Management of temperament • 13 August 2007 • The SnowBlog
Management of temperament
OK, a good chat to Rob, a deep breath and a good morning's worth of heads-down work, and things are looking up. The Bookseller (hello Tom!) are interested in running a story on the Snowcase, which is very friendly of them. I have learned a new thing in Photoshop (always a pleasure) about duotones. I have done one of my bank recs. I have fixed my computer's USB ports. I have sent out a few invoices. All is well with the world.
I might have said it here before: the most important attribute to crack when running your own business is to manage your own temperament. What does that mean? It means that when things aren't perfect, to not panic. It means that when you've got more tasks that you can possibly manage, to calmly work through them one by one. It means that if you're getting bogged down by detail and overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the impossibility of growing a business organically whilst not selling out your principles, to have a nice cup of tea, take a deep breath and just start chipping away.
Sometimes - and I know I'm doing it and instantly regret it - especially if I'm tired, things start to overtake me and the sheer difficulty of it all starts to get to me - like this morning. As soon as I realise it's happening, I launch into my three-prong plan of action. First, call Rob. He is so brilliant at rationally explaining to me, with examples and diagrams, why everything is going to be fine. Secondly, doctor the to-do list. It's so lame that I can trick my brain so easily, but by simply shifting 80% of today's tasks into tomorrow and the rest of the week, my head clears, I can think logically again and I have the breathing space I need to take stock. Thirdly, I get a whomping big americano and start to chip away at the tasks and action plan, one by one, bit by bit.
Works every time. Worked this morning. I should patent this as a foolproof methodology for business success. You'll have to get your own Rob, though.
Emma
OK, a good chat to Rob, a deep breath and a good morning's worth of heads-down work, and things are looking up. The Bookseller (hello Tom!) are interested in running a story on the Snowcase, which is very friendly of them. I have learned a new thing in Photoshop (always a pleasure) about duotones. I have done one of my bank recs. I have fixed my computer's USB ports. I have sent out a few invoices. All is well with the world.
I might have said it here before: the most important attribute to crack when running your own business is to manage your own temperament. What does that mean? It means that when things aren't perfect, to not panic. It means that when you've got more tasks that you can possibly manage, to calmly work through them one by one. It means that if you're getting bogged down by detail and overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the impossibility of growing a business organically whilst not selling out your principles, to have a nice cup of tea, take a deep breath and just start chipping away.
Sometimes - and I know I'm doing it and instantly regret it - especially if I'm tired, things start to overtake me and the sheer difficulty of it all starts to get to me - like this morning. As soon as I realise it's happening, I launch into my three-prong plan of action. First, call Rob. He is so brilliant at rationally explaining to me, with examples and diagrams, why everything is going to be fine. Secondly, doctor the to-do list. It's so lame that I can trick my brain so easily, but by simply shifting 80% of today's tasks into tomorrow and the rest of the week, my head clears, I can think logically again and I have the breathing space I need to take stock. Thirdly, I get a whomping big americano and start to chip away at the tasks and action plan, one by one, bit by bit.
Works every time. Worked this morning. I should patent this as a foolproof methodology for business success. You'll have to get your own Rob, though.