Does freelancing make you more nihilistic?
Sometime during my Christmas break, i started thinking about my own relationship to work. It might have been triggered by reading something about freelancing, how it’s become more common, and how this may happen by design or by necessity.
As more people embark on an independent life, we also see a rise in less meaning attached to work (at least as a shorter term post-covid trend). This is not a paradox, these two things may be connected.
For some, working independently means you get to work on only the things you truly find meaning in. For others, and i suspect i am a little bit in this camp now, i find meaning in things by knowing i am being paid a premium to work on them. I absorb more risk, but also accumulate more revenue, and frankly this way of working seems to suit me well.
If this sounds like i am becoming more of a capitalist, as Prof G says, trust your instincts.
Of course, there are boundaries. I don’t do fossil fuels, or tobacco, and will rarely touch gambling. But i do notice that going into a project with optionality makes me more relaxed about its outcome, and therefore i perform much better.
I always noticed this when leaving past jobs. I’d feel weirdly zen about the last few weeks, and this was not an excuse to be less professional about things. I noticed i was behaving even more professionally. Maybe it’s because i wanted to finish on a high. Maybe it’s the fact i had nothing to lose that made me want to give something my best. The irony.
It does beg the question, and i know many of my readers are indies and so it’s a question for you too: does an over-reliance on freelance work make you more nihilistic about the job? And if so, why might that be? It feels like an under-discussed thing.
