Why I lie about my schedule

I’m finishing a project and recruiting new clients right now. That means meetings. Meetings to discuss their book projects, and meetings to develop their ideas or critique what they’ve written.

But when they ask what times I’m free, I lie about how busy I am.

Here’s why.

I’m busier than I appear

After nine-plus years as a freelancer, I’ve created the ideal situation for myself.

I spend most of time writing, editing, and researching. Those are all high-value and lucrative activities that I enjoy. None of them are fixed to a particular time on my schedule.

I spend very little of my time in meetings. I don’t travel much, either. In a typical week I might have six appointments total.

If you work for a company, you may be jealous of me for that, and you should be. If you are a hustle-happy freelancer scrapping to make a living, ditto. It was hard work to get myself into a position where I’m earning a living mostly doing what makes me happy, and I intend to keep it that way.

The only problem occurs when a client or prospect emails to say, “What times are you free next week?”

You would think that if I tell the truth — “Just about any time that works for you is fine” — I’d be perceived as flexible. Nope. People just think I’m not very busy, which translates in their minds to “not very successful.”

I could be a little more subtle — “I’m working on long-term projects but my time is flexible” — but people think that’s just being evasive. They still hear, “Not very busy.”

I don’t use one of those scheduling tools like Calendly. If I leave all the available times open, I still look not very busy. If I block off a bunch of times, what’s left may not match what the client wants. And anyway, I think tools like this communicate the message, “My time is so important and scheduled so carefully that I’ll ask you to use an automated tool to find one of my rare openings.” When in fact, all you have to do is ask and I can probably accommodate you.

So I make a different choice. I lie — or at least imply that I’m busier than I am. I will usually respond with something like “I’m free Thursday at 1pm and 3pm ET or Friday between 10 and 2 ET. If those don’t work, suggest some different times.”

My suggestions are the times that would be least likely to break up the time I spend concentrating on work, but they’re not the only times I have free. And if the client, whose schedule is busier than mine, can’t match up to that, their suggested times are unlikely to conflict with the few appointments I do have.

So, everybody’s happy. I’m perceived as flexible and accommodating but still somewhat busy. But why is this subterfuge necessary?

Too many meetings

We live in a world where important people have busy schedules. If you’re not meeting with people all day long, you must not be somebody worthy of respect.

What baloney. It’s a shame.

Creative people need time to concentrate. I’m creative. I just happen to create things that business people are willing to pay for. If they’re able to pay and need that level of help, their schedules are probably pretty tight. My flexibility is an ideal match for working with busy people with tight schedules.

I like working like that. I like to be there for people in a way that they’re most likely to find useful.

I just wish I didn’t have to appear busy to appear valuable.

The next time somebody tells you they can meet you any time you want, ask yourself, how would it feel to have time that free and still earn a good living?

Would it make you happier?

It’s worth working towards. But you’ll have to get rid of the preconceptions you have about what makes someone important and their work worthwhile.

Until you can do that, I’ll have to keep lying about my schedule.

I’d like to say more, but then you might think I’m not that busy, and we can’t have that.