My mother once said to me that the moment she gave birth to me (or any of my siblings I convince myself), she gave birth to guilt. I think I might know how she feels. As a freelancer I seem to spend 98% of my time feeling guilty. Guilty I need a cup of tea and that five minutes could be better spent editing, guilty it took me 5 snooze attempts before getting out of bed, guilty I even went to bed in the first place. Sleep...what a waste of time I say. I was discussing this very same thing with another freelancer last night and thankfully his wide eyed giggle gave me the reassurance that it isn't just me & yes, guilt is the baby that is bred by most freelancers and small business owners.
In a bid to tackle guilt I tend to do one of two things. Go shopping or pursue the plight of my customer through various forms of internet searching. Of course Facebook doesn't come in to it, huh hum.
Twitter is great and because its time consuming and it involves you paying attention to others & whats around you, you can enjoy a mini break while at the same time keeping an eye on your market. Genius form of useful procrastination right there. Another more recent discovery is something I fear I may be well out of touch with, Google Alerts. Hit the 'anything results' button and watch some rather odd but strangely interesting articles, bits of information and links just drop into your mail box. The more diverse one's often lead that train of thought places I never expected but hell, enjoyed!
Not forgetting the shopping front, I for once avoided the clothes and stumbled across this....The Now Habit. (I heard that groan, apparently this is far from the traditional self help book and you can appease your shopping guilt as its for the good of your work!)
