OPB Mental Reframe

Soon after I began my OPB adventure I was forced to acknowledge I had a problem. I loved being my own boss, but for some reason I was plagued with twinges of guilt that would strike with no warning.

Following a great deal of soul-searching, I realized I needed to reframe my idea of what work was, what work looked like.

I grew up in a small rural Michigan town in the 1970s and 80s. The grownups in my world worked hard. They still do. I was raised in and by a community of autoworkers, farmers, and factory foremen. In my young eyes this was what it meant to work. This was what a job was.

As an adult, I had to fight against the perception of work I had formed as a child. My success as an OPB depended on me being able to reframe work, rethink jobs.

The way you work and when you work as an OPB will look different from someone who works at a traditional nine-to-five job. Learning to reframe your understanding of work and when it happens are mission critical.

I don't do the same work as the good folks in my hometown did back in the proverbial day, but I will be forever grateful for the work ethic they modeled and passed along to me.