I used to get the Sunday Scaries. I never realized how bad they were or how much it took a toll on me until I didn’t get them anymore.

Even my family noticed how much the job weighed me down…and not just on Sundays.

I’ve had more than one of these jobs, but they had a lot in common:

• No clear path to professional growth

• More responsibility with zero upward mobility

• Unclear on role and personal KPIs

• Clockwatchers – this one is the worst

One job I had was particularly heinous.

Everyone was supposed to arrive by 9AM on the dot.

The poor receptionist was instructed to write down the names of anyone who arrived at 9:01 or later, and then that list was blasted to the entire company with the infamous subject line: AFTER 9AM ARRIVALS.

Being an over-worker, I usually arrived between 8:15-8:30 and I never left before 6:30. Many nights I was there until 7 or later.

So it never really bothered me.

Until it did.

See, no matter when I was in the office, if the big boss didn’t see me, he assumed I wasn’t there or wasn’t working. Heaven forbid I’m in a meeting or the bathroom.

One evening after several of us had been working until 10PM or later for weeks to land a new client, we finally got the news from the creative director that we closed the deal.

The next morning several of us arrived late to work – and I mean late as in 9:05-9:15 at the latest.

Sure enough the dreaded email went out with a list longer than I’d ever seen it. And being the type-A person I am, I was horrified to see my name on it.

How could this be? I worked my butt off day in and day out and the one day I take the liberty of being a few minutes late all of it is erased?

I stared at the letters on my screen:

AFTER 9AM ARRIVALS

Are we in high school? I was gob smacked.

THIS IS BULLSHIT.

So, I responded…

“Perhaps we should also send global kudos for after 6PM departures.”

And then I did the absolute worst thing you can do as a professional…

I hit REPLY ALL.

That was on a Friday.

On Monday, I was promptly fired.

Thank God.

Granted it was rash and immature – I was young and impetuous.

But I will never, ever regret it.

Because to this day I truly believe that dictating the way people work is outdated and counterproductive.

Performance should be based on results, period.

Your best employees will suit up, show up and more often than not, get BACK on their laptops after hours when their spouses aren’t looking.

Nothing fosters more bitterness and resentment than feeling like you can’t be trusted to do your job.

The proof is in the work. If you set your employees up for success, they just might surprise you.

• Define expectations.

• Give employees a self guided way to improve performance.

• Pay attention to productivity.

• And unless your KPIs involve seat warming, don’t clockwatch.

Clock-watching is useless, deflates morale and is a waste of everyone’s time, energy and mind space.

An employee will either be a good culture fit or they won’t.

The employee that needs to be told when and where to be for a certain amount of time is not the one who is going to bat for you or the business. That person is showing up for the paycheck while dreaming of being anywhere else.

And that’s fine, if that’s the culture of your business.

But if you want to build a team of loyal and devoted rock stars, let them be rock stars in their own way. Sure they’ll stick around for awhile if you force them to do it your way, but make no mistake, the fire that drives them to work hard for you will burn out.

I’ve been burned out more times than I can count.

Which is why I am so grateful to have landed somewhere that’s different. It’s taught me so much about the kind of worker I am.

I’ve learned that I am fiercely devoted to leaders that trust me to do what I was hired to do.

And that trust motivates me like a drug.

It inspires me to work harder and longer to make sure I am continuing to earn the freedom, respect and autonomy I was so graciously given from day one.

Because I know how rare it is.

Thank you to the leaders that get it. You know who you are.

Whether or not you realize it, you inspire me to be better every single day.

I realize so many of us don’t have the luxury of quitting the Sunday Scaries, and it’s even harder when you have a family that depends on you. But when I had them, I did have a choice. Because I wasn’t just doing it for a paycheck, I truly thought I was building a career.

It wasn’t until I took a step back to reevaluate what I truly wanted that realized how much time I’d wasted.