Today I’m a day older than I was yesterday and this month marks the bridge between two significant anniversaries for me this year: twenty-five years of self-employment and fifteen years since developing into Step-Up Finance. But there’s a problem with marking birth days – at a certain point in life, they become striking reminders of the passing of time.
The irony is that filling all the minutes of a day, focusing on whatever the job in hand is, means I too often lose track of time – time passes unnoticed. Data enables me to connect to the world like the cogs in a mechanical clock, yet I never hear the ticking of the minutes passing. I have a clock on my pc, on my phone, even on my fit-bit, measuring the minutes and seconds of the passing days, capturing, mapping and monitoring how my minutes are spent and structured but there’s still rarely ever enough time.
In another life I was able, for a few moments, to freeze time. Like watching an accident (when you can hear the ‘Noooooo!’ go on forever), appearing to be in slow motion exiting planes with a parachute has the same effect with time freezing (but without the ‘Noooooo’ noise). The moment between starting to fall – and the ‘chute opening – holds nothing but the sound of wind in your ears. Not wishing to expand a metaphor too far, it’s similar to starting something new in business, starting out in business or starting up a business. The beginning can feel like standing still… and a lot longer than it really is. Stepping out into the edge. There’s nothing around you. You’re seeing the world differently.
Even though I’ve spent a lot of my business years staring; at screens, spreadsheets and zeros, there hasn’t been a sense of time standing still. There is no clock-watching in business and self-employment as we instead focus on coordinating with others – their sense of time-keeping and deadlines integrate into our days. I’m not alone. Never having enough time seems to be a big challenge for everyone. We all need more time. Something new in the day is similar to dropping about 2,000 feet in ten seconds, it gives the brain a free-fall holiday and a fleeting sense of control over time.
Even though I’ve spent a lot of my business years staring; at screens, spreadsheets and zeros, there hasn’t been a sense of time standing still. There is no clock-watching in business and self-employment as we instead focus on coordinating with others – their sense of time-keeping and deadlines integrate into our days. I’m not alone. Never having enough time seems to be a big challenge for everyone. We all need more time. Something new in the day is similar to dropping about 2,000 feet in ten seconds, it gives the brain a free-fall holiday and a fleeting sense of control over time.