Self-employed = Self-motivated
So, I have a confession to make. My name is C. Robert Jones and I'm a procrastinator. There, I said it. I feel so much better about...
Ok, no I don't. I don't feel better. I have a book in the publishing phase. I have people I need to start hounding about their part in my marketing plans. I have a second book that I need to be working on. I have a weekly blog I promised myself I'd keep up on, and I have a stack of books I promised people I would read and write Amazon reviews for.
Admitting the problem doesn't make it go away. It just helps you see it for what it is and should (hopefully) convince you to work on improving it.
One of the things I recognized (and completely breezed over) going into this writing thing was that I would be my own boss. I would set my own hours (until I get into the convention and promotional scene and then I'll have to follow their schedules). I would choose what I wanted to work on each day. I would finally get to be the master of my own destiny. (Booyah, Grandma!)
As it turns out, all of that is great and all, but it also requires a pretty significant level of discipline to have that much freedom and not become a lazy slacker. Who knew?
I don't have anybody ready to write me up if I oversleep and end up late to the keyboard. Nobody's calling my cell to say "Where are you? If you aren't here in 15 minutes you're fired!" I don't have anybody watch-dogging my lunch breaks, waiting to reprimand me for being late getting back. I don't have anybody riding my duff about productivity or threatening to take away music listening privileges because I'm not meeting somebody else's ridiculous expectations regarding production numbers. (Lord, I forgot how much I hated that job. I wasn't that bad of an employee to start, honestly, they just devoured the part of my soul that made me concerned with those things.)
That's all well and good, but it also means that I have to be responsible for my own accountability. The success and failure of my goals lies squarely on my shoulders (minus the things that fall out of my control as referenced in my last post). If progress needs to be made, I have to be the one to initiate it. If something doesn't get done when it should, I have to accept responsibility for it and make a plan to improve. When priorities need to be set, that's on me too.
The last few days or so I've been a pretty weak employee. I think my boss is about to kick my duff, and I have to admit, it's probably overdue. (Yes, C. Robert, yes it is. Get to work or start looking for a different job, perhaps one with a cubicle again. - The Management)
I guess I better get back to work. The boss is giving me "the look" again. Thanks for stopping by and helping me get this blog update checked off the list! I'll check back again when my boss isn't in one of his moods.
