Feb 16 2009
So, I decided to take a personal day today. It clearly didn’t go well.
I took the day off to catch up on some client work, as well as school work.
It was a perfect plan. I woke up on time, began capturing some footage, showered, ate, cleaned up a bit watched last nights family guy and though I had a bit of a later start than I wanted…it all still looked pretty up. I was gonna swing over to the library, pay my fines with the cash I made last night, check out some of the books I needed for class, head to the”office”, do some reading, some planning and get myself back on track.
Nope.
I left my notebook, which has pretty much my entire life in it in my homeboys car last night…so I go out to get it..in upper darby.
OK. Not that bad. Minor set back, I get to do some work on the train. I hope on the train…head to the library, but of course…its presidents day and the library is closed. Now its about 2 something and I feel like…Jesus, I could’ve went to class for all of this. (I hope none of my teachers are reading this because I fully intend on using up one of my 2 big yearly lies and telling them I was sick). Lol.
I mean in all seriousness I’m trying to learn how to be a better planner. I feel like effective planning works because it takes idiosyncrasies and personalities in account.
I procrastinate.
I’m working to get better…but I do. So, while I work to procrastinate less, its equally as realistic to take into account to make a schedule that I don’t want to procrastinate, or that makes it harder to put off stuff I don’t want to do.
I think its good to take personal days here and there. Even though, had this day gone perfectly, it wouldn’t have been a true personal day if you’re feeling overwhelmed with whatever you’re dealing with in life, sometimes you’re a bit better for just taking a day off to relax. Do something you like to do that takes your mind off of stuff.
Whats sad for me is that I make videos, take pictures and do web design…and the things that get my mind off of those things….are….well…those things. I love designing things, I love finding small inspiration and implementing it into whatever project I’m working on. While I do procrastinate a lot, I love what I do…I just hate forcing myself to have to do it; and this is where we get procrastination from.
I was reading something from Elliot Jay Stocks that basically says you should resign to just not do work during your first hour…and he’s right. As a freelancer, especially someone like me, there’s a habit to place too much pressure on yourself, since you don’t believe you’ll work well without it. And that’s an understandable notion…but chances are if you’re a freelancer, you probably enjoy what you’re doing, right? So if you do, and you have a decent stream of clients coming in, then you can be real with them.
You know what I mean.
We all have that tendency to want to get stuff done as quickly as possible, and make everyone happy. I know I do.
I CAN DO IT IN ONE WEEK!
Yeah you can, but will you? If you’re like me…probably not. Chances are you clients don’t understand what you do well enough to do it themselves, and chances also are that they have unrealistic expectations of what it is that you do.
For example: I make websites, which is no small feat. You don’t just hop on photoshop and whip something up, slice it up and throw it on the web. It’s a laborious process (for me anyway). I personally like to come up with a structure, define what elements should stand out, whats the goal for the site, and design perfect visual experiences.
This takes more than a “few days”. But as a youngling wanting everyone to like you and take you seriously, you, often without even thinking, yell OK! When a crazy deadline is asked, then get frustrated on the back end because thats not your only project and even if it was, you’d be insane to try.
I’m saying all that (that was a long tangent, eh?) to say…its cheaper and less stressful to be real with yourself and your clients so you can plan accurately. If you’ve been doing what you’re being paid to do for long enough, you probably know how long it takes to craft whatever it is that you craft so it comes out satisfactorily.
Ok. So, I’m gonna look at my to do list and get on top of it.