I have to admit that I'm a workaholic and a perfectionist. I'll spend an entire evening tweaking on a writing or a design project, worrying about every little detail. Somewhere my brain has the notion that if I spend hours and hours on something then the end result will be better than something that I budgeted my time on. So I'll look at the clock to find it's one AM and my mind is still telling me that this nebulous "person" will look over my shoulder at the finished product and tell me how much is sucks. A planned weekday or evening of just fiddling led to a time wasting session at my computer that never ended.
Sound familiar? I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm not the only one who suffers from that phantom future critic with no social tact who'll tell me just how bad my work is. And then proceed to smirk and laugh at me.
I finally had to be honest with myself and admit that all those hours of slaving away were doing nothing more than eating my life away. My Tivo was groaning with the weight of the things it had recorded and I hadn't even had a chance to glance at. So I had to come up with a solution.
So I came up with a strategy worked pretty well during my day job/ moonlighting phase. The one most of us go through where we alternate between gritting our teeth as we walk into the office that we've already mentally outgrown but can't afford to leave (just yet) and smirking when we think of the day we do leave.
At night when I went home from the day job, unless I had projects that were due to other people, I would only chose two things that I could work on that evening. Say I really needed to make a mockup newsletter for my portfolio to show a client but at the same time I needed to make some updates to my website. I would decide in advance I could only work on the newsletter mockup for one hour and the website for another hour. After that the computer's off and it's time to watch TV.
That took some getting used to, since my mind wanted to race and tell me what I could accomplish by plugging on for two or even three more hours. But as the experiment went on, I found that I cut the fretting and fussing trying to get things perfect and I focused on bringing things to a close within that alotted hour.
And you know what? I found out I'm really good a coming in under deadlines.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Requisite Inaugural Post
I had two goals when I decided to start this blog:
1. Emphasize the need for mind and body happiness when anyone goes about perusing a job that they love.
2. Justifying a way to combine two of my favorite interests- fitness and maintaining a writing career.
In my case, I spent several years during my 20s and 30s toiling away in government or non-profit jobs that gave me little to no satisfaction. I had to find a place to find meaning or happiness outside of my JOB that composed almost all of my identity.
When I finally decided to take the plunge and start a career as a freelance writer, however, I realized that I was personally responsible for my happiness. The overbearing boss, workload that I had no control of, more customers than I could handle, and pointless meetings to fill up my day were gone. Now I’m personally responsible for constructing my day in a way that fulfilled my purpose in life. And I was responsible for making sure that what I did made me happy, and that my physical and mental health were priorities.
I've been practicing yoga on and off for almost a decade, and I discovered the pain and joy that is Pilates about four years ago. Having spent my childhood in the requisite ballet/tap/jazz grind that most girls go through, Pilates furthered and strengthened my practice.
So grab a mat, toss on some sneakers, and grab your favorite word processor and watch how easy (and frustrating) it can be to find that balance between busy and fulfilled.
1. Emphasize the need for mind and body happiness when anyone goes about perusing a job that they love.
2. Justifying a way to combine two of my favorite interests- fitness and maintaining a writing career.
In my case, I spent several years during my 20s and 30s toiling away in government or non-profit jobs that gave me little to no satisfaction. I had to find a place to find meaning or happiness outside of my JOB that composed almost all of my identity.
When I finally decided to take the plunge and start a career as a freelance writer, however, I realized that I was personally responsible for my happiness. The overbearing boss, workload that I had no control of, more customers than I could handle, and pointless meetings to fill up my day were gone. Now I’m personally responsible for constructing my day in a way that fulfilled my purpose in life. And I was responsible for making sure that what I did made me happy, and that my physical and mental health were priorities.
I've been practicing yoga on and off for almost a decade, and I discovered the pain and joy that is Pilates about four years ago. Having spent my childhood in the requisite ballet/tap/jazz grind that most girls go through, Pilates furthered and strengthened my practice.
So grab a mat, toss on some sneakers, and grab your favorite word processor and watch how easy (and frustrating) it can be to find that balance between busy and fulfilled.
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