I’m taking this week off before I start the new gig. A few stray observations that have been floating through my head on the crossover of work and personal lives.

* My list of things to do on my last day included five tasks that involved deleting cloud-based software programs (for productivity and file management, mostly) from my work computer that contain a mix of personal and professional data. Not counting removing work email access from my personal cell phone. Or removing access to work accounts from my social media tools. I’m not the first person to note the intertwined nature of work and personal time but it does seem for certain kinds of jobs it’s impossible to separate one from the other, especially if being “good” at your job means being aware of potential work issues quickly. There’s a longer post in here somewhere.

* It took me only 15 minutes to pack up my personal stuff in my office like photos, desk items, business cards and the like. I still had to sort through paper and electronic files and emails, but any trace of my personality was in a box in less time than it takes to watch a DVR’d episode of The Daily Show. (A co-worker compared the look of my office in the last week to a dorm on move-out day.) Armchair psychology might say this is the result of getting canned from a job prior to this one and never quite settling in the way I did there. For crying out loud, I got to select artwork from my office in the last gig. So maybe on a subconscious level, I wanted to keep the outward appearance of personal involvement in this job to a minimum in case it was suddenly taken away from me. Or maybe I’m just really good at packing when it doesn’t involve clothes.

* If it’s possible, find a way to make your last day a victory lap. Don’t schedule any meetings, don’t have any major tasks to accomplish, have your workspace and hard drive cleaned up already, etc. Just leave your final day for has-to-be-done-on-the-last-day stuff like turning in key cards, deleting the last of your emails and what have you