Not that long ago there was a whole rebirth in the whole ‘I have no time’ fallacy of the busy person. People were told that yes, they did have time, they just weren’t using it as productively as they could be. There were buzzwords and mantras like ‘It’s not about time-management, it’s about focus-management,’ and like the bandwagon hipster I am, I totally got on board with all that.

(By the way, in case you’re concerned about my hipster credentials, I’m writing this blog post on my Mac in Starbucks. And I don’t even like Starbucks. That’s how hipster I am).

It wasn’t long before I realised that, whilst a lot of people have spare time that they don’t do very much with, that’s not really the case with me. Especially these days. After doing some juggling, I worked out that it actually makes more sense for me to socialise on week nights, because that way I have more free (‘free’) time at the weekends and because most of my networking things and impromptu drinks after work are naturally on week nights anyway. I also mentioned in my last post that I’ve been working on stacking things so that no matter what I’m doing, there are multiple benefits.

The problem is that I want to do more of everything, and even with rearranging stuff there’s literally no time left. Last week and the week before I didn’t even get to bed until 1 or 2am most nights, and it’s pretty tiring when I’m up at 7am the following day. This part of the year is actually the quietest for me too – September and October are going to include quite a few conferences, events, shows, and courses as well as a couple of things I’ve arranged with friends.

(Also, the Starbucks employee told me earnestly and with genuine sympathy, that I wouldn’t be able to connect to the wireless network on my Mac. It took me twenty minutes, but I managed to figure out a solution. It involves connecting with my Android phone and then sharing the wireless network with my Mac via Bluetooth, but I feel incredibly smug nevertheless. Take that, Apple).

The problem with telling people that you have no time, other than the fact you have to tell them your whole schedule to get them to believe you don’t have any time in the first place, is that they want to advise. They suggest you ‘give stuff up’, or at least cut back on it. This isn’t really something I can see myself doing; I love creating websites, taking photos, baking, meeting people and those things aren’t going to change. They’re practically built into my DNA, and I enjoy them. I’m also completely obsessed with going to the gym now, purely because of the psychological benefits (although the calorie burning doesn’t hurt either). Maybe the only option left is retirement, since my day job takes up the biggest amount of my time :D

On the plus side, I’ve finally finished the website I started at the beginning of the year, Text Effects. I’m not a designer, but I find design so relaxing and all-consuming – probably because I can make things look exactly how I want rather than designing to someone else’s tastes ;)

I feel a lot more relaxed than I normally do, because a long weekend gives me a chance to catch up. On a normal weekend, by the time I’ve done everything I need to do and seen people, I normally have about two hours left. This weekend, I have a few things left on my list – finish the promotional strategy I’m putting together, clean the conservatory, make rose-shaped cupcakes and shred/file a huge box of paperwork – but it feels doable. I started off with a list of about 25 things to do, and I’ve done some extra things that weren’t on there, so it’s all good.

(I’ve always wanted to take a photo of the moon – I know I need a lens with more zoom, but yay. A bit of background to the photos in this post – they show the odd hours I’ve been keeping recently; I’ll suddenly wake myself up to take pictures of the sky).

It’s a beautiful day again, so I’m off to make the most of it and spend some time away from screens while I can!