My wife's birthday is tomorrow. Coincidentally, some of her relatives are driving up this way from the City. This means that we're going to be having a rather social weekend. Sarah and I aren't socialites by any means so it's nice to have a lot going on once in a while.
One of the biggest challenges I've had to face since starting this little venture is the social isolation. I think this is something that every freelancer faces, at least in the beginning. I went from working in a building with over 30 other people to working in my house by myself.
The cats don't count because they can't make coffee.
Sometimes I really like being on my own in isolation - when I'm focused, I can get an incredible amount of work done. I can work 10 hours straight without noticing that time has even passed.
On the other hand, maintaining focus is much more difficult when you're alone all day. If you don't have a lot to keep you busy, you need to have the discipline to set yourself to work on getting more work and maintaining the other aspects of your business. That's difficult when there's nobody in the room with you.
Posted by steve at February 6, 2004 09:55 AMThis is possibly the hardest aspect of being freelance. I've got no problem getting up at 7am and working for 12 hours solid when I'm busy, but I find it extremely hard to do constructive things when work is quiet. In fact, I was going to write about this on my blog and set myself a tasklist or something.
[Céline fresh from roller-blading, a not very constructive activity]
Posted by: céline at February 9, 2004 10:44 AMwho are you kidding? you didn't have any friends anyway. it's just now your all alone without the prospects of any friends. of course i mean this in the best possible way.
Posted by: d at February 18, 2004 05:45 PM