consciously create my day

My best days are when I can manage to achieve this goal, so sitting at the #2 spot on my list is a good place for it.

I feel very productive and happy when I do this.

The lazy part of my brain has a delusion that doing productive things is icky and tedious, but no, no, no! It is satisfying to get things done.

Nice to see you all, I’m off now, going back to continue on my consciously created day. :)

January 1st just seems like a great clean-up day . . .

So that’s what this day is all about.

My husband left for Afghanistan early this morning, and there’s some post-Christmas putting-away-of-stuff left to do, mostly stuff he’d put away if he wasn’t busy this year getting ready to leave.

So, first: Away with all things Christmas.

Second: Clean up the things I usually would have cleaned another time over the last week but didn’t because I didn’t want to waste the week before he left cleaning house.

Third: Catch up on the newspapers I didn’t read for the same reason as listed under “second” except replace “cleaning house” with “reading newspapers”

Fourth: Straighten up my office/work space. I’ll be using it a lot more over the next few months; it’s a bit cluttery in its current state.

Let’s start with that.

This goal goes hand-in-hand with “Make 2008 my best year yet.” My ideal, consciously created day(s) would go something like this:

—No more than 1 hour on the Internet. Less is better.
—Write. More is better.
—At least 30 minutes of reading a good book. More is better.
—Watch a film I’ve never seen before.
—Eat good food.
—Exercise.
—Do something proactive (albeit probably small, perhaps a little step toward a larger action) to help other people, animals, the environment.
—Read that day’s newspaper. (I tend to let them pile up, then have a stack to read all at once.)
—Take care of the necessary household chores and must-do errands, but not squander any more of my day than necessary doing these things. My house does not have to be spotless, even if I’m having a guest over.
—Work on at least one of my hobbies (or wannabe hobbies) like sewing.

I’ve seen this goal here and there; cheered it a few times. With 2008 looming, it seems like a good time to adopt a goal like this.

As of now, I tend to live my days in a free-form way, getting things done in no particular order, sometimes not getting things done, being subject to distraction . . .

I don’t want a day like “At 3 p.m., I’m going to do this. At 4 p.m., I’m going to do this.” That would drive me crazy. However, looking back on a day and seeing that it was mostly squandered on things that at the moment seemed like they were good enough activities but in retrospect were silly diversions, also drives me crazy.

I want to consciously create each day in a way that I get enough of the “I have to do this” stuff done and also have time for some of the “I want to do this” stuff. I want my days to be productive but balanced.

I want to go to bed each night knowing I lived the day well. I think, if I manage my days better, I might be able to fall asleep at night. I’ve mentioned at least a few times here on 43things that I have persistent insomnia. I think at least part of my inability to fall asleep is because of stress. Lists of all the things I need to do run through my head in an endless loop. I feel like I’m not done with my day yet and I need to do tasks before I can go to bed, or else I lay awake worrying about the next day.