Moving the Goalposts

[tlsanders]

No, this isn't about clients.

I woke up at 7:30 this morning and the temperature (actual) was -22 F

I rejected that and went back to sleep. AT 9, it was -20

I rejected that and stayed in bed watching a movie with my dog. When that ended, about 10:30, it was -11

I thought "Now we're getting somewhere!" and got up and started the day.

We've made it all the way up to -2 now and I caught myself thinking, "Great, maybe I can take the dog for a walk now!" (I have a Yorkie)

This isn't really just a boring story about my weather, though--it got me thinking about how relativity affects our perspectives on everything. I think as freelancers, it's easy to lose sight of objective measures, which may be why so many writers who start out at $.01/word are very happy when they reach $.05 and are making a decent living, and don't always stop to think about whether they need to be working as long and hard as they are to make that money. Or freelancers who see the client as having the upper hand feel like they've won when they get a client who voluntarily treats them decently, and never think to figure out a way to assert boundaries.