And What Do You Do?


I long to establish a clear working structure to my day, so I can keep track of my achievements instead of feeling the goalposts are constantly moving, and avoid feeling chased, panicked or back-footed by the outside influences that inevitably get in my way.

This is one of the downsides to self-employment, particularly when the majority of your work is self-generated; it's hard enough to give yourself time to prepare for an acting (or actor / muso) job for an outside company, let alone when you’re working for yourself.

I have a musician friend for whom function gigs provide the majority of his income, yet his partner often forgets the gig is just a fraction of the job as he also needs to learn the music. While she understands this work needs to be done in principle, as far as she's concerned, if he’s at home then he’s available; consequently the majority of his preparatory time is spent doing odd-jobs around the house.

I know the feeling, though for a completely different reason. The two biggest contributory factors to my stress are the disproportionate amount of time spent on admin over creativity, and the lack of a general feeling that the work I do is justified so I need to put aside time for it. Shows don’t appear from nowhere; writing has to be done, and I'd much rather do it during office hours so I get the evening off.

I’ve begun making inroads to this, but it’s a gradual process. I’ve got better at not responding to emails past a certain hour, though I still feel I never truly clock off. Likewise, my phone is usually on silent when I'm working so I won’t be distracted. While mobile phones are a great innovation, it’s much harder to go off-grid in today’s social-media society, where everyone expects an instant response. Perhaps I'd be better-off in the Amish.

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