Urgent editor

I hate client documents waiting to be edited in my inbox.

It’s not that I hate working on them. It’s the opposite. It’s that I hate the idea that they’re right there and I haven’t gotten to them yet.

Everyone has something that just has to be done right, right now. Maybe you need to fold the laundry right away. Maybe you’re a proponent of Inbox Zero.

Why?

I would like to think it is because I am passionate about serving clients quickly. And there is certainly a lot of that going on.

But if I am honest, I know it is because there is a document in the world that I can make better, one that I have exact right skills to improve, and that it needs to be done. That makes it urgent. I feel a lot better — less anxious, to be exact — when that is done.

And I also know that the document is a chance to make a writer better, since I always coach as I edit.

I have ended a call about a five-figure writing job to get started on a $250 editing job. Because it needed to be edited.

I believe that I can charge more because of this attitude. Each client knows I treat their documents as my urgent priority. Yes, even on weekends. I could maximize my revenue if I got more clients and stacked up them so they had to wait. But at this point in my career, I’d rather charge the clients more, have fewer of them, and attack each job as soon as it arrives.

What jobs do you rush to get to?

You probably don’t have the luxury that I have, to arrange your work so you can attack the things that matter to you as soon as you get them.

But you can certainly pay attention to the jobs that you’re eager to get to.

What would it take to improve your job to do more of those things?

It might make you happier. It might make you obsessed. But you should certainly take notice of what those things are.

Right now I have to go. There’s a document waiting in my inbox.