I just don’t want to be busy anymore
One thing that helped me is not to care so much about my employer&#x27;s goals.<p>It&#x27;s almost heretical. But once you embrace this mindset, it does wonders. Or at least, it has for me so far.<p>I think a lot of us want to be proud of the work we do, and we feel that if we slack off, then we shouldn&#x27;t be proud. But it&#x27;s the other way around. I think the slackers have it right.<p>You&#x27;re probably not going to get rich from working a day job. You&#x27;re replaceable, and if you left your job tomorrow then you&#x27;ll soon be forgotten. This is true for the majority of software engineers.<p>In that context, why do so many of us take on so many unnecessary responsibilities? It&#x27;s tempting to say &quot;Well, my employer assigned them.&quot; But how often do you tell them no, or try to present a different approach that just so happens not to involve you?<p>I know someone who is a chronic yes person. They will almost never say no, and they&#x27;re pretty stressed day to day because of it. Whenever I point out that they&#x27;re taking on too much, they say that they disagree and that it&#x27;s their career.<p>That&#x27;s true, but they won&#x27;t get rich from that career, so I don&#x27;t understand why they care so much about it.<p>Just remember to say &#x27;no&#x27; for yourself from time to time. You often don&#x27;t need to take on as many responsibilities as you have.