You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby

It is a delicate balance of deadlines and life.
When does all the 'free time' show up?

Running your own business means you can work 'any 12 hours of the day you choose' (Thanks, Mr. Coles). I try and put in a solid 6-7 hours during the day, during normal business hours. But I often have to work in the evening as well for a few hours on top of that.

My daughter gets off the bus at 4:00 PM, so I usually quit then. We have dinner, one of us will take a trip to the gym, there are baths for the kids, some play time, reading of 3 books and the girls go to sleep at 7:30 or so. That is often followed by a quick read of the Buffalo Snooze, a double dog walk, maybe some mindless TV and back into the office by 8:00 PM or so. The older I get, the less I want to work past 11:00- 12:00 at night. Last night I was in here 'til 1:00 AM and I am whipped right now!

So I usually try to keep this pace going Mon-Thurs. Unless I really, really, really have to- I don't work Friday nights, Saturday or Sunday. I think the worst is having to work on a Sunday night- preparing for a Monday AM meeting or something like that. Ugh!

Then there are the distractions.... hockey playoff games, my neighbor graciously offering me a beer from his front porch & Jill and I like to actual go out once in a while, doing things that aren't about working (there is surely not enough of that last one...). Hey, you can't do nothing besides work all the time, right? I get tired of being in the office for hours on end. Now that summer is approaching, I can work in the yard with the laptop- which makes in a little more bearable.

So yes, I do get to work when I want- the benefits of running your own business. I get to stop and cut the grass in the middle of the day, walk the dogs after lunch, go into the office at 9:30 AM if I wish- though I seldom do these things.... I am my own boss, I shouldn't be so hard on myself. I have been trying to ease up on the schedule a bit, but the demands of new clients, solving design problems and paperwork sometimes gets the better of me. There always seems to not be enough 'free time.' (I don't think it really is 'free', you have to work for it, to fit it in...).

I am going to try and only work 7 hours today.

Oh yeah, by the way, Sabres in 6!