June 6, 2016 • Newsletter
Summer has arrived, in spirit if not in actuality, and this month, our clocks slow down as the mercury rises. We’re slowly approaching the longest day of the year, and yet, there never seem to be enough hours of daylight to accomplish all we want to do. Especially if all we want to do is sip something cool and enjoy the breeze.
Conundrum.
Last month, we talked all about pricing* and this month we’ll focus on time, especially since the longer daylight hours trick our bodies into thinking we have more of it. (Psst… We don’t.)
Why not use this month to track your time? I’ve been playing around with different methods of time tracking lately trying to decide which one I like the best. (I haven’t decided.) The Passion Planner connects lots of ideas I love (taking time to focus, setting goals) to time management, but its teeny tiny spaces don’t give me nearly enough room to summarize my time. (That could be my own editing problem, though.) My tried-and-true Excel method still works best for me, but during the summer months I’m less and less motivated to use a computer, and more and more motivated to use pen and paper instead.
Toggl and Timely are both apps that come highly recommended, but I always find it feels a little silly to track personal time on an app. Applying a professional tool to my personal life feels counterintuitive, if not a little silly.
But what do I know? The definition of “professional” is fluid at best, especially in creative professions where the use of time and the use of brains for creative purposes never cease. So as we’re tracking our time this month, let’s not forget to set aside hours for “nothing.” Hours to think, hours to ponder, hours to read, or hours to wander. And let’s forgive ourselves for tracking that time. We track things we value, and we should value nothing more than our creative time. Even if there isn’t a default category for “thinking time.”
Just like with our time tracking systems, we’ll never know what feels right without trying a few things that feel wrong. (And believe me, I’ve found plenty that feel wrong to me.) The endless hours of June give us a perfect excuse to try something new, without any pressure or expectations.
We can save those pressures and expectations for September, when the real work begins again. This month, let’s think about our time. Let’s use it well. And let’s embrace exploration, both in our business models and in our creativity.
*Did you miss all our pricing notes from last month? Start with “More Than Math” and go from there…
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