– By Seth Godin
Seth argues that our worst boss would be ourselves.
Even if we aren’t self-employed, Seth states that we are our own boss. He says this is because “We manage your career, our day, our responses. We manage how we sell our services and our education and the way we talk to ourselves.”
He says that the Odds are, that we are doing it poorly.
He brings out the irony that “If we had a manager that talked to us the way you talked to you, you’d quit. If you had a boss that wasted as much of your time as you do, they’d fire her. If an organization developed its employees as poorly as you are developing yourself, it would soon go under.”
Seth says it is amazing at how often people choose to fail when they go out on their own or when they end up in one of those rare jobs that encourages one to set an agenda and manage themselves. Faced with the freedom to excel, they falter and hesitate and stall and ultimately punt.
More often Seth says that we seem to be surprised when someone self-directed arrives on the scene. Someone who figures out a way to work from home and then turns that into a two-year journey, laptop in hand, as they explore the world while doing their job. We are shocked that someone uses evenings and weekends to get a second education or start a useful new side business. And we’re envious when we encounter someone who has managed to bootstrap themselves into happiness, as if that’s rare or even uncalled for.
Seth sums up stating that are only a few good books on being a good manager. Fewer still on managing ourselves. He says that it’s hard to think of a more essential thing to learn than to manage ourselves