The last day was so strange – so anticlimactic. It was odd they way people already began working around me – “Oh, you are leaving – who should I e-mail then?” No other conversation in the middle –I could just hear the subtext in their heads – because I played it in mine when I was on the other side.
“Just move out of the way so I can keep getting my work done – don’t you know I have commitments I need to make good on so I can have a good review and make more money– you are no longer relevant to my work and therefore I no longer need to make nice with you – so please tell me – who should I contact to get my work moving?”
It was fitting my last meeting was with a consultant that was hired to work with me on one of the projects I agreed to keep working on. This person I actually worked with in my first job at the company and he broke up with the company a couple years ago for many of the same reasons.
He gave me some advice I that I knew the moment he said it would stick with me for years to come and help me guide as I grow my consulting business. I’m paraphrasing here – his message was – though it’s tempting finically - don’t get too busy with too much work – you are a valuable consultant to this company because you have time to think about things – to push back and make suggestions to your clients. They pay you to think because they are too busy steeped in fire drills and politicking to have the time to think. That is your value as a consultant – that you have time to think about the projects. I love that.
I feel 20 pounds lighter today – some of that might be the result of my day at the spa yesterday celebrating this evolution mixed with the mental freedom I feel having more of a say in how I spend my time and having created the space to be able to think about the projects I’m hired to do.
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