Are you fit to become a consultant?

In my becoming a consultant FAQ, I encourage people to ask themselves whether they can get up in the morning and start working without being told to do so. A lot of people get hung up on this and worry that they’ll procrastinate. They think about all the times they’ve taken long lunches, called in sick, surfed the web, taken a long time to walk back from the coffee maker and otherwise goofed off at work.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you have a job you don’t love, it can be hard to motivate yourself. When you know you’re going to get paid your salary, you might feel a little less hungry for work.

In comparison, when you’re consulting, you’re it. You’ve got to work to make money. So you’ve got that to motivate you. And, more importantly, you enjoy a flexibile schedule. That means you can pick your own hours. Feel like going skiing? Go for it. Want to go for a walk on the beach? No problem. As long as you get your work done within the limits of your commitments, you’re free to pick and choose your own hours.

As for me, I spent today at the aquarium with my son, had lunch with some friends and then settled down to work later in the day.