Posts Tagged ‘work’
Wave to your clients
The word of the moment seems to be Google’s Wave. I got my invite a while ago and have been playing about with it investigating what it is and how I could use it in my life. I think I had the same initial thoughts as a lot of ‘information overload’. I couldn’t place where I’d use it and the main use by most seemed to be for a form of IM. The way it was being used actually reminded me of old guest books and shout boxes more than anything really revolutionary. Then I started thinking about how as a freelancer I could use this tool and it dawned on me how useful it could actually be.
Why do Mondays suck?
Over at Quofda (Question of the Day) each day a question is asked (clue being in the domain name there). Today’s is ‘Why do Mondays suck?’. I thought I’d take a little bit of an alternative route to answer this one as it brought to mind a few comments I’ve had in the past with regards to the fact I work freelance.
Houston we have a brain burp
It really has been a long month, well long few months and another few weeks to go it seems. I am not complaining (work = money = not sending dogs out to beg and all that), but my life has taken such a back-seat the past few months it’s getting a tad insane. I don’t appear to have licked this work life balance yet again – I swear they are going to put on my gravestone couldn’t balance, well that and workaholic most probably. I know I do it to myself, I have a squirrel approach to projects and haven’t learnt the project drug mantra of ‘just say no’.
The importance of play
There is a recognised fact that play amongst children is a place where they develop a whole range of skills. Just as you played as a child, playing as a web designer or developer is also essential to growth. Giving yourself space to experiment and play is not always the easiest of things. There are times when you have to just focus on bringing money in and play seems about the furthest planet next to completing the dealine and left of a series of all nighters. Balancing time to play might seem like something not worth the time or the money you will not be earning. This is a bad move though as you can often find you increase your ability and even find new ways to finance your time through play.
Why this reboot is special for me
On a more personal note, this reboot is a whole lot more special for me as it marks the first day of my return to freelance. It has been a rather hard job over the past few months being in a limbo and having the inevitable (unfortunately it seemed inevitable) traumas and debates over my leaving. Whatever has gone on, it has happened now and I have to say that now the reboot insanity is over, I am glad of the decision I made. I am going to take this week to realise and focus on what is now the preverbial buck stopping firmly at my trackpad.
That painful halfway point
With the approach of freelancedom and another reboot, I have today reached that oh so common half way point in projects. For me, this point is defined by a combination of nose to the grind stone and mild panic. Of course, I will be meeting deadlines, that is not the point. I guess, I am just the sort of person that has to feel that buzz of panic once in a while. I always get this a few weeks before the end of a batch of work. Usually, the surge of argh late late comes during a juggling attempt with a range of websites. In many respects it is this panic (usually for no reason) that pushes me on to meet the deadlines that are looming. I often wish I would not do this to myself.
