The lifelong thorn in my side has been that there is never enough room in my purse, never enough table top to hold all my projects, never enough space on my hard drive, and certainly never enough time in a day to do all the stuff I want to do.
I am constantly trying to make my life more efficient so I can cram more stuff into it. More activities. More people. More red lollipops. More sharp Ticonderoga #2 HB pencils. More sheet music. More jam sessions. More pianos. More huge projects that take more and more people to pull off each time.
I find myself at a turning point in my life: I am wanting to change my behavior so that I don’t have that “heart in the throat” feeling all day long every day. It’s gotta be a mid-life crisis. I’m 49. I would like to be able to wake up refreshed every morning and looking forward to all my tasks for the day. And all those tasks would be fulfilling, and I would be able to easily accomplish them in the course of a regular day. And they would all be in line with the values and goals that I have.
For my own satisfaction, I thought I would document my progress. I have begun creating time sheets for myself of every waking minute in the hope of ripping out everything that gets in the way of my bigger values and goals in life.
Reading and answering e-mail can just not possibly be that important. At least not as important as giving timely pedicures to my 11-year-old daughter as she dances in these crazy things called pointe shoes.
Non sequitur #1: Meanwhile, I create incredible numbers of lists. I’m not sure why I do this. My friend Lauryn Feiler showed me how to draw tidy little check boxes next to all the items on my “To Do” lists. Now I find great satisfaction in checking off the boxes. It keeps everything looking pretty, and then you can still read all the stuff that you did.
Non sequitur #2: My friend John once referred to me as “a fly.” I think it’s because I can rarely stick with one activity or topic long enough to bring it to completion in one sitting. I begin several things at once and make my rounds around them until most of them are finished. A few usually get left off.
Tomorrow, I plan to record my first time sheet and get on with this project.