Orientation: I'm Tom Critchlow and this is my newsletter where I talk about independent consulting, blogging, content stuff and other hijinks. You likely signed up on my (bright green) website: tomcritchlow.com.When you have small kids you tend to celebrate New Years Eve at... well, some time before midnight! If you live on the east coast 7pm ET is midnight in the UK - a perfect time to watch Big Ben chime midnight and see the fireworks on YouTube in real time with the kids.
Turns out deadlines aren't as important as you think they are.
This is a valuable lesson for consultants of all stripes - but especially so for indie consultants. Juggling multiple clients at once can be psychologically taxing and draining. You're constantly feeling like you're signed up for too much work and you're constantly trying to schedule meetings across multiple organizations. Burn out is a real danger.
Turns out deliverables aren't as important as you think they are either.
The key is to seek out the most effective valuable work at all times - and provide smaller, faster pieces of work instead of scheduled deliverables with deadlines.
This is about rejecting the Chronos time of full time work and embracing the Kairos time of independent work. It's about navigating by narrative time, not clock time.
Of course - there's nuance to this. And you certainly can't ignore deadlines and deliverables at the beginning of a client engagement.
All of that and more in the next chapter of my book: The Consultant Out of Time
Recommended listening for the piece - the new Time OutTakes from Dave Brubeck. This new rendition of Time Out is just electrifying.
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Some Links
- Data visualization and the modern imagination from Stanford. This section on time is especially relevant for thinking about new ideas about time.
- Fools and their time metaphors from Aaron Z. Lewis. Wonderful.
- Towards the Orthogonal Technology Lab, v0.1 from Matt Webb. Lovely musings on building some kind of modern research lab. I know a bunch of independents are thinking along these lines right now. The big challenge of course is the business model... How to fund such an enterprise? Pair with Reflections on 2020 as an independent researcher from Andy Matuschak.
- In defense of disorder: on career, creativity, and professionalism from Chia is a magnificent, passionate piece on creating for and with communities. Stay weird!
- Field Notes: 2020 by Vicky Gu - lovely reflections on her first year of independent consulting work (love the squishy illustrations!)
I'll be back in your inboxes next week launching a brand new project - something entirely different... Stay tuned!
Much love,
Tom