Saddle

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Is it time to get back in the saddle?
The saddle that was using my brain for anything more than deciding what to cook for tea.
The saddle that generated income and meant I didn't wince every time I wanted a coffee in town.
The saddle that is working.

After 2 years of doing very little other than childcare I will soon have an opportunity to be child free for some hours of the week and I am trying to work out what I will do with those precious hours. Given I will be paying childcare for the Wee One, it needs to generate an income because reading blogs, reading kindle, watching DVD box sets, drinking coffee just isn't going to cut it (unless they are paid reviews of course).

A chance meeting in Waitrose this morning sent my head into an almost spontaneous meltdown. A friend from years ago, met in Warsaw, and we now live 5 miles away from each other (small world), has been scratching her very intelligent brain trying to come up with a plan to occupy her while her 2 children are at school. But by her own admission she is not self motivated and would much prefer to work with someone, where ideas can be batted back and forth, where problems can be shared and halved and gossip can be discussed over tea and cake.

Then she casually dropped this little idea into the conversation. "Maybe we could do something together?"
That is, work together. The W word.

Thoughts at this point were:

1. But you are far cleverer than me.
2. I have forgotten how to work.
3. I will be shown up as a fraud.
4. I am terrified.
5. I have forgotten how to wing it.
6. I have nothing to wear.
7. Ooh, we could do *****
8. Or we could *****
9. And if we did ***** then we could do ***** as well.
10. Shit.

So we are meeting for coffee next week. I will have a notepad and coloured pens with me. Dress code: casual. We will brainstorm our strengths and experiences, put them in a blender, bottle it and try to decide if anyone would want it, and maybe, possibly actually pay money for it.

I may take a calculator. I always felt prepared in meetings if I had a calculator with me. I will also take notes during tonight's Apprentice. I always know what they are doing wrong in that show so I'm sure I will learn something that may be useful.

I am going to write down what I think I could contribute to the blender of experience and strengths and then probably have to cross half of them out because a) I may have experience of it but that does not make me good at it, b) it is not an experience or strength relevant to proper grown up working, or c) or I have forgotten how to do it and no amount of cramming with a Harvard Business Review is going to revive it. I may use post-it notes.

I am excited and terrified in equal measure. And all this before 'we' even have any idea of what 'it' is.

You can imagine how tense I am going to be by next Thursday!

Any back to work tips anyone would like to share are truly welcome. *pen poised*