Keeping Time

For years I arose at 3:30 am. I drove to Dennys and read the paper and drank coffee. Several of us did this for years, getting to know each other very well. About 5:45 I drove to the sports center for my daily workout. Then shower there, then home to dress for work. Then I was off to the office where I put in at least 9 hours, often lengthening the day with hosting a dinner meeting with clients. Long days.

Back then I invented my donut day. That’s a day where I kept the above schedule, but if I was up to date with work, and had a dinner meeting, I took time off during the day for lunch and a nap. Then back to work and traveling 30 to 60 miles for the dinner meeting. This schedule held for the week unless I had a client planning session scheduled for the weekend.

With planning weekends, I drove several hundred miles to the client’s conference site, set up the planning room, took a nap, then met with the client group for an evening session with dinner. Saturday was an all-day affair. I often had dinner and drinks before 7 pm, then went to bed. Up again the next morning by 3 or 3:30, followed by a drive back to Chicagoland by noon. Sundays were often spent in this manner, so I worked 7 days a week in those instances. I did this about 20 to 25 weekends each year.

I continued this schedule when I left my employer, a trade association, and opened my own consulting firm. I ran that operation for another 25 years before retiring. In retirement, I volunteered for the local chamber of commerce and then volunteered with SCORE. SCORE is a free federal program supporting entrepreneurs wanting to start small businesses. We also worked with existing small businesses to help them survive challenges and thrive. I did this for another 11 years, supporting several hundred clients and working about 30 hours per week. My specialty was nonprofits. I continued doing strategic long-range planning with boards and management teams for those small businesses. That work was all voluntary with no pay. I did receive reimbursement for expenses incurred for each project.

In retirement today, I can and do get out of bed later. It has taken a few years to break the early to rise habit, however. Now I can arise between 5 and 7 am. This morning, I had a 7 am Zoom session scheduled with a continuing SCORE client. I awoke at 6:55 and had to scramble to make the bed, dress and boot up the computer and the Zoom program. That took about 15 minutes, so I was late. The client was gracious and worked with me. More and more this is happening. I will eventually do away with early appointments and start around 8 or 9 am.

I suspect my time keeping is similar to other retirees. The early morning discipline was long practiced and allowed me productivity to support my workload. And all done without alarm clocks! Changing that habit is happening but with varying degrees of success!

December 5, 2025

 

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