Until you work for yourself and depend upon the hours you log, you won’t understand the concept of billable time.

I know I didn’t. Until now.

When I was salaried, I took getting paid for granted. I showed up, they gave me a check. It didn’t matter if I didn’t have anything to do (and at the last job, this was true 90% of the time). It didn’t matter if I didn’t do anything all day but stare at the computer trying to will it to work for me. They would still pay me.

In fact, this sort of behavior is accepted workplace behavior. To an extent. If you go to the soda machine thirty times a day, people will figure you’re thirsty. If you wander around chatting most people don’t care, as long as you’re not obvious. Go to the bathroom at least once an hour, spend ten minutes away from your desk, come back and blame it on bad chicken? That works too.

The best way, however, to avoid work is to be a smoker. They get away with everything. If things get rough? Go out for a smoke! Meeting lasted too long? Smoke! Get chewed out for spending too much time in the bathroom? Smoke! It’s the perfect excuse to go and think about something other than work.

But, sit at your desk and zone out for five minutes to take a mental break . . . you’re a slacker. You can’t do it. Put a cigarette in your mouth and you’re exonerated.

Back to billable time. My livelihood now depends upon how many hours I work in a day. To the exact minute. If I work fewer than X hours a week, we cannot pay the gas bill. So, I’m constantly staying ahead of X. Not that it’s hard to find the work. . .

Working freelance, at home, takes discipline. There are hundreds of distractions around me. From television to neighbor spying to cleaning. These are worthwhile activities.

But I am disciplined. I divide my day by work I get paid for and work I hope to get paid for someday.

It’s the way time works that’s the problem.

I have morals. I admit that. I like to offend people, but I don’t like to screw them. So, billable time becomes tricky.

For example, on any given day I’ll receive thirty emails. Some are work related, others aren’t. But they all come to the same address. Now, if it takes me thirty minutes to read my mail, I can only charge for the ones that are work related. Otherwise, I’d feel unethical.

Time it takes to make coffee? Can’t charge for that. If I worked at the office, I’d get paid to do it, but otherwise . . . no. It’s wrong.

The thirty minutes it took me to find the right CD to write letters to authors to? While work related . . . not a necessary task. Isn’t billed.

Brother calls me while I’m in the middle of putting together material for reviewers? Can’t charge it. We talked way too long.

You see, life is all about how you measure things. Mine’s measured in billable time. How’s yours measured? Everyone has a measure. Whether it’s counting the days to your next vacation or tracking how much time you spend online. A good day to you can be summed up somehow. What is it?

The important thing is to know what your life is measured by, but not to be ruled by it. It’s all about balance. These days I’m thankful for billable time. I now know when I’m work Gary and when I’m not. There’s something satisfying in that.