The title of this post can have multiple meanings, of which I’ll explain 2 possible meanings here.Have you ever felt like you aren’t sure why you have a job? I have, quite frequently, in fact. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job (at least most of it) and I enjoy the people that I work with. However, there are many departments on campus that don’t even know I exist. I’m not trying to be world-renowned – in fact, I definitely don‘t want that. But when a department makes a decision to bring in a consultant to tell them exactly what someone from my department can tell them (for free), I want to scream. We (the country) are in the middle of an economical crisis and people think it’s okay to spend money on services that are clearly not necessary. I have spent thousands of dollars to earn my Masters degree, and I have been hired by my institution to provide services to our “constituents.” With groups of people bringing in “outside” consultants rather than relying on “in-house” consultants for the same assistance, I’m not sure why I have a job. It’s a waste of money on multiple fronts:
- Departments are wasting money on these outside consultants.
- The institution is wasting money on paying me to just “sit here.”
- I wasted money on my Master’s degree.
This problem is encouraging the perpetual cycle of the economic crisis in our country. Changes are needed.Now for the second meaning…I am clearly over-extending myself. Here’s the extent of my weekly activities:
- I work 2 jobs (my full-time job and freelance business);
- I teach private music lessons, which is kind of like a 3rd job;
- Volunteer with the Marching Band (5+ days per week);
- Involved with the local community band;
- Record 2 weekly podcasts;
With all that I’m involved with, I don’t feel like I’m spending enough time “relaxing.” I need to make some changes, but I’m not sure where to start. Changes are needed.
Matthew Evins 
Two meanings.(1) Yes. I’ve had the same feeling over a number of years, across a number of jobs and institutions. It happens. I start thinking though, “If my institution will pay someone that knows what I know X dollars to come in and share what they/we know, maybe I can find another institution that will pay me X dollars to share what I know – as a consultant ;-)”(2) Overextending yourself sucks. Been there done that. You’re very familiar with that though. I’m MUCH happier on a day to day basis having eliminated one of the things I was doing.-cmd