If you read the popular press, no doubt in recent years you’ve heard of the “gig economy.” Become an entrepreneur! Set your own hours! Explore your creative impulses! Work from anyplace you want! Sounds great, right? Well, sort of.

A lot of people ask me if I’m ever in the office. They see my social media feed – which, I’ll admit, distorts reality a bit because I never post from work – and think I’m always in exotic locations traveling to fish. I wish that was the case. I manage my vacation time very carefully. In fact, I’m quite stingy with it.

A lot of you have seen the incredible pictures that Bassmaster photographer James Overstreet takes every day. I’ve spent a lot of time in the boat with J.O., and the most amazing thing about his work is how nonchalant he seems en route to getting those world-class shots. He can be telling you a story about his grandfather, eating a pickled egg, adjusting his sunglasses and facing the wrong way, but when the action goes down he picks up his Canon, swivels around, and gets the killer shot.

Unless you are retired, or unemployed, or have a massive trust fund, then you probably have a finite amount of vacation time each year. Whether it’s two weeks, or three, or four, or more, it never seems to be enough to accomplish everything that would otherwise be possible.