For the past six months I’ve been self-employed and although there has been a bit of a learning curve I have to confess to loving it!  I’m not going to get into specifics or the financial benefits of self-employment.  No, today I just want to share what I love about it.

The work I do these days are home improvement projects. The flexibility with my time was the main reason I chose to pursue working for myself.  My day starts without any stress.  I don’t wake up to an alarm clock.  I don’t have a specific time I have to be anywhere.  I get up whenever my body tells me it’s ready.  Sometimes it’s early and sometimes it’s late.  I’ll do a little writing, workout, eat breakfast and then start to get ready after the sun has decided to start its day.  I avoid the rush hour commute because, come on, who wants any part of that shit!

Here is a glimpse of what a day at the office is like for me.  Yesterday was a gorgeous day!  Sunny without a cloud in the sky and a nice, crisp 37 degrees.  The work progresses  without a hitch and while I don’t get quite as much accomplished as I had hoped, who cares?  There are no deadlines in my world.  We live in a very outcome oriented society where the majority of our attention is focused on outcomes and this to be pitied because our lives pass us by in the process and we largely ignore it, entire lives focused on outcomes and the moments of living all but forgotten.

By 1:30 I’m getting hungry.  I pull out my thermos, pour the chili in a bowl and marvel at how great a cook I am!  Hunger has a way of eliciting profound appreciation. 🙂 I lay back on the pallet of wood under a tree with a clear blue sky as a backdrop and watch the hundreds of bare branches and limbs reach for the sky.  A hawk flies over seeming to appreciate that there is an actual audience who notices his existence and I swear he puts on a show just for me.  I fall asleep and enjoy what ends up being a 20-25 min. cat nap.

Rejuvenated I begin my work with a light step, a grateful heart, and peaceful mind.  I feel like the luckiest man alive.  A man in his element, finding his step to the rhythm of his existence…

Don’t get me wrong, not everyday is as beautiful as what I’ve portrayed above.  There are days when tools break down, materials don’t arrive and things just don’t go as planned.   The joy of being overwhelmed when you work for yourself is that you can call a time out and just go home!  We all know intuitively that we are most productive when we are in the zone, when our minds are firing on all cylinders and things just “flow”.  We would be wise to take advantage of those times and just take time off when we’re feeling overwhelmed by the work that is in front of us.  However, traditional work place policies rarely offer such flexibility.

I’ll take a bad work day working for myself over a great day working for someone else in an artificial environment with little to no control over how or when things get done.

Her is a bit of music to get you through your work day whatever it is you may be doing.  I’ve been listening to it every morning for the past week and have the melody in my head throughout the day.  The actual music start at about minute two.  Hope you enjoy it!