The Write Road: Time Is (not) On My Side

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." ― Michael Altshuler

60… 2600… 86,400… 31,536,000

No, that’s not a countdown for hiking a football, LOL.

And it’s not the number of pennies you’ll end up with if you save one the first day, two on the second, four the third day, and so on.

(Although, the numbers for that sequence are quite impressive. Do the math sometime!)

No, those are the accumulated seconds you have for:

• A minute – 60

• An hour – 3,600

• A day – 86,400, and

• A year – 31,536,000

Unless it’s a leap year, of course. Then….

I’m working on an article about “Time Freedom vs. Time Trap” for freelancers.

But I ‘d thought I’d take a “second” to give you a quick tip about harnessing your time.

Well… maybe more than a second, but definitely not 31 million of them. 😊

Why scheduling your time is so important

When you’re a full-time freelancer like me, you’d think that you’re the master of your schedule.

Not. Even. Close.

Sure, you’ve got some scheduling freedom that other people might not if they have a job with regimented hours.

But you’re not automatically the master of your time.

In fact, you need to master it and bring the time monster under control.

If you don’t, you’ll find yourself panicking at last minute deadlines you knew you’d make but didn’t.

Or finding yourself missing out on important stuff, like dinner dates, kids’ sporting events, or… worst of all for me… not being able to attend my granddaughters school functions.

And if you’re still working a full-time job like I was when I first started freelancing, creating a workable schedule become doubly important. Maybe even triply.

Or fourply. (Is that a word? Hey, I’m a writer. It is now!)

I’ll be the first to tell you I’m horrible at time management. Well, maybe the second. Mary’s told me time and again I needed to keep on schedule and stay on task.

And over the years, I’ve tried… I really have… to create a schedule that would work.

I’ve sat down in front of myriad planner and calendars and similar “time management assistants” only find myself starting at them blankly, not a clue in my head on what to do or how to write it down so it would make sense.

And the feeble attempts where I finally DID get something down on paper?

Yeah, they lasted about a week, if that long.

I’d inevitably forget something or what I’d planned just didn’t pan out, until…

I found a simple, yet rather elegant solution to my quandary.

And it’s one I’ve taught several of my copywriting mentoring student to use when faced with their own time challenges.

Helping them create a balanced work/life schedule that include time for work, time for play, and time for their family as well.

Here’s what it is. By using it conscientiously, I’m more relaxed and productive.

It’s my hope that you can be that too.

The issue was me, my bias, and lack of objectivity

Or maybe, just maybe, my plain old wishy-washiness.

I had trouble fitting everything into an orderly, well thought out list.

And every time, I’d miss something and would have to go back and rework the schedule again.

And again.

And…

You get the picture.

I needed someone, and in this case, something that would assist me in getting it all down and putting it in an order that made sense and I could work with.

Enter the AI scheduling mastermind.

Well, maybe not a mastermind exactly. But an unbiased, thorough assistant that could remind me or pick up on things I might have missed.

And it starts with a simple prompt. Not some extravagantly written, elegantly worded epistle loaded with intricate and convoluted messaging.

Just a very simple prompt, or more of a request that I might ask any time management coach:

“I want you to create a work/life schedule for me in chart form. What do you need to know?”

Mind-blowingly complex, right?

Nope, just a simple request to give Claude, ChatGPT or whatever AI you use. My personal favorite is Claude because I’ve trained it to know me better than the others. But ChatGPT also “knows” some of my intimate working details, too.

But here’s something important.

Notice I didn’t just ask Claude to create a calendar… I asked it what it needs to know in order to accomplish the task.

Figuring out what I need to include is one of my weak points. I always forget something, probably because I don’t always know what to include or when to include it.

Well, notice all the stuff Claude asked me to complete this massive undertaking.

It asked some pretty cool questions… stuff that makes me think. Like where I’m struggling and what’s not working well and, a big one to be sure… do I have any time wasters or distractions I need to get under control.

And that’s exactly what I’ll do. Copy and past this into a Word document, print it out, and then mull over the questions and fill in the answers.

Many of the chatbots, like Claude or ChatGPT, can create a download you can print out, usually a PDF.

Then, I’ll go back to my chat with Claude and tell it what I came up with. Once Claude has all my answers (and I may tell it some questions are irrelevant… but that rarely happens) the old Claudster will set to work and come up with a calendar chart in very short order.

I can also tell it if some of the scheduled entries aren’t valid or need to be changed.

It’s not one and done. It’s a process. But it doesn’t take 31,536,000 seconds by any means.

Check out this response I got from ChatGPT.

Notice some of the differences. Kind of interesting.

I might take some of that back to Claude and say, “Dude… you forgot to ask me this!”

Hey, wait a minute! Neither of them asked me how I like my coffee. Hmm…

And here the cool thing about all this. It’s not set in concrete, but thick mud.

In other words, if circumstances or obligations change, I can just upload the schedule back into the chat session and rework it. I save these sessions just for that reason.

My challenge for you

If you’re having trouble creating a schedule that works for you, try this simple exercise. If you can’t seem to fit it all in—work, family, freelancing, whatever—tap on the shoulders of one or more AI bots and get you some help!

By the way, note how both AIs asked questions about family obligations and blocking out time for them. I think that’s important.

Important because, while building a freelance business will take some commitment and even entail some sacrifices…

You don’t want to get so inundated that you end up with a schedule that both you and, more importantly, you family will hate it. Support will be vital as you work to succeed.

Make sure you save time for the important people you love and care about.

Hey, if you already have a great way to balance your work/life schedule, I’d love to hear about it. There are many roads to getting the results you want and need.

Your tip may help someone else who’s having scheduling challenges.

Until next time!

Steve M.