I’ve had this Charles Dickens quote about why he frequently declined invitations on my mind for a while now:
“‘It is only half an hour’— ‘it is only an afternoon’ — ‘it is only an evening’— people say to me over and over again — but they don’t know that it is impossible to command one’s self sometimes to any stipulated and set disposal of five minutes — or that the mere consciousness of an engagement will sometimes worry a whole day.”
I love that line I bolded above; it’s so true. While it might seem odd to go back 168 years to find just the right quote to describe how even one virtual meeting can derail your workday (never mind the back-to-back schedule we busy entrepreneurs often have), it fits. This tells us that this is not just a “today” challenge but an eternal one. Plus, Dickens was one of the most prolific creative minds ever, churning out a weekly journal for 20 years, writing 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, speaking, doing readings, writing letters constantly, and campaigning tirelessly for social reforms — so it makes sense to take his badass time management advice.
Oh, and by the way, it’s not just meetings that can send your day into the crapper. It’s also unanticipated events that can have exponential impacts. For example, this is my allegorical “stat of the week”:
But, if I have to be honest, it’s not just a bunch of meetings and unanticipated events that impact my productivity and creativity. Something else is going on, and to be frank, it’s about finding not just the time but also the passion in my everyday work.
And that, I think, is somewhat biological. I’m just at the 40 mark, and I have to tell you, life isn’t what it used to be. It turns out I’m not alone: the “U-shaped happiness curve,” researched and described by journalist Jonathan Rauch in his book, The Happiness Curve, says there’s a big dip in life satisfaction in your 40s before it rebounds in your 50s. Ironically, the slump kicks in when you’re most successful.