WORK HORSE ORTHINKING HORSE?
(The Existential Question That Hit Me Over Lunch)
G'day! I'm Ollie, and I just had an existential crisis over a cheese sandwich. Here's what I learned about being both a work horse and a thinking horse as a freelancer.
Morning, so I'm sitting here at 1:37 PM on a Friday drafting this wall of text, procrastinating on actual client work by pondering one of those existential freelancer questions that hit you when you are meant to be doing literally anything else productive.
THE LUNCH CONVERSATION
Well actually after carrying 20 doors out of a basement and lifting a kitchen bench up to the third floor with a rope here I am.
Look, TBH this question kinda messed with my head when it first came up over lunch yesterday. There I was, sitting across from my colleagues in our office canteen, both of us working through toasted cheese and Serrano ham sandwiches — the proper Dutch ones with "company ham" they supply us with.
(Side note: We've started calling it "company ham" because, well, when business isn't exactly booming, you appreciate the little perks.)
Anyway, between our bites, my colleague drops this question: "Do you reckon you are more of a work horse or a thinking horse?"
And there's me, mid-chew, suddenly having an existential crisis over a sandwich.
THE WORK HORSE REALITY
There are definitely days where I'm just churning through tasks like some sort of caffeinated machine. Client email → invoice → another email → fix that thing that broke → respond to that telegram message → then realise I haven't eaten since the day before when my girlfriend packed me lunch but I somehow forgot to take it out of the fridge.
Which happened literally this morning, by the way. Got so caught up in batch-processing content updates that I forgot humans need actual food. The bar was pretty low though, I did remember to drink coffee, so partial credit there.
But here's where it gets properly weird... Sometimes that workhorse mode pays off brilliantly. When you stop overthinking every decision and just start doing the thing, everything becomes easier.
THE BREAKTHROUGH
For example, when I decided to make my own photography magazine about Georgia, none of the tasks were actually difficult.
- → Taking photos: not hard
- → Layout design: not hard
- → Webstore setup: not hard
- → Real obstacle: believing I could do it
Once I got past that mental block, finished the work in about four hours.
THE THINKING HORSE TRAP
(Where Good Intentions Go to Die)
Analysis Paralysis
Research productivity systems for six hours instead of actually being productive
The Perfect Plan
Spending days planning the perfect approach instead of starting imperfectly
Endless Optimization
Tweaking workflows instead of doing the actual work
WHEN THE BOSS PUT IT BLUNTLY
(And Why He Was Only Half Right)
The Origin
Apparently this whole "work horse or thinking horse" thing didn't even start at lunch. My colleague told me it actually came from our boss, who once said to him: "You're either a work horse or a thinking horse. You can't be both."
Neat soundbite, sure, but sitting there with half a sandwich in my mouth, it didn't feel right. Because if this article proves anything, it's that you absolutely have to be both. Just not at the same time.
Grind when the work demands it, step back when the thinking matters, and switch before you burn yourself out or stall completely.
The uncomfortable truth is that most of us probably lean too heavily toward one side. I definitely default to overthinking when I'm nervous about something.
The Reality
HERE'S WHAT I ACTUALLY DO NOW
Look, I know this sounds a little bit cheeky, but hear me out. I started setting timers.
Work Horse Blocks
25–45 minutes of pure execution, no second-guessing allowed
Thinking Horse Blocks
15–30 minutes where I'm allowed to question everything
Proper Lunch Breaks
30 minutes of actual conversation with actual humans
THE HONEST ADMISSION
TBH, this system falls apart regularly. Just last week I set a work horse timer and spent 40 minutes researching font choices for a client website. Not exactly the focused execution I was aiming for.
But here's the thing, even when it doesn't work perfectly, having some sort of framework stops me from spending entire days oscillating between frantic busy work and paralysing overthinking.
THE BOTTOM LINE
THE REAL QUESTION
Maybe the real question isn't "Am I a work horse or a thinking horse?" but "Which one do I need to be right now?"
That's where my boss's line misses the point. You're not one or the other forever. You're both, and the skill isn't picking a side, it's knowing when to shift gears.
THE FINAL TRUTH
So maybe the boss was half right: you can't be both at the exact same moment. But across a week, a day, even an afternoon? You have to be.
Otherwise you're either running hard in the wrong direction or staring at the map while everyone else gets moving.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you more of a work horse or thinking horse? Or like me, just trying to figure out when to be which?
Hit me up on X at @bigols. I'd love to hear how other freelancers handle this eternal struggle.
Right, I should probably go finish that web copy now. Or spend another hour thinking about whether it needs a completely different approach first.
NEED HELP SWITCHING GEARS?
I built BlendLines to help manage the chaos between work horse mode and thinking horse mode. Simple enough to not get in your way, flexible enough to handle both.