💌 Time Well Spent: "A schedule defends from chaos and whim"

Is that a good thing? Not necessarily . . . plus 🎁 a special gift or two for you inside :)

Hi Friends,

Welp, I’m turning the big 4-0 on Monday 😬 I’ve never been big on birthdays, and my turns o’ the decade seem to follow absurdly chaotic years; 2013 was my last “apocalypse year” and there wasn’t even a pandemic preceding it.

Speaking of chaos, in honor of the occasion, I’d like to give you a gift! A 14-day free trial to Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h with Jenny Blake: Divine disaster diaries from a breadwinning business owner living in New York City.

Because this is a paid project, most of the essays are behind a paywall—this link will enable you to read the 30+ essays in the archives (45K words of a “business reality TV” book in itself, as Leanne Hughes lovingly called it). You’ll also get twice-weekly posts for the next two weeks. Here are a few of readers’ favorites:

• Writing My Way Out

• Morning Rush, Afternoon Crushed: Part One, Part Two

• Love That! For You 🙄

• BBB & BBQ

• Mutually Assured Rejection: Part One, Part Two

🎁 Get two free weeks of ‘doh at this link » (Good through 10/21/23)

I’d also love your input on something . . .

Now that I’m on Substack, I have the option to send out the full podcast show notes via email — here’s an example of what mine look like.

I publish the Free Time pod twice a week, but would only send show notes via email on Tuesday for guest episodes; solos will be mentioned via Friday’s Time Well Spent round-up (what you’re reading now). So, I’d love to know:

Now onto this week’s round-up! + Plus extra goodies over the paywall rainbow at the end . . .

⚙️ Tips & Tools

🎥 My love language is words of affirmation, so I launched a Tribute for my birthday, a video compilation of greetings from friends and family. If you feel called to leave one today or tomorrow before the deadline closes, you can do that here! I also wanted to share this service in advance of the holidays, since it makes a great gift :) Big thanks to Sarah K Peck who put this service on my radar!

🔊 This week’s podcast guest Ilise Benun (self-employed for 35+ years now!) shared a tip for adding an elevator pitch and call-to-action to an unexpected place on your LinkedIn profile: a 10-second audio intro (here’s how) from within the mobile app.

Here’s Ilise’s example:

Check out the Quick Tips newsletter she mentioned in the audio intro

☎️ Fun fact: Ilise puts her phone number in her newsletter, on her website, in her signature, and in the “From” line of her emails. Why on earth would you do this?! I asked, given my general allergy to phone calls and text messages. Her reply:

• I want to be available, and for my number to be easy to find

• I never want to give off the impression that “I’m too busy”

• I put a lot of cushion in my schedule so I don’t have to rush, so I’m not under pressure

• At this point, people seem to be afraid to pick up the phone without an appointment, so people rarely call my number.

• But when they do reach me, people are genuinely thrilled!

  “I love it. I love the feeling of somebody being thrilled that you answer and there’s a real person there.”

For more great gems of wisdom, listen to our two conversations here:

🎉 Featured

I’m delighted to share that the Japanese edition of Free Time is out! Shout-out to Mari Imada who has been a brilliant ambassador in Tokyo and beyond :)

+ Big thanks to Reflection.app for featuring Free Time in their new series of guides!

In this guide, Jenny Blake helps us free up our time by building sophisticated systems and trusting a "Delightfully Tiny Team" to handle the details. Discover how to work fewer hours while energizing your business and creating a joyful experience for clients and community members.

Experience the guide here »

For three month trial of their Premium Plan, use this link: 👉 Get your 3 months free

reflection.app

A post shared by @reflection.app

📆 Upcoming Events

🎙 Podcasters: don’t miss this year’s Podcasting for Business Conference by One Stone Creative, the production wizards behind Free Time and Pivot.

I’ll be delivering a session on Private Podcast Feeds: 3 Creative Ways to Enhance Your Business and Serve Your Community on Nov. 15 at 10:30am ET.

• Free Timers (that’s you!) can get 15% off registration with promo code JBE15. Or upgrade to an annual subscription here and you’ll get a promo code to enroll for free ($197 value) in the footer of today’s email.

• Paid subscribers and BFFs: You are invited to attend at no cost as my VIP guests! Scroll down below my signature for instructions on getting your comped pass.

💬 Quote

“A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.”
—Annie Dillard via Sarah Young’s Friday Favorites

💭 Questions

In what ways do you over-book yourself to “defend from chaos and whim?”

If you often feel stretched, strapped, and/or stressed: how can you create more spaciousness this quarter?

If this quarter is already crammed, what will you do differently to protect your free time in Q1? Listen to this episode for some ideas »

📝 Permission

To schedule half as many meetings. Most people can wait; they don’t need you to cram them into the few remaining crevices of an already overbooked week.

Try giving out your phone number saying, “My schedule is tricky this month, but I’m usually free most afternoons between 3 - 5, try me anytime,” or “I’m not scheduling much at the moment, but I’m open most afternoons.” If they really want to reach you, they’ll call. If you’re free in that moment, you’ll pick up.

I also love suggesting asynchronous communication in lieu of a calendar entry. Ask them to submit their questions, then reply with a Vocaroo note, or if you don’t mind a little more back-and-forth, connect in apps like Voxer, Telegram, Marco Polo, etc.

🎙 Recent Episodes

Free Time:

• 230: What’s your ratio of quantity to quality for ongoing creative work?

• 229: How (and When) to Trust Yourself and Others with Ilise Benun

• 228: The Burdensome B’s—Four Red Flags Signaling it’s Time to Make The Big (Delegation) Leap

• 227: 🎁 The Best Gifting Strategies and Biggest Mistakes with John Ruhlin

• Subscribe wherever you listen here »

Pivot:

• 342: “Whatever Comes Through Me Comes for Me First,” with Nicole Antoinette

• 341: Pivoting from Prestigious Consulting Jobs to the Pathless Path with Paul Millerd

• 340: 8 Lessons Learned From 8 Years Of Hosting The Pivot Podcast

• Subscribe wherever you listen here »

Thank you for being here reading and listening!

❤️ With Gratitude,

---

P.S. Extra Goodies Over the Paywall Rainbow 🌈💰

🔐 Thank you to our generous paying subscribers who help sustain Time Well Spent! Upgrade to unlock this week’s make-you-smile memes as a token of my gratitude ☺️