Know When to Stop Budget Overruns at Work

When I was in the early stages of my career – as an assistant manager, and later when I retrained as a freelance writer – I kept thinking about overspending. I read in some business book that the secret to becoming a valuable employee is always to turn things around a little faster and a little better than expected. Do your best if you don’t mind clichés.

And I really became a valued employee and later a respected freelancer. I have earned a reputation for being able to work quickly and efficiently, which is exactly what you need in today’s fast-paced knowledge-driven workspace.

But I still tried to overfulfill as best I could: I handed in freelance assignments ahead of schedule, I always agreed to take the latest articles, and so on.

And then something changed.

Technically, two things have changed. First, there was enough freelance work on my schedule that I could not effectively continue ahead of schedule . I am still meeting all my deadlines, but I no longer send drafts three days in advance to editors.

Second, I got to the point in my career where people started looking for me. Instead of talking about every job I received, I received emails asking me to think about attracting new clients.

I think this is where you can stop overfulfilling the offer and just start being useful .

Dr. Alice Boyce , a retired clinical psychologist and author of Healthy Mind and Toolkit for Anxiety , explains in the Harvard Business Review that while oversupply can be a useful skill at certain stages in your career, constant oversupply comes at a cost:

Understand what you should always strive for excellence. What else is lacking in time, energy, attention and willpower? Perhaps your own health, your big goals, or your family. If you think the costs are significant, try working out a rule of thumb for when you are recalculating. For example, you might decide that in three out of ten situations in which you have the urge to do so, you will, but not in seven others.

She suggests switching to a mindset where you give your employer and / or clients exactly what they ask for in a given time frame – because in the end you both agreed to it. Doing extra work without additional compensation will not help your career as much as you think, especially if you are in a part of your career where you have already acquired a professional reputation and skill set.

In other words: Once everyone you work with knows what you can accomplish, you can stop worrying about budget overruns.

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