Having ONE drink with friends

My schedule is sometimes stupidly overbooked. On top of my research/teaching/consulting work, I get invited to all sorts of media (both traditional and new media) events all the time. Meetups, tweetups and events fill my calendar. I sometimes struggle to make time for my close friends who are not immersed in the online world. So, I often say to people “I have time for ONE drink“. Many times, I have pondered whether my friends understand what the meaning of “I have only time for ONE drink” is, and whether they feel offended. I recently had a chance to put my question to the test.

Mom and I decided to join Jason Sanders, Erica Hargreave and Liz Kearsley for ONE drink. I told Erica over the phone “we are coming down for just ONE drink, and ONE drink only“. She not only agreed, she also said “that’s exactly what our plan is too“. None of us really wanted to have a late night, but we wanted to spend time together, so we made time for one drink.

I find that if I make it clear for people that I have a limited amount of time, and that I wouldn’t be able to stay late or follow along (or “go with the flow“, as people often do, “where the night takes me“), most of my friends understand quite well and they don’t seem taken aback. It was a lovely, quick drink (except The Alibi Room is extremely noisy so it made conversation next to impossible).

I always find that having time for one drink with friends is better than not giving them any of my time at all. It’s the best possible solution to my continuous overbooking (and double/triple/quadruple-booking).

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