I know: can of worms, right? But today, lots of stuff is making me crazy, and I wondered about you. too. Rather than turn this into one big rant, perhaps I should narrow down the question:
What makes you crazy … and how do you get past it?
Image courtesy stock.xchng user iotdfi
I think many people thought I was on a sort of holiday, so I was available to do whatever, whenever. And if they needed to cancel at the last minute because they were “busy”, that would be fine with Good Old Free-time Georgina. I mean, I had nowhere else to be, right?
The flip-side of this challenge arises when clients or work contacts feel we should be available and responsive 24/7—the kinds of people who email you and then email you again to make sure you got their email (the implication being that I haven’t got back to them quickly enough). This makes me crazy, too.
The way I get past the crazy in these cases is usually to point out to the person concerned that they’re not all I have going on right now. I pretty quickly learned that most people, particularly those who work full-time, don’t know what it’s like to freelance, so they assume your days are flexible, rather than realizing that you’re wedging in a lunch between two meetings and a deadline.
A little calm explanation (emphasis on “calm”) was all that was needed to clarify that I was just as busy as they were, and get them to give my time as much consideration as they wanted me to give theirs. It’s good to know that although this makes me extremely crazy, the solution to the problem is extremely simple.
What makes you crazy? And how do you get past it so that you can get on with your day?
About georgina
Hi Georgina,
I know, we don’t have a “boss” so we must always be available to do what others want. What drives me crazy is tailgaters. I am driving on a rural country road doing the speed limit and here comes speedy gonzalez creeping right up to within 10 feet of my truck.
As if I am going to speed up for them.