Agenda-less

Thanks to a whip-cracking week last week (which unfortunately did not include blogging–sorry, everyone), I currently have no pressing deadlines. Which meant that instead of making a to-do list for today, I went agenda-less. I woke up this morning with only two fixed engagements–work from 8 to noon and Joanna around 7. Everything else was negotiable.

So what did I do today?

If you guessed nothing, you don’t know me quite well enough.

Today, I did things and then wrote them in my planner and crossed them off.

I did my morning routine–and wrote “morning routine” in my planner and crossed it off. I went to work–and wrote “work” in my planner and crossed it off. I made new shelves for my shoes in my closet while waiting for my milk to heat up for yogurt–and wrote “closet-shoes” and “yogurt” in my planner and crossed them off. I decanted and strained some liqueur I started making a while back–and wrote “liquer” (yes, I spelled it wrong) in my planner and crossed it off. I worked some cross-stitch (quite a bit actually) on my sampler–and wrote “cross-stitch” in my planner and crossed it off. I watched Tom Sawyer–and wrote “Tom Sawyer” in my planner and crossed it off. I did dishes…

I think you get the picture.

I love being productive. I love putzing around the house. I love flitting from one thing to the next without a care in the world. These are the joys of being caught up.

So often, I live my life according to a tightly arranged agenda. I must get x, y, and z done by such and such a time. I must be here by then or else I’ll be late to there. I ran my entire undergraduate career–just trying to stay one step ahead. I started my graduate career trying to catch up (Mexico to grad school in 12 hours, remember?) So now it feels nice to finally be ahead.

Now if I can remember to live in what Stephen Covey calls “Quadrant II.” Quadrant II is all about doing the things that are Important but not Urgent. It’s making sure you never get to the place where you’re scrambling to meet deadlines. It’s an awesome place to be, theoretically. I don’t know for reality because I’ve never been there–I’ve always been playing catch-up, or racing the deadlines (Covey’s Quadrant I).

So then–
Today I’m agenda-less
Tomorrow I’m Quadrant II