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Do you ever get out at lunch time?
Thread poster: Sonja Allen
Mijo Schyllert
Mijo Schyllert  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:59
English to Swedish
+ ...
Go! Jan 10, 2006

Reading all the replies here, it just struck me how...so many times it seems like we are our own worst bosses. It seems you can run but you can´t hide. You can run from the "humdrum", 9-5 life going freelancer, and people will envy you and keep saying they would never get out of their pyjamases...Well, most of us seem to be working harder than most - how did that happen??? You can´t run from your own boss from hell - yourself.
However...I was silly and dizzy with just starting out full-t
... See more
Reading all the replies here, it just struck me how...so many times it seems like we are our own worst bosses. It seems you can run but you can´t hide. You can run from the "humdrum", 9-5 life going freelancer, and people will envy you and keep saying they would never get out of their pyjamases...Well, most of us seem to be working harder than most - how did that happen??? You can´t run from your own boss from hell - yourself.
However...I was silly and dizzy with just starting out full-time as a freelance translator (and it WORKED!!), taking on EVERYTHING, working working working. Knew I was doing the wrong thing, knew I was, for example, not sitting right when working, etc. But I was gonna fix that, I just needed to get this one project finished and then I would take a breather...and then the next project, etc. - you all know how the story goes. I ended up with two useless hands (for about two-three months anyway) and constant pain in neck, hands, shoulders and arms (which will be there for a while). It really sucks, I tell you, but the moral of the story is that now I take time out. I walk on the beach every day. I do yoga. I cook nice meals, even if it´s just for myself - and I am just as productive as I was when I was hunched over the computer 12 hours a day, unable to leave it "just in case" for more than half an hour. I´ve been lucky enough to get steady clients, nice people, who rely on me as I do on them (as in not giving work away if I don´t reply within 10 minutes!!). If they need something really urgent, they send me an sms. I know I am repeating things that people have already said on this topic, but it is SO true. Respect yourself, take the time out that you need, take a walk, go to the cinema, have lunch with friends - and you will come back energised, happier and linguistically supercharged. And any "real" clients, people you´d like to have a working relationship with, would have waited for your return. Saying that...back to work!)
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David Brown
David Brown  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 14:59
Spanish to English
Do you ever get out at lunch time? In Spain...always Jan 10, 2006

[quote]Sonja Allen wrote:

When I was working as an employee, I always used to go out for a walk or made a trip to the shops in my lunch hour, to get away from my desk and get some fresh air. However, since I became a freelance, I have stopped doing this, mainly because I fear that some job offer might come in by email during the time I am out and I would then not be able to react quickly enough to get the job. /quote]

In Spain this is not a problem, nothing hardly ever happens between the hours of 2:00pm and 4:30pm. This is OK in the cool season, I can have a relaxing walk before lunch and have a nap afterwards. But in summer...although there are even less calls during this period, it is too hot to go out for a walk, so I just eat and sleep. Like a lot of freelancers,I adjust my day to suit my work, the season, my mealtimes and leisure time (which, in Spain, is usually mealtimes!!)


 
Sonja Allen
Sonja Allen  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:59
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all for your encouraging comments Jan 10, 2006

After reading all your comments, I feel now more encouraged to go out in my lunch time. So thank you very much. You are right, one still has to live and I don't want to end up getting the winter blues because I haven't seen any daylight all week. However, as I am still in my first year as a freelance, it is difficult not to go out with a bad feeling, as I still rely heavily on every job I can get my hands on. So taking a lunch break away from my desk seems a bit like a luxury I cannot afford as ... See more
After reading all your comments, I feel now more encouraged to go out in my lunch time. So thank you very much. You are right, one still has to live and I don't want to end up getting the winter blues because I haven't seen any daylight all week. However, as I am still in my first year as a freelance, it is difficult not to go out with a bad feeling, as I still rely heavily on every job I can get my hands on. So taking a lunch break away from my desk seems a bit like a luxury I cannot afford as yet. But I guess every one of us has to find their balance.Collapse


 
Irene N
Irene N
United States
Local time: 08:59
English to Russian
+ ...
You answered your question yourself, IMHO Feb 4, 2006

Sonja Allen wrote:
as I am still in my first year as a freelance.


Well, in this case I can understand your worries. I missed on many lunches and some fun and wasted many hours "just hoping" or doing tiny jobs with 1-3-hour turnarounds in times when all I had was a droplet of experience and no "name" ot built reputation but lots of ambitions. This is the inevitable first stage of freelancer's evolution, unless you became a full-time freelancer after years of a part-time stage and your clientelle in already in place. Nowadays I also go to a gym without cell phone or take a nap switching all my phones off but it took me 5+ years to become 100% sure that my clients will be looking for me, not just a translator/interpreter, waiting for my reply patiently (within reason, but for a few hours for sure). Today a lost 1-pager due in 1 hour will not upset me one bit.

Yet given your "first year" I would say that any extra precautions in terms of ensured availability are very useful but please, keep a healthy balance:-). Look who's talking... Now you made me recall my first 3 years of freelancing - I can hardly remember anything but work and waiting for work and hoping for work and being ready for work and catching work and cancelling lunches for 1-pagers:-).

One thing for sure - it paid off. Being a FREE-lancer is great!
Best regards,
Irene


 
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Do you ever get out at lunch time?







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