Be Your Own Slave Driver

July 27th, 2009

Everyone dreams of being their own boss. But bosses are supposed to be hard-driving jerks who get maximum output from their employees. When no one is breathing down your neck, you quickly find yourself prone to being a lazy ass rather than a demanding jerk.

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s simply physiological; your body senses the absence of a whip-cracking overlord and starts conserving calories. However, when this natural inclination to sloth hampers the achievement of your goals, it’s time to make the transition from ass to jerk and get slave driving.

Intro to Flow

The influential psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi pioneered the concept of flow, or being in the zone.

At its most elementary, flow is when you’re getting the most done. Not overstressed, nor understimulated.

Using this model we can understand the normal events that occur when acting as your own boss. At first we think no one is better to manage the anxiety/boredom balance than ourselves. Yet soon, overcompensating for years of being employed in the anxiety zone, we allow ourselves to slip into the boredom zone. Little gets accomplished and we’re left wondering how to get more output from ourselves.

For some this is easy; those with a particularly high tolerance to stress can push themselves harder. For the genetic majority, we have to find a way to stay stimulated and just stressed enough.

Boilerplate Strategies

After enough wasted time, you’ll start looking for ways to stay in the flow zone; perhaps online, or in books, or from a friend. The advice found might include:

• Get a partner and motivate each other
• Get out of your PJs, dressed and ready to work
• Have a dedicated workspace
• Disallow interruptions
• Set goals

While these typical morsels of advice are all useful - borderline essential even - they don’t address the myriad nuances of your particular situation. Maybe you don’t have the space to make a dedicated office. Maybe you’re a stay at home parent and distractions are a part of life. Maybe you’re just not in a situation that’s conducive to being your own boss. Then what?

Be your own slave driver.

Consider the main motivating elements in a typical wage slave job:

Sticks:

• Financial fear (being fired)
• Emotional fear (being chastised)

Carrots:

• Security (steady paycheques, benefits, pension)
• Encouragement (raises, bonuses, promotions)

Many of these elements can be adapted to help in a self-driven environment. Find creative ways to recreate these motivational circumstances as dramatically as possible. Some examples might be to:

• Put a large amount of personal money in escrow, to be returned if baseline goals are met.
• Subject yourself to the discouragement of others, only to prove them dreadfully wrong.
• Send frequent lists of to-dos to someone appointed to make sure you accomplish them.
• Create a reward system that pays out bonuses upon achieving an ambitious SMART goal.
• Advise others of your objectives and ask for encouragement with them.

Keep in mind that these are not suggestions, they’re only examples. The measures you implement must be your own, governed by the personalities of people close to you, financial considerations, and life circumstances. That’s why cookie-cutter advice so often misses the mark; it works for someone else’s situation, not yours.

In supreme irony, those so hungry to be their own boss soon find themselves craving the wage slave experience. It’s more social, more stable, and more productive. If pushing yourself is proving difficult, don’t throw your arms up in frustration. Rather, look for ways to recreate the motivational aspects of having a slave driver standing over you. This way you’ll achieve the goals that interest you without the feeling of subservience that comes with typical employment.