In any type and kind of work, you give energy to your employer or customer. That’s what you get paid for, so to say. But, stopping there does not do right to the broader situation. Working is more of an exchange of energy, and there should be a good balance in it. Not just for you, but also for your family, and of course your customer!

Also for me as a contractor the balance between given and received energy is a crucial factor. I tend to give a lot of energy, and usually I receive a lot of energy in return from the project. In fact, this exchange of enery is the difference between a successful project and a less successful one. The energy I am able to give is in my experience directly linked to the energy I recieve, enabling me to make a project a success or failure.

Being a contractor, I am constantly judging the balance in energy received and energy given. Sure, temporarily the balance can be slightly (or a bit more) off, but it needs to return to a proper status quo. Should the belance be off for a longer period of time, and is it affecting your work, then I say you should consider whether you are the ‘right person in the situation’. Difficult? For sure! For it is questioning the assurance of having a contract that pais the bill. But, looking back, I see exactly where my decision to leave was overdue, or even where I should not have worked at all. It shows in what it has brought me, or cost me, and mostly in the result of the project.