Freelancers: Focus on Your HSP Strengths
The Devil's in the Details
This is going to be a short (but important) post as I’ve got to catch up on cleaning my house, cooking, and admin work for my 9-to-5. Plus, I spent a few hours creating this post for my other Substack channel yesterday.
No doubt you’ve heard the term imposter syndrome (or even feel it daily). It seems that Highly Sensitive People often embody the debilitating characteristics of imposter syndrome more than most people. Why it’s important to be self-aware, my advice is to practice concentrating on your strengths and what you bring to the table rather than worry about your weaknesses.
Here are a few HSP-specific traits that might help you:
Astute AF — Noticing and feeling the world around us can be a very good thing for writers and other creators — but it often brings on self-doubt: “Am I good enough?” “Why would they hire me?” “He’s so much better than me at strategy.”
Diligent about details — I’m often shocked at how careless some people are with remembering details. Deadline? Oops. Client changes? Nope. Formatting must-haves? Nah. My experience is that HSPs are better than average with details and deadlines, making the business side of self-employment that much easier.
Accounting, admin, marketing, and invoicing aren’t sexy but they’re so important.
Creativity counts — Even when a project or assignment is focused on something non-creative i.e. “Write a 700-word article about the seven best pharmacies in Montreal”, HSPs can find ways to make an assignment zing by remembering an important detail the client mentioned or discovering a more efficient way to focus on the objective.
You see, it’s not just traditional creativity that matters when you’re a freelance artist, writer, creator, or designer — there are other ways to bring and bridge creativity into our work.
Clients love it when you can identify innovative ways to make their work better or discover commonalities that they hadn’t seen previously.
So, if you’re a Highly Sensitive freelancer, try to focus on what’s right about you & your work - not what’s lacking or who might be stronger or have more experience. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses; it’s just that others aren’t so focused on their weaknesses.
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Until next time,
Lisa