One background topic keeps running in my brain these days - the choice between (1) keep going as an "independent" consultant, or (2) join up with a bigger firm. It's burning up a lot of personal CPU cycles.
Perhaps it's harder to reverse 20 years of habit than I thought. There are things I miss about the corporate life. I miss some of the people. I miss my old assistant, Kelli (sorry, perhaps I should say my "previous assistant"). I miss the feeling of being on a large team, and the opportunity to be a star player on that team. I miss the richness of interaction, the occasional brush against a good idea. I miss the debate. I miss taking customers out to play golf on someone else's budget.
But there was so much wrong with it. There's a longer list of things I don't miss:
- The commute
- The infighting among managers and corporate politics
- The endless rounds of poorly organized, unproductive meetings
- Business travel on crazy schedules
- People arguing over who gets which office, with me as arbiter
- Complacent acceptance of shoddy work
- My tendency to believe that by working harder and harder, I could fix all those flaws
So how does it all net out? I'm happier now (and poorer, financially). I work less. I think more. I play more golf. Sounds pretty great, so why I am still in conflict?
10:05:15 AM 
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