One question that others have asked me, and I have asked myself during my career, is whether or not I feel guilty about how little work I actually do in the office. Mostly I would have to say that they answer is no. In the early stages of my slippery slope down to complete slackerdom, I would feel guilty sometimes. I would be home at 4:15 knowing that other members of my team were still at work toiling away.

However, isn’t it reasonable to assume that if my behavior was a problem, the appropriate people would tell me it was a problem? If nobody has ever told me that I need to stay until 5 o’ clock, I interpret that as its okay to sneak out a half hour or so early. Does it make it better if I sit in my cube the extra hour when I know that I won’t be doing anything anyways? If anything, I’ll be wasting electricity by surfing the net and IMing my friends.

The guilt fell away over the years, many times in large chunks. When I was lied to about the status of my job, not invited to important meetings in my early days as a hard worker, and generally underappreciated, I figured, what’s the point of putting all these extra hours and hard work if its not going to get me anything in return?

You might feel guilty when you hear how one of your coworkers had to stay until 8 ‘o clock last night to finish a project or come in during the night over the weekend for an issue, but that’s why you shouldn’t make friends with your coworkers.

Remember, rationalization is your friend.

• art of a long lunch
• How and when to call in sick to work
• Don’t make friends at work.