The Time Management Puzzle: Balancing Clients, Focus, and My Inner Crit
The Time Management Puzzle: Balancing Clients, Focus, and My Inner Critic (With JUST a Dash of Anxiety) As a newly (self-)appointed consultant, I pictured myself confidently managing my (modest) client base, brimming with purpose and poise. Reality check? Even with just a few clients, I’m mentally exhausted—juggling their needs feels like managing my kids’ extracurricular schedules. It turns out the challenge isn’t just managing the workload. No, no. That would be way too straightforward. Instead, it’s the mental gymnastics of leaping from one client’s strategy to the next, each with completely different expectations, timelines, and requests. One moment, I’m immersed in Client A’s long-term vision for 2030, and the next, I’m buried under Client B’s HR policies. It’s like trying to change gears in my 2012 Jeep—my brain’s gearbox might actually need oiling. And then there’s the whole time allocation dilemma. Can—or rather, should—I charge for all those back-and-forth emails? What about t...