A Consultant's Day

Today, I had one of those consultant days. It is the Monday after a four day holiday which, in and of itself, SCREAMS problems. I did some work over the holiday to get myself in a better position for a busy week. I knew I was on the "edge" of having it all together to keep my projects moving while out of town teaching.

I got up this morning and tackled all the pre-departure details and all the crap I had just been putting off. Feeling pretty good, I drive over to pick up a couple of checks (getting better!). Then, all hell broke loose. The edge was creeping closer to my feet and I made a few classic mistakes.

First classic consultant mistake, RUSH to get everything done before you leave. You always forget something or you make a bad decision.

Number two, get caught up in another's classic consultant mistake and compound your anxiety and workload. This usually takes the form of a bad decision which you pay for during the remainder of the week.

Three, lose all powers of reason and communication. Once you have reached a level of higher anxiety, the ability to make a good decision disappears and with that the ability to communicate, even remotely, with key players.

Four, I forgot the wall charger for my phone. This doesn't even require an explanation.

I'm not sure how my week will go. I am teaching tomorrow and Wednesday and will be covering some new material which I am not quite as familiar with so I am spending my evening "brushing up". My projects are on hold until Thursday and a quick look at my calendar really puts them off until Friday. Of course, there is always the weekend and yes, I will be working up until the time I leave on Sunday for another week of travel.

I hate it when I do stupid consultant stuff!

But, I love what I do and how I can do it. I am in control (for the most part) of my life, my world, my time, my energy. To paraphrase from a Bodeans' song, I am "closer to free".

Anybody else do anything stupid today?