!).

I rarely celebrate or dwell on anniversaries at work. I’m one of those people who will work at a place until it’s no longer interesting or challenging and then move on to another employer, so I measure my work in experiences and relationships, not years. Some people care about how many years they’ve been with an employer, but there are plenty who do not.

On a related note, I have never been a fan of seniority-based awards. However, when I was listening to Dave Ramsey the other day I heard him say something interesting. I don’t remember the exact quote, but paraphrasing: We don’t believe in paying people according to how many years they’ve been here. But I realized recently that we are very tough on people to produce results. If you aren’t producing results, you go work somewhere else. If that’s the case across the board, then we really do pay people somewhat according to their seniority level. If you’re still working here you must be doing something right. 

That one idea twisted my head around in a circle. While I still think celebrating years of service just for the sake of it is fairly useless, I do like the idea of recognizing that people who are still engaged in their work and producing solid results after a long term track record has been established. Of course, many companies hold onto poor performers for a number of reasons, but for those with a strong performance appraisal system, it’s an interesting way to look at longevity in a position.

I’ve been with my company for over a year now. People still come up and ask me, “Do you still like your job?”

I must still be in the honeymoon phase, because my response never deviates: I love it.

Ever had a “honeymoon” at work turn sour? Or maybe you still feel like you’re in that stage despite a long tenure? I’d love to hear about it!

As November gets closer, I’m still on the fence about participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It’s the first year that I’ve even been aware of the event, and it sounds like something I’d really enjoy. Before I started writing about “serious” stuff, I actually wrote some short horror and fantasy stories that weren’t half bad.   Anyway, it’s been on my mind recently, and it’s an amazingly large project to comprehend. The challenge?

Write 50,000 words in 30 days.

Now, I am definitely out of practice on the fiction front. And I don’t even know what topic I want to use for sure. However, I do have some ideas that could make for interesting stories. The organizers of the event tell people that writing that fast will virtually guarantee that some of it is horrible, but that’s okay, as long as it gets out of your head and into the record books as you chase the special NaNoWriMo badge awarded to those who complete the challenge successfully. I’ve already heard from Krista Francis, and she and her son are planning to give it a whirl (so I’m not alone on this crazy train!).

If you’d like to participate in this free event (and even if you don’t think you’ll be successful, it still sounds like a lot of fun), then head on over to the NaNoWriMo site and learn a bit more.

Encouragement? Derision? Give me something people, because a good shove could get me on either side of the fence!

Photo by annais.