Mostly? My controlling nature appears whenever deadline is approaching and I am waiting for quotes for an article.
I get anxious. I get eager. I send multiple follow-up e-mails and spend a lot of time searching the internet for any contact number I can find. Then I realize I need to be patient and remember my articles always get completed.
Working for the magazine as a regional editor has really helped me learn that I can't do things alone. I have a wonderful designer who takes my edit and photos I receive and, with very little direction from me, makes magazine spreads I am proud to have my name on. I have a Managing Editor who gives incredible feedback and helps me brainstorm whenever necessary. I have an Editor-in-Chief who is involved in all of our monthly edit meetings and always follows up with us to make sure we have everything we need. And I have a great Senior Copy Editor who taught me everything I needed to know to get this position in the first place. The staff I work with on a daily basis is incredible.
Most importantly, I have a great state of readers and runners who are at my disposal for information and features and I need to remember sometimes that though this magazine can easily become priority in my life, they have training and races and lives. They always come through and give me my interview and quote and actually take the time to pick up the magazine.
My controlling nature fights the urge to remember these things on a daily basis. This post will be bookmarked for future deadline havoc.
Keep me in line, readers. What trait(s) have you seen in yourself during your time as an editing or publishing Working Girl?
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3 comments:
Definitely control. Nothing irks me more than sloppiness (and i have to work with a higher up with NO grasp of spelling or grammar whatsoever).
Where I feel my weakness is, is probably generating ideas. Doing, I can do - the execution.
Another control freak here! I was also the kid in school that would do all the group work herself, because I didn't trust anyone else to do it right! :)
When it comes to deadlines I am usually pretty good at planning ahead and making sure I'm hitting the milestones I need to be to stay on track and meet or beat the deadline.
But sometimes, I'll admit, when it's a minor task that I don't enjoy with a deadline, I'll probably wait until the last minute when I HAVE to get it done... then I'll work on it furiously until it's done - probably the night before. (Guilty!)
Hope it's ok for a working guy to comment!
What I like about the post is that you confronted your fears. I call this "face and embrace". This is a key way in which to defuse the need to control. You gain proper perspective and balance and begin to trust that everything will work out ok.
Danny,
Danny's Decontrol Yourself Blog: http//:www.blog.losingcontrolfindingserenity.com
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