Challenged

So here we are, the last day of the Your Turn Challenge. What have I learned?

I can in fact blog for seven days in a row if I choose to. No surprise there, actually.

The surprise happened back on day 4 when I articulated the difference between shipping for my clients (no problem, do it all the time) and shipping for myself.

I learned I have to treat myself like a client. That my work has to be as important to me as my clients' work is.

I also learned - because I really did write and ship these blog posts every day - that I can work on a weekend (as now) or a holiday (Monday, the first day of the challenge) and emerge none the worse for wear.

I've been working from home for a couple of decades now, and I've never really drawn a sharp distinction between "work time" and "downtime." I couldn't; my office was practically in the middle of the house - with no doors to shut. And I was always ready to work whenever a client called, even when the rest of the world took a holiday. But a couple of years ago, I moved - and the office in my new space had a door. I learned to shut it on Friday evening and keep it closed until Monday morning. Okay, I could check email on my iPad. But I didn't sit down in my work space. I finally I had time, I told myself, to rejuvenate, to "sharpen my saw" as the Franklin Covey people say. And I became very reluctant to work on the weekend (unless the work absolutely demanded it).

Now, I could have banked my blogs for this challenge, scheduled them to hit on the appointed days. But I wanted to find out what it would be like to write on my days off. I'll admit, I was a little grumpy about it on Monday. But even though I'm away from home this weekend, I managed both to ship and to enjoy myself. Imagine that!

I'll be shipping more often from now on, so please check back from time to time. And if I manage to say anything that strikes a chord for you, hit the comments button and say hi.