How important is it to you, at day’s beginning, to know what you will have done by day’s end?
I ask myself, Do I know what I want to have done by bedtime tonight? Enough that I …
- Plan for it?
- Dress for it?
- Mark out an hour or several in my planner to tackle it? You know, the actual steps of activity I will take.
Remember those old Think and Do workbooks we had as school-kids in the primary grades? (Or maybe you’re way too young — but still, I’ll bet you had something similar…)
Think and Do: Thinking is good. So is doing.
I love the thinking part — I can think and plan and boost my energy levels while walking or working out or sitting with coffee and a pen, even while driving. I make lots of notes…
But it’s in the doing those notes that I sometimes get bogged down.
Doing requires me to get up, recharge my brain, start, go! Stay mentally and physically mobile until I get to the having done something part.
And I love that part — I feel good. Having done something I set out to do is in itself an energizer!
How about you?
It’s been a while since I made coffee online — but I still brew a bunch of it in real life for those who stop by.
I’ve missed you all. Please have a cup of Italian roast (or a bottle of water) and join me for a chat… Thank you for coming.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad to see you back!…and mulling and sharing over coffee, too.
I find, in this season of my life, that I no longer complete daily “to do” lists. Much less stressful to do what comes up or needs to be done, allowing opportunity for something impromptu…
I was recently on vacation for a few days…wanting to accomplish a lot of stuff that just doesn’t get done during the work week — so, I made a list. About halfway through my vacation time, I reviewed the list and found I had completed only one of the number of things to do, which kinda surprised me. But, while the others were noble, wise, etc., they were “important” in the thinking or planning stage….but less so in the “do it” phase.
BTW, I REALLY enjoyed my vacation time!
Hi Sharon,
I like impromptu! In fact, I love it and think it ranks up next to number one for having done it! Like the time we jumped out of an airplane in Hawaii. Completely unplanned, but we too were on vacation, saw the parachutes in the distance while taking a glider ride, and later drove over just to “check it out.” Half a day later we had contracted with the master jumpers — to whom we’d be tethered for the 2-mile free-fall and parachute ride — donned our own jump suits and did the deed. Oh yeah — impromptu can be fun!
I really like what you said about the noble and wise items on your list being more important in the thinking stage than the doing. That’s insightful, and I believe you are absolutely right! Thank you.
Barb
Hi. Welcome back.
Karol
What a bright note to find your blog in my inbox this morning!
And I had lain in bed earlier mulling over what I wanted to do today. The “have to” stuff I remember, but I need to remind (or push??) myself to pick up the Spanish lessons I’m self-teaching and to practice some hymns for our small church on Sunday (so, as a still novice player, I don’t panic on Saturday).
I do make lists too…and never get to the end of them, but without some kind of planning, I find myself drifting and not accomplishing what I’d like to. Still, happily, I’m rarely at a loss for things to do!
Terro´s last blog ..Practice Makes Perfect!
Thanks, Karol Grace. I’m glad to be back and have some fun plans in the works. Life is good.
Hi Terro. Your morning thoughts mimic my own, not in the actual activities, but in the process. I also am never at a loss — boredom is not in my vocab. Disorganization pesters me though. (Perhaps I should disavow it. I ALWAYS find a parking place. A good one. I expect to. That should be its own lesson to me, don’t you think?)
Thanks for your comments.
Barb
Lovely to see you back, Barb! I missed those cups of coffee and chats that set me thinking!
I decided to make my blog a ‘niche’ blog giving news, tips and examples of finger painting on the iphone or ipod touch. Even so, I hope you’ll still visit it sometimes. Mostly I feed it now from the paintings I post on Flickr, and fewer words. I find that enormously less stressful, as although I have been a professional writer, I don’t take to writing easily and much prefer drawing.
That makes my ‘To Do’ list a lot less of a burden too. I didn’t have a Plan and Do book like you, but we all had to make To Do lists at boarding school, and I’ve kept one ever since. Sometimes I think it’s a good thing, sometimes not.
Valerie Beeby´s last blog ..iPhone Painting. The Old Balloon Man.
Hi Valerie. I just left your blog post The Old Balloon Man and am amazed at what is being painted in such small spaces. The iTouch screen is, I suppose, the size of the Art Trading Cards (ATC’s) but to actually paint with your fingers such complicated works as I saw on the Flikr sites blows me away. I’m awed!
Of course I will visit you — whatever you write, short or not, is worth reading.
I sometimes just write a ToDo list in my journal. So if I’m ever tempted to panic for lack of one, I can always flip through and find what it was I wanted to have done. Hence, no boredom. Ever.
Thanks for stopping by, my friend.
Barb
I have really missed your posts. I hope you were well.
You always give me some thinking exercise.
My spouse of 48 years still expects to have an agenda for the day upon awakening. Some days I just want to let the day happen. Somehow we still live together.
Carol
Hi Carol. I appreciate your comments. I live with a man — 46 years and counting and loving every year of it — who could not entertain “just letting the day happen.” Though sometimes it does just that, serendipitously, if that’s a word. (We don’t do TV except me — NCIS and The Good Wife and Leverage and now White Collar. But it’s never part of our days.) Life is good. We’re both healthy and still eager to explore. So I guess we do some of both. Check the ToDo list for what we must do and sometimes put it away just to go have a coffee date together. And read. And share.
What we both do is count each day precious.
So glad that you are back, I was so worried. I tried emailing several times to check on you.
You were definitely missed!
Thank you so much, Bean. I’ve signed up for your Twitter class because I miss being mentored by you, my friend. You are one of a handful of online friend/guru/mentors that I hold dear.
That you stopped by warms me. Thanks.
WOW I love your blog. You some amazing stuff here. This post in particular is close to my heart right now. I have spend a lot of time thinking about what I need to do and when I write myself a list at the beginning of the day, it feels great to check things off at the end of the day. What a boost!! So glad I found you on Lance’s blog.
Thanks, Yira. And now, especially at this time of year — the newness of it and all — people get serious about making those lists. At least for a month or so. I agree with you — checking things off means we accomplished something we planned to do. I love that feeling…