Is The Flexibility of Working For Yourself Driving You Crazy?

Whenever I stumbled onto a talk show in the last two weeks the authors of Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success were talking to everyone from Whoopi Goldberg to Charlie Rose. I was fascinated to hear them talk about how women should not be afraid to make career choices that might not make sense to men. It’s an empowering book for women, focusing on our value in the workplace and illuminating our gender-related strengths like collaborative thinking. It also makes a strong case for more flexible and progressive work environments. One of the strengths of the book is a section on how to negotiate for more flexibility.

The people that I typically work with already have the ultimate in flexibility: they have decided to work for themselves. Yet, that flexibility is driving some of them crazy.

That’s why another book caught my eye at the library this week:  CEO of Me: Creating a Life that Works in the Flexible Job Age. I was expecting this to be another “rah rah – you can run your life better” but I was very pleasantly surprised to find a research-filled practical guide instead. Drs. Ellen Kossek and Brenda Lautsch studied hundreds of managers and professionals with various flexible work arrangements. They also studied women who had left the corporate office for other more personal arrangements, often working as solo consultants while simultaneously having major roles as caregivers in their families.

CEO of Me details three “flexstyles” of working and makes it easy to identify which of those fits you: integrating, compartmentalizing and volleying. For each of the three flexstyles, they explain the tradeoffs and strategies for the variations within that style. They also offer a step-by-step guide to gain control of your own flexstyle, if it’s not currently working as well as you would like.

For example, if you are an Integrator, as are many entrepreneurs, then you may find that you are either a “Fusion Lover” or a “Reactor.” You can probably guess which of these is happiest as an Integrator: the Fusion Lover. However, there are risks there, too – the inability to separate from work that can lead to family tension and burnout. Knowing how to actively manage your own flexstyle is the key.

If you are struggling with the flexibility that comes with working for yourself, check out CEO of Me. I believe that a big part of our personal intuition is knowing oneself. This book makes it very easy to assess something that is fundamental for entrepreneurs – how we work – and it delivers something even more valuable: practical ways manage your Inner Boss.

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1. Judging Your Inner Gold Medalist