The report was far from perfect, but there was no more time for changes. The deadline had come. This was what we had to go with.

I’d flipped through the 16 pages twice already and was about to start my third pass when Steven came to my office. He stood slumped over in the doorway feigning exhaustion, as though he were struggling to remain upright.

“Did you have anything else to add?” he asked.

“It wouldn’t matter if I did,” I replied. “We’re out of time.”

The approval meeting would be tomorrow at 11:00 AM. That meant we had to distribute the report by 3:00 PM this afternoon. I’d received Steven’s draft at 2:45 PM. Revising what he’d provided wasn’t an option.

“I wish we had at least one more day to work on it. I feel like even though it was rushed, we got everything ready. But, an extra day to fine tune everything would have been nice,” he said.

I agreed and thanked him for the work he’d done. There was more to say, but this wasn’t the time and I wasn’t the person to say it.

We’d received the deal the week before and it had technically been labeled as a “rush”. We originally had three days to work on it, but our approval meeting was pushed back in order to allot us a fourth day. This should have been ample time, yet we were still scrambling up until the deadline. And now, Steven was expressing his desire for an extra day, not understanding he’d already been given one.

None of this would have bothered me had Steven’s effort corresponded with the comments he was now making. But, it hadn’t. In fact, it hadn’t come close.

Steven was in a different group at our company and he did not report to me. This group allowed for a flexible work schedule, a common practice at our company. Steven typically worked 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. His schedule would never have been described as grueling. While I had my opinion about his hours, I wasn’t in a position to manage his time.

The issue I had, however, was Steven’s adherence to his schedule throughout this past week. It was comical to hear someone who’d left at 4:30 PM each day say he needed more time. It was like hearing a friend complain of being broke after returning from a ski trip.

Steven had clearly had enough time, but his viewpoint on time prevented him from seeing that. He saw a hard cap on the eight hours he spent at the office each day.  Within those confines, he felt he’d maximized his output.  Somehow the concept of working late had never crossed his mind.  

I was angry and for what I felt was a good reason. But, I was also curious because Steven wasn’t faking it.  He legitimately thought he’d had a tough week. He thought he had worked hard. That’s what was so puzzling. Maybe he didn’t understand what was expected of him?  Maybe he was too young? Or, maybe he didn’t know he was supposed to stay past 5:00 when necessary?  Whatever the reason, it was clear Steven’s concepts of available time and productivity were drastically different from mine. They were so different, in fact, that his behavior made me question myself and I wondered whether there were things I was blind to in the same way Steven was.

I thought about my typical week. I always felt busy, yet also felt there was always more to do.  Each week concluded with items left on my to-do list.  There were calls I didn’t make.  There were deals that still needed to get reviewed.  Even away from work, there was progress that wasn’t achieved.  There were writing goals that I didn’t meet.  There were workouts that were cut short.  There were home projects that would remain incomplete.  But, each week I also watched TV. I also screwed around on my phone and surfed Youtube.  I still managed to waste a lot of time within my “busy” week. 

The problem was never time.  The problem was my discipline about spending it.  There was room to work more and play less.  Time spent on leisure could be reallocated to productivity.  It would be less fun, but fun isn’t necessarily the goal.  The satisfaction of accomplishment is the ultimate aim and it can only be achieved with extra time and attention.  Continually trimming the fat of wasted hours in the week is a never-ending process, but it’s necessary.  Nothing is achieved in a vacuum.  So, if I want to get more things done, I’ll need to find more time to do them.  There will always be enough time and I will always be busy, it’s just a matter of deciding what I will be busy doing.