It's already mid-January. I haven't written my updated business plan. It's in my head, of course. But as I enter the second year of my new venture, I just don't have time to get more than verbal approval from my key investor (me).
I like the directness of that. Owning a business feels more natural to me than it did a few months ago. I realized as I walked through Zurich early this morning -- watching deliveries and people opening their stores and coffee shops sprinkled with a few people reading newspapers -- that I feel a certain soul-warming flow and rhythm now to my days. I have a lot of contact with people who may be clients and partners. We really talk instead of only rush from one action plan to another. I know what needs to be done and have learned how long most things take to finish. Well, I still always underestimate the total time needed. For example, to take a brochure to print: many, many rounds of fixing little details during the last 10 days. Hhhmf. And let's not talk about how a web site update can become a continuous loop of iterations. (It's up as of yesterday! My reason for celebrating with prosecco this week...)
So today, when I reach 4 p.m. and I see that somehow the consulting project work took a little longer than planned and I made three fewer marketing phone calls than I wanted and I'm STILL waiting on the final print approval prototypes for our new product brochures -- I will just take a deep breath.
It's normal. Put the stress aside. It will all still be there tomorrow, as it was in every job for the last two decades. And anyway, I must leave at 3:45 p.m. to be just-in-time Jill for German lessons with my actor-friend-teacher. That's the new and old me together. I will now leave the office before 8 p.m. to do something for me, and I still run in for it just almost a little late! (Sorry Alex!)
The Parable of the Bath Bombs
This post has been knocking about in my head the last couple of days and today I addressed a similar theme over at nice_cup_of_tea :-)
http://nice-cup-of-tea.livejournal.com/269294.html
Posted by: Helen Palmer | January 20, 2007 at 05:06 PM