Maybe time ISN'T the problem ... [🐝U]

In partnership with

🎧 Wanna listen along to the audio 🎧
It's me reading ... with rain hammering the trailer roof for percussion this time.

I had 2 days handed to me this weekend that I never planned for.

Not earned.
Not scheduled.
Just ... handed over on a silver platter

Mother Nature made the call ... another month's worth of rain in 1 weekend ...
so anything outside (other than trying to mitigate the overflow rain barrel flooding) was off the table.

& here's the very first thing I did with all that unexpected time.

I reached for my phone.
Not because there was anything I urgently needed.
Not because someone was waiting on me to respond to a message

Just because I suddenly had space ...
& apparently my brain had forgotten what to do with it.

Didn't decide to.
Didn't think about it.
My hand just ... went ... on autopilot

& honestly?

That bothered me more than I expected.

Because I've spent years telling myself (& my clients) the problem is making the time.

Then time landed right in my lap ...
& apparently my first instinct was to hand it to doom-scrolling Amazon Prime Day Deals

So here's the thing about found time

That little moment ... the auto-reach before the decision ... is the whole thing I want to talk about today.

Because we tell ourselves the problem is we don't have enough time.

Then time magically shows up & we boomerang right back out.

To the scroll.
To the latest Yellowstone spin-off.
To the Amazon Prime Day Deals

Maybe the problem isn't always getting the time.
But recognizing it (& doing something with it) when it arrives.

I'm not here to guilt you off the couch

Let me be clear about something.

Rest isn't the enemy.
I know the downside of the “hustle culture” better than most.

A whole evening of trash TV because you chose it & your body needed it?
That's not wasted. That's recovery.
Good for you in making time for rest.

Because chances are you need it more than you let yourself have it.

The thief isn't the couch.
It's the autopilot.

There's a world of difference between ...
→ "I'm watching 3 episodes tonight & not feeling bad about it"
→ & looking up 2 hours later wondering where the evening went

1 is a decision.
The other's a drift.

& drift is what quietly eats the time you swore you'd give your own thing ...
"once things finally calm down."

Drift never feels dangerous while it's happening.

1 minute is the last day of classes before summer break
Then somehow it's September.

& the thing you wanted to build over the summer is still sitting exactly where you left it.

Here's the part I had wrong

I used to think calmer never actually arrives.
But it does.
& sometimes it shows up in a big block.

The school semester ends.
The kids head back to school.
The seasonal rush slows right down ...
& suddenly there's a whole stretch of room that wasn't there a month ago.

& sometimes it shows up in bite-sized chunks.
A free Sunday.
A cancelled appointment.
A weekend the rain decides for you.

Either way, the space does get made.

& here's the part nobody warns you about ...
it instantly gets filled.
With something.
Anything.
… it’s just rarely the thing we swore we'd build.

The course ends... & we pick up a new hobby.
The season slows ... & the list of house jobs grows to match.
The sun finally comes out ... & there are suddenly 100 other things calling that aren't the business.

Not because you don't care.
Because by the time the space opens ...
the warm weather's handed you a dozen easier things to focus on.
or maybe you gladly look for things to fill the space because there’s a nagging voice in your head trying to protect you from “failure”

What I'm actually doing with this weekend

So back to my rained-in weekend.

I'm not going to grind all weekend.
The rest stands.
I'll watch something.
I'll close my eyes when I need to.

But I am getting as much done as I possibly can ... & here's why.

This storm is my lull.
I already know what's coming.

The second this weather warms up (it has to eventually, right?!)
I've got a mountain (or should I say pool) of property work waiting.
Plus packing up Mamma Mia's house before the keys change hands July 31st.

The quiet weeks are the building weeks.
The busy ones won't leave room for it ... they never do.

So this weekend I caught up on my clientless series ...
& started working ahead on client projects.

& yes ... a client's automations went live early. They didn't want to wait till Monday. So I kept an eye on them.

But I watched them. That's it.
I didn't let "well, I'm in here anyway" turn into quietly rebuilding half their setup for free.

Monitoring was the job.
Everything past that would've just been me filling time to feel busy ... instead of moving the 1 thing that actually needed moving before the crunch hits.

2 things to try the next time a stretch opens up

→ Name it before you fill it.
The second you notice the room's there, ask 1 question before the phone's in your hand. "What'll I be glad I did with this?" 
Then pick. Couch or work?
Either's fine ... as long as you chose it & not the autopilot.

→ Build in the quiet ... because busy always comes back.
When a slow stretch shows up ... the off-season, the gap between things, the rained-out weekend ... that's your building window.
Not inbox-clearing.
1 real step on the thing you actually care about, banked before the noise returns.

Where's a stretch of time opened up for you lately?
what’s it actually getting filled with?
& what's the 1 thing you're going to build before the busy season swallows the chance?

(Writing this from the trailer with the rain still hammering away ... & for once I'm weirdly grateful for it. It's the only building season I'm getting before everything else lands at once.)

The time you keep waiting for isn't always coming someday.
Sometimes it's already here ... big or small ... & just doesn't announce itself.

It shows up quiet & asks what you're going to do with it.

Answer on purpose.

Make it a great "purposeful" week!
EG

PS:

Want to help keep this newsletter subscription-free?
Choose whatever fits your life right now.

→ Click the ads … they quietly fund the newsletter $1-2 at a time
→ Contribute to the tip jar … from bus change to coffee to “this really helped” support
→ Share it … you get a consulting call after every 10 referrals
→ 1-on-1 deep dive in your business — exclusive subscriber coaching & consulting rates

Thanks for being here. 
Seriously! 
I do appreciate your support.

Help make better ads

Did you recently see an ad for Roku Ads Manager in a newsletter? We’re running a short brand lift survey to understand what’s actually breaking through (and what’s not).

It takes about 20 seconds, the questions are super easy, and your feedback directly helps us improve how we show up in the newsletters you read and love.

If you’ve got a few moments, we’d really appreciate your insight.

Take the survey.

Their first after-hours call was a $20,000 job.

Air Texas was paying $2,000 a month for an answering service that couldn't close jobs.

Their first after-hours call with Podium’s AI Employee booked a $20,000 job.

Now no call goes unanswered after 5PM.

See how it works

PPS:
Every email is based on what you ask for … the more something’s asked for, the faster it finds its way to the top of the to-write-about pile
📣 Tell me what you want to read about … here

🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn … here

📈 Want to talk about better marketing results for your business by being yourself?
Find a time that fits your schedule.