My Boss is a Slave Driver

My boss never gives me flowers. My boss is a slave driver.  This is really bad considering that I'm self-employed. Strangely, I have a lot of the same tendencies as the bosses that I most disliked when I worked a job out in the "real world." I'm often stingy with compliments. I want things to be perfect, and use demeaning language when it isn't. I set deadlines and then browbeat myself into meeting them, even if it means that certain treats I was looking forward to (like a short afternoon break or longer lunch hour) are taken away. 

Even though there is PROOF that employees on the job regularly waste time with personal phone calls, social media and chatting with co-workers, I refuse to accept that I should be allowed any time wasters in my day. 

I am relentless. I am hard to please. I am a fish-wife. 

One of the reasons that I wanted to be an EntreAuthor (entrepreneur + author) was out of excitement to be in charge of my career and my day. I envisioned typing away in front of the computer while soft music played, breathing in the scent of lavender (my favorite) oil and periodically going for long walks to clear my mind and allow creativity to flow. 

Instead I spend most days in state of panic, with my gut tight, reminding myself to take deep breaths and that "It's all going to work out, just breathe, everything's going to be fine" while boss-from-hell voice reminds me  (again) that I'm not working fast/hard enough and asking how in the world I ever plan to be successful if I have a work ethic which allows me to go on afternoon walks. How? 

In light of this, and in light of the fact that I hope to make writing my career for many, many years to come, I've decided that things need to change. I need to change the way I work. 

Rather than expecting myself to work for 6-8 hours straight just because I can, I'm going to set daily writing/marketing goals. When I meet them, I'm done for the day. As a matter of fact, I might even shut my laptop all the way down and (gasp!) refuse to re-open it until the next day of work. 


Did you ever have a boss-from-hell? If so, how did you deal with him or her? How do you carve out times to re-center yourself during the day and remind yourself that you're not a machine? Would love to hear your comments on this.