Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences

Counter-Strike, Freelancing, and What’s Really Important

by Rico on July 25th, 2007

Counter-Strike and freelancing? Bear with me for a bit, dear readers.

As you may know, Counter-Strike is a video game where two armed teams, the terrorists and counter-terrorists (CTs), face off against each other. The game always ends when one team is completely eliminated.

Yet there are also other ways to win. On some maps, or locations where the battles are played out, the terrorists win when they manage to plant a bomb in a certain area, keeping the CTs from defusing it until it explodes. Other maps require the CTs to rescue hostages and bring them to the extraction point.

Counter-Strike is popular enough that it’s a regular thing for me and some friends. But sometimes, I really wanna strangle my teammates. That’s because like many struggling freelancers, they lose focus on what’s important.

Take a recent game for example. As a member of the terrorist team, we managed to push through to the bomb site, at great loss I might add. We were down to three members, while the CT team had five people left. Outnumbered 3-5, it made sense to plant the bomb, guard the area until it was too late for the enemy to defuse it right?

Well, my teammate, who happened to have the bomb, rushed out to engage the CTs. And was killed immediately. When he died, he dropped the bomb, right in front of the CTs waiting barrels. Of course, we remaining two had no choice but the rush our opponents in an effort to retrieve the bomb. We were summarily wiped out.

Why didn’t my teammate at the very least, leave the bomb behind? At the very least, this would’ve allowed us to carry out the mission, while he’d distract the enemy. Despite being outnumbered, we could have won.

I suspect my teammate was too caught up with getting kills. As I said, wiping out the enemy is one way to win the game, but the rewards are greater when the bomb successfully explodes. If my teammate was focused on what was really needed in the game, we would’ve won that round easy.

Earning good money for your output is one way to win at freelancing. But it’s possible to be victorious by focusing on other important things, such as building a reputation of professionalism and consistency, and marketing your skills.

As you go about your freelancing career, take your time to consider what’s really crucial to your freelancing success, and focus your efforts on that. Instead of automatically concentrating on the usual ways of winning. There’s no point in rushing into a firefight when there’s an easier way to success.

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POSTED IN: Ramblings of a Freelancer