Sticking it to The Man!

by Jennifer Gleeson Blue, Founder of Get There From Here

I’ve worked hard all year. Really hard.

I’ve been creative, helpful, thoughtful, productive. In addition to tending to my own business, I’ve launched a joint venture with a colleague, taken on a vice-presidency for an executive board and dealt with some significant medical issues.

So why is that when I find myself sitting in my home office at 3:00pm on a workday in the middle of December, in my bathrobe with a guitar across my lap, searching for the chords to one of my favorite songs by The New Pornographers, I feel guilty?

I started my own coaching business for a few reasons, not least of which was to be able to escape the suffocating boundaries of your typical 9 to 5:

• Getting up early
• Putting real clothes on
• Commuting
• Looking busy
• Being bored

I started my own business so that I could play guitar in my bathrobe at three in the afternoon on a workday. And yet, here I am, feeling guilty.

My knee-jerk reaction to this guilt is to say, “I deserve this break! I’ve earned it by working hard and being dedicated to my professional life!”

But what if this isn’t about what I deserve? Or what I’ve earned?

Somewhere in my knee-jerk reaction is a lack of ownership. It’s like I can’t really bring myself to own what it is that I want. And if I’m to be the person I want to be, doing what I want simply because it’s what I want (and because it causes no one and nothing to suffer) needs to become okay.

Delightfully, doing what I want also happens to be good for business. Taking breaks and exercising different elements of myself enables me to bring my best game to my business. Play, rest, and even distraction are necessary components of being successful.

So maybe next time, when that guilt meter starts rising, I’ll summon the courage to say, “I’m doing the sudoku and the jumble and the crossword at 11:30 this morning because I feel like it! Cheers to me for being an entrepreneur!”

Now that would be sticking it to The Man!

Jennifer Gleeson Blue, through her company Get There From Here, is dedicated to equipping 20- and 30-somethings to create inspired, authentic and sustainable lives. In addition to individual coaching, she facilitates workshops, delivers presentations and helps organizations get the most out of their young employees. She is a graduate of Coach University and currently serves as Vice President of Marketing for the Philadelphia Area Coaches Alliance.