Okay, so I discovered something that without the aid of my self employment, I never ever would have discovered on my own.Blue jeans feel freaking amazing on the third day of wear!
I know.
Who would have guessed?
Back when I was a responsible adult, blue jeans were worn for maybe half a day, a day and a half tops. I worked hard. I sweat a lot.
But now that my commute is down the hall and my office is kept at near freezing temperatures, I can totally get away with wearing the same pants long past the expiration date.
This does not hold true for t-shirts, socks and or underwear. I'm not an animal.
But blue jeans on the third day, OMG, it's like wrapping your legs in kitten fur and good intentions.
Fourth day and dampness starts to set in. I didn't bother going for day five.
So jeans have a new three day rule. In fact, if Joann doesn't mind me walking around in my underwear on Sunday, I'll never have to own more than two pairs of pants again. Think of all the room for storage.
Which leads me to think of creating a new business where you pay people to wear your jeans for two days, so that when you slip them on on the third it's like you're suddenly bohemian without all the hassle.
Which leads me to thinking about all the new rules I've learned since I stopped wearing khakis and started getting real:
Rule Number One:
You Can Never Clock Out. Sure, it looks a lot like you haven't moved from the couch since Christmas, but you have filled out three yellow note pads full of ideas and lists and to-dos. Nothing may happen between 9 and 5 but at 2:30am you suddenly realize the perfect camera angle for Monday's video shoot. Phillip Seymour Hoffman dies of a heroine overdose and all you can think of is that it might be a good idea to work on your interview voice.
Rule Two:
Control Your Spam. At last count, and try not to vomit, I am currently active on more than 20 social media sites, because who knows, who knows? But it does mean my email address is a virtual melting pot of online advertisements. Cleaning out my inbox (A task with which I am an official Jedi knight) has taken over a large portion of my administrative blocks.
Rule Three:
Tea is Lovely. Nothing like a cup of tea.
Rule Four:
Wednesdays Are Really Hard. I block off my week with a list of things I would like to accomplish. I do allow for some fluidity, but it helps me to focus on one task at a time. Mondays, I blow through my schedule. So much that I usually break into tasks for Tuesday (or video games). Tuesdays, I slow down a bit, but if I've got eight things to do, I'll usually get about six done. Wednesdays, it's more like two. It's not laziness, I just run into all kinds of problems both work related and social that I only seem to get the bare minimum checked off. That and laziness. I'm seriously considering just taking Wednesdays off and working half of Saturday.
Rule Five:
Don't Forget What You Believe In. I have always felt very strongly about where you draw the line between the product you produce and customer demand. I have never believed that the customer was right, in fact, I've always believed that the customer was wrong, like, super wrong, and if they don't like your product, well, gee, then they're not your customer. Concessions, of course have to be made, quality and service are essential factors, life in a vacuum is no life at all, but there's a tipping point where you, as the producer no longer produce what you want to produce and the customer is still never fully satisfied, because, and I'm sorry to break your marketing degree's heart, the customer is NEVER fully satisfied. The model I preach is very simple. Produce a product that you believe in, find opportunities to sell it.
Any other way is just crazy to me. No, crazy is the wrong word. Uninteresting. Uninspiring. Not my cup of tea. And very easy to dismiss when it wasn't my own butt on the line.
But now my butt's on the line, and I get fifty song listings a day, 99.99% of them are looking for something I'm not. What freaks me out is that a lot of them are so similar, I start to get myself a little crazy thinking I need to relearn everything I know about songwriting. But there are over 7 billion people in the world and I need to find just a few thousand. And it's not my butt that's on the line, it's my heart. And if I can't find a few thousand people who love my stuff like I love my stuff, it'll break.
But better a broken heart than a broken spirit.
I guess.
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