Lately I've been working really hard. I work on a novel from 5:30 in the morning or so until about 8 or 8:30.  Then I work for a client who has a lot going on, doing everything from writing marketing pieces and press releases to running webinars. The rest of the time on their clock I try to get work out of people I don't manage and who don't need to do what I say. Fortunately, I have a teenager, so have learned authoritative persuasion without real enforcement capability.

Then I have to do things like exercise or cook dinner for the kids or manage my finances or keep the garden from drying out or being overrun with weeds. Not to mention doing the reading that will be the foundation of the book after this one.

None of this is natural to me. I have a great talent for leisure. Sitting in the garden reading a book, drinks with a friend, a bike ride--it doesn't take much to make me happy. So work has a high opportunity cost--I've always half thought that extremely hard-working people fear the challenge of unstructured pleasure, and so stick with that which can be clearly defined.

But instead of goofing off and doing those things, I'm working. So I figured out how to manage that, finally, at this advanced age. We'll see how it works out.