After 18 years in back-to-back full time jobs, I'm starting my own company. Reactions to my decision have worked the gamut between condescension-masked-as-support ("It's so good to see you will be spending more time with the baby..") to disbelief ("It's too risky! Do you have capital?") to concern ("Aren't you trying to do too much?").
Listening to public opinion, I have found out, can be an essential reality check. But it can also pull me away from what's possible and what's new.
So here's the balanced view, or at least my approximation of one.
5 things I will miss:
Office friends: That loose group of people one gets to know very closely and then abruptly loses touch with.
Tiffins! On any given day, there is at least someone who has something tastier than what I have brought from home.
Paid leave: Period of time that when I am allowed to go under the radar (of course, barring the urgent calls and the 800 emails waiting for me when I get back).
A regular salary: Small and micro entrepreneurs will get this: the compelling logic of 'money in the bank at the end of the month' - no matter what.
The miracle of difficult work relationships that become close friendships: Some of my closest friends were once keeping me awake at night. A job allows you the time to work through such problems in relationships.
And 3 things I definitely won't:
Chasing a moving goalpost: Attrition, changing strategies, market realities: the real politic of a job always means your achievements are seen only as fast-receding milestones in the rear-view mirror.
Missing out on interests, hobbies and events, because 'duty calls': Births, marriages, and a serious hobby - the list of things skipped in favour of the job is long.
Ignoring my natural rhythms of work-rest-play: Even the laziest among us have times of the day when they operate best - and for many of us, 9.00 a.m. isn't that time. Adjusting to a daytime office routine has made me disciplined - but also less productive than I really am.
This Harvard Business Review article actually argues for employers to listen to the logic of circadian rhythms:
'Although managers expect their employees to be at their best at all hours of the workday, it’s an unrealistic expectation. Employees may want to be their best at all hours, but their natural circadian rhythms will not always align with this desire.
Let me know what you thought of this article.'
Read the original blog on LInkedin