I don’t travel light. I don’t travel with too much baggage either, but I always make sure that I have a book, paper, pens, and a computer so that I can get at things whenever an opportunity presents itself. This doesn’t make me special, but it does make me committed.
I believe in stealing time. Time I cannot see and can never anticipate. I am a thief because for some reason I have tasted the beauty of living and can’t get enough of it. I have never been happier. Never been more driven. I have never in any time in my life been so determined to see a few of my projects come to light.
My projects involve writing and photography. I either write, or edit, or plan to write and plan to edit. I also either set up commercial shoots, plan them, execute them, or edit and touch up the final images. The work is always different but the cycles are becoming very predictable but there is never enough time to do as much as I hope I could.
Marriage has its set of responsibilities as does fatherhood. Add to that various community commitments, a full time job, a daily two hour commute, and time pretty much hides on you and weeks turn into months, while months turn into years.
I’m not sure where I picked this up, but I have a very good habit of bringing work with me. It is a bit of a joyous burden to always have a backpack with you, filled with various resources, but I think it is worth it.
It doesn’t matter if the doctor is late a half an hour, or if the subway train has been delayed. It doesn’t matter what circumstances life throws at you, I have learned to steal back some unusable, often wasted time, which we don’t often see, but which counted up, adds up to tremendous missed opportunities.
Be prepared. Be prepared to get at whatever it is you dream of getting at. Bring the work with you when you can. I know that not everything works like that. You can’t cook, or put up drywall, or do a number of things and carry them inside a backpack, but you can do something. I can’t tell you how to pack and what to pack. Only you know what you can carry with you that will inch you closer and closer to being somewhere you’ve never been before.
In the final tally, happiness comes to those that steal a bit of time. Most people are resigned not to. Like a bad accountant, they are simply writing off hours and hours of time, as wasted time. They are ok with it, you should not be.
It should not sit well with you, especially if you dream out loud. You should try to find anytime, anywhere to do the things that you know you have to get it.
Success and happiness don’t happen in a linear line. If mapped out they are a chaotic mess of ups and down, stops and starts, and moments of stealing time.
There will never be enough time to do what you need to do, so you need to steal some of it for yourself. Bring some work with you, wherever and whenever you go. It’s not a burden, but an opportunity for greatness many others are not going to take.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Guilherme Stecanella | https://unsplash.com/@guilhermestecanella
