Earlier this month I became the new editor at HDTV UK, Shiny Media‘s blog all about high-defintiion TV in Britain.

Not only is it a new experience writing for a site that is currently pushing 50,000 page impressions a week, but it’s also a real discipline working to someone else’s schedule.

Of course, Ashley and I worked out a schedule that was mutually beneficial, but there’s still a world of difference between posting to a blog that you own outright, and that you set your own schedule for, and working on someone else’s blog – particularly one that is well-established and very well-read.

On my own blogs, I have only myself to directly answer to if I don’t post for a couple of days. Only my own reputation suffers.

When working for someone else, it can affect both my reputation, and that of the owner and controlling network.

It’s quite a motivator.

I know that if I don’t meet my quota of quality posts per day, I’ve not only let myself down (I’m a perfectionist) but I’ve also let down a large number of readers, and tarnished, albeit slightly, the reputation of Shiny Media.

I also risk not getting paid.

Perhaps it’s time to look at every blog I work on as having a boss.

I know one of the reasons to ProBlog is to get out of the rat race; the 9 to 5; to escape the slavedriving boss. Nevertheless, it can be a good discipline to have a boss – even if it’s you.

If you only work on your own blogs, and have no-one to answer to, consider having a regular review of how your sites are doing – how they’ve performed, what you could do to improve them, whether things are working well, need tweaking, or maybe even sidelining.

If you’re the boss of you, you can drive yourself as hard as you like – but for your own sake, don’t let yourself off the hook if things begin to slide.

You really do owe it to yourself to keep quality and momentum going. The rewards are there.