Back in the saddle again

I haven’t updated this blog in ages. You see, I left the idyllic world of Topless Wednesday™ and No Pants Friday™ to take an office gig. I finished said gig yesterday, after 10 months, with many lessons learned. Here are those lessons, in no particular order:

1. 9-to-5 really doesn’t work for me. First of all, my circadian rhythm is such that my natural wake-up time is about 9. Oops. Add to that a 45 minute commute with dirty “bus people,” and it was a failure from the outset.
2. I have an uncanny and heretofore unknown knack for sales. I rock at B2B. Who knew?
3. Wendy doesn’t work well with others. I was in a Project Management role, which suited me beautifully. One-on-one with the client,  making things happen; I was in my element. But when faced with office politics, it brought out the worst in me. Which segues nicely into…
4. I can’t work for anyone who isn’t me. The thing about me is that everything is about me. And when it’s about someone else, I lose interest. With no real incentive (bad pay, no sick days, no benefits to speak of) to score the next goal, I get bored of the game. Not to mention, if I loathe myself this much, I likely loathe you even more. Which is why the only person I can work for is ME. I need ownership of every project in order to feel properly motivated.

Taking this office gig, which from the outside seemed like a nightmare, was actually the best thing I could have done. It helped me to once more remember the pros and cons of each environment – Out There and In Here. And it gave me valuable experience in large project management – dealing with clients as well as service providers, and making the whole thing come together. Prior to this, I was the provider. Now I know what it’s like from both sides.

I also learned that cube farms are the epitome of city life – people boxed together in small spaces, trying not to go mad.

So it’s time to get back to the basics, to strip off my dry cleaning and get back into my jammies, and focus on what satisfies me most.