While attending the Living Arts College at the School of Communication Arts I developed a habit of carrying a unruled, pocket reporter moleskine for ideas, sketches, notes and receipts. Mostly I work remotely, but I have an office about a half hour away where I meet new clients and hold small meetings. Mom visits every couple of weeks or so to give us both a break from our normal routines. We have so much fun together!
Today, she saw the pile of receipts I’d collected and she instinctively started going through them. Mom blurts, “Girl! You go all these places when I’m not here!” I shot back, “I go all those places when I’m not HERE!” If I am at home working (or playing) I can’t go “all those places” and spend money, so I try to go out only when it is absolutely necessary. When I do go out, the moleskine or my blackberry holds my plan of attack for making the most of the time by getting errands and on-site customer deliverables done. I have been known to stay home 7-10 days and hardly even go out to the mailbox.
In a Harvard Business Review article by Peter Drucker called “Managing Oneself.” It discusses the challenges and importance of self-management. Ultimately, it is my responsibility to know myself; my strengths, weaknesses and values so that I can “place myself” where I can be most efficient and effective.
Self-discovery is probably one of the toughest things I’ve had to do. It takes careful feedback and trial-and-error precision, but it is well worth it. When I make impulse buying decisions or forget to write down business or personal expenses, it is nobody’s fault but mine. Likewise, it is only “my doing” that affords me to live my whole life without finding my passions and my destined place of effectiveness in the world outside my door.
Self management is all about motivation. If you're not willing to drive yourself to make the decisions that will help you achieve your long term goals, you're just going to get overwhelmed by the consequences of your impulses. I think this is why so many people wind up with so much credit card debt. Instead of staying at home and cooking dinner, they can't resist that craving for Bahama Breeze.
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Self management is crucial to success in life. I struggle with it often, not in money matters so much as management of my mind. I have to constantly remind myself, that the things I do for an employer, I must be willing to do for my own business. As with any mental challenge (addictions included) it is never ending moment by moment decisions to put what is important first and to do those things that will ulitimately allow me the freedom to truly put me first.
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