How do you avoid feeling isolated?
Hello Marlene,
For the first 8 years I was self-employed, work was pretty lonely.
Staying motivated was never my problem, but isolation was a big
problem.
An area group was formed to put on an annual studio tour that I got
involved in. Several other similarly isolated artists grabbed on to
the project like drowning sailors clinging to a life raft. The chance
to work together on something was missing from our lives and this
organisation we began gave us the opportunity to do something that
was not just about one’s self. We probably made it into much more
work than it needed to be, but it was such a change to work WITH other
people, not just around them.
Even when you go to shows where there are lots of other people, what
happens in your booth is up to you. Have a great show, win awards,
make lots of money, it’s all about you. Have a bad show, suffer in
bad weather, car breaks down, get robbed, it’s all about you.
It has been years since I have worked alone for more than a few hours
at a time. Even though the chit-chat can be a distraction, staying on
task is a lot easier when several other people are paying attention
to whats going on. I can’t really expect my employees to stick to
their knitting if I am goofing off.
Working alone takes a lot of discipline that many people have trouble
with. It is easy to fool yourself by staying busy in ineffiecent
ways, that you are getting the job done when you might be
procrastinating or letting a blinkered personal muse make stuff no
one else could ever love.
I am really lucky that the people I work with now are very honest and
blunt about what goes on. If they think a design is ugly, they say
so. If craftsmanship is sloppy, I’m busted. So when they like
something I know they mean it. There was a time I had employees who
were suck-ups and yes-men. A good working culture is important for
any organisation - but working alone, the working culture becomes
personal habits and the only checks and balances are the customers
and the bill collectors.
Everyone has different needs and skills. Some people do just
brilliantly alone. But just because you are asking, my take on it is
that you should get involved with some other people in some way.
Stephen Walker