I'm working on a new assignment for BendFocus. It's a straightforward project, all secondary research (meaning I'm not actually asking people anything). It involves digging into demographic and business statistics as well as analyzing a particular industry's outlook and potential.
As usual, I procrastinated furiously, but once I get going I'm completely caught up in the process. The house declines into term-paper mode: laundry piles up, food is reheated, mail goes unopened, phone calls ignored. I sit down and hours later I've produced one PowerPoint slide. Other times, I'm whipping them off furiously. It's completely solitary work, a break from years of managing, handling, collaborating and negotiating with others.
I love the work, along with the primary research aspect of designing surveys and analyzing reams of results. I'm lucky to have it, but not so lucky in that it can't fully support us. If it were just me it would be no problem, but I have a child and cats and dogs and a mortgage all balancing precariously on my shoulders. Where's that second income? Somehow I forgot to marry one! I'm on my own, with all the benefits and hazards that come with that. In the end, however, I do have to say I like it just fine.
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