Warning: Sports Metaphor Ahead.

Yesterday, I felt like a marble trapped in a Cuisinart. Or that I was standing at the wrong end of a shooting gallery.

After two days out of the office for a small commercial shoot,  I had, in baseball parlance, come back with one foot in the bucket. I felt unsteady and unbalanced and, of course, under a crazy amount of pressure.

The truth of the matter is that in my long career--I've been working in advertising since 1984--I am busier now than I have ever been. 

I must say, it's a good kind of busy. Where I may have moments where it feels like things are moving 14% too fast, that's better, more productive, and more conducive to producing good work, than moving 14% too slow.

It's a bit like playing a competitive basketball game in the park, as I used to do--years ago when I had a bit more spring in my step.

Those schoolyard games were tough. I was almost always the oldest on the court, and the worst offensive player. On the other hand, I was often the tallest and, in many ways, the most tenacious.

Of course those games moved fast--they were played against New York City high school kids. But their speed made me faster--and made me into more of a bruiser as well. Because, I figured, if I can't keep up with young gazelles, at least I can slow them down.

That's what's happening now at work. We're sprinting and cutting and jumping and, more often than not, making our shots.

Like those games I played so many years ago, my office today is a damn good work-out.

And, like those games, I may walk off the court limping, and bruised and even clutching my barrel chest.

But you know what, I enjoy the game.