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Yesterday was a really weird day. It seems like Monday was Monday for everyone. Seriously MONDAY.
My site was down all morning. The Mister is out of town. Mikey has two reports due on Friday. I had to go to the funeral of my kindergarten teacher’s aide. (I didn’t have to, but come on.) My friend’s three kids are sick, and my other friend was laid off. I was an awkward witness to an argument between two people, twice. (Not the same two people, thank goodness.) Someone sent me an email I wasn’t supposed to get. An all around strange day for a lot of people.
Good things happened, too. I received the BEST message from a friend on Facebook. I went on my walk. Choir practice and Nico’s piano practice were cancelled, leaving time for Mikey to knock out an enormous chunk of one report. I’m back in the library. I haven’t had a migraine in days. And, because I didn’t procrastinate over the break, I have a quick post to share.
I don’t know if I ever mentioned Nico’s concussion from over the summer, but he fell off a pool slide and landed on his head. Hospital visit, doctors, etc. Months later, a questionnaire came in the mail for me to fill out. It was brief, so I kept putting it off. I finally sat down a couple of weeks ago to fill it out after I received another copy in the mail. It didn’t take me 5 seconds to complete. That piece of paper cluttered my inbox for months when it could have been in and out of the house without touching my desk.
My plan for the year will be to follow the first of Thomas Jefferson’s 10 Rules of Conduct. It goes hand-in-hand with The William Morris Project. The other 9 aren’t so bad, either.
Hang in There! cat // Jefferson’s 10 Rules print by Beautifuseful (nice name) available here.
Thank goodness you are back! I thought that ugly green screen thing had swiped your blog or something! Lots of Nevers up there, but v. sensible ones.
Yes, what a relief that’s over!
Ignore the NEVER, and it is a pretty good list.
I thought you had gone for ever. So glad you are back!
No way! I’m too stubborn and chatty. And, as a blogger, inherently narcissistic. ;)
This reminds me of an old Getting Things Done trick – The Two Minute Rule – if you come across a task, and it will take less than 2 minutes, then do it now. Genius.
My 2014 is feeling the same way as yours, I think. I don’t have any particular directives (other than daily writing) but I’m just suddenly very perplexed by piles of crap -physical and theoretical crap – I’ve been putting off for no apparent reason. Cheers to a new year of Clear it Out & Get it Done!
Someone on Instagram told me her husband’s rule for paper (also very good) is to touch something only once.
Touch Books Only Once is also a library-tech-services-efficiency rule, I have learned! It seems the universe is in agreement that we all spend too much time doing things (and putting off doing things) that give little reward.
Geez. I touch books 400 times at school.
Glad to hear your site is back up!
I have a tendency to put things off too, especially when work starts to pile up. Working from home part of the time doesn’t help with that – why do laundry when there are papers to grade? Even though I can grade while the washer is running? Yep…logic doesn’t rule with me most days.
I like the list at the end – it seems like a great mindset to have for a much less stressed life. :-)
I do loads and loads of illogical things. My Christmas decorations are still up, for example.
Oh my goodness – I LOVE those rules from Jefferson. I need to print that out and post it in my office.
Good list, right? Ignore all the dogmatic “NEVER” stuff, of course, but still good. I was going to type it all out in the post, but then I found the print on etsy and realized I could save my fingers the trouble (lazy) and support an indie artist. Win-win. ;)
I’m bummed because the print isn’t available right now. I’ve written to find out if they will get it back in stock.
Ha – I especially love the very last line of that list. That Thomas was a pretty smart guy! Sorry yesterday was not a great day. We had some not great stuff going on at work last Friday and someone voiced a concern about what that meant for 2014. I decided we’d have a “reset” and start the year this week. Like a mulligan in golf, I think.
I realize sometimes I spend more time moving a piece of paper around and putting it on my to-do list than it takes to actually do whatever is required. It’s crazy.
I need to use the mulligan phrase more often. I love it and always forget about it.
Have you read Getting Things Done by David Allen? The entire system he outlines is a huge effort to maintain, but in it he has some excellent ‘rules’, like the two minute rule: if it can be completed in less than two minutes, do it now. Which comes hand in hand with the ‘inbox’ system, where everything incoming goes into an inbox and then you process it in one session at a set time, doing all the things that can be done in under two minutes and putting the rest on a to do list. I used to follow the methodology thoroughly at work, but it required too much discipline once I moved to working from home. I hope to get back to a more flexible version of it, for my whole life, by the end of this year.
I haven’t heard of that book, but it sounds like something I should at least look into. Thank you!
Yay, I can read your blog again! I did pretty much the same thing. I had surgery at the end of August, and the survey came while I was still home recovering. I half filled it out–don’t remember why I stopped, but for months I shuffled that survey & the 2nd one they sent around. I don’t think I sent it in until I was cleaning to make room for Christmas stuff–so early December-ish. So silly.
For me, it’s like I think that since it will take so little time, I’ll “do it later.” Exactly the wrong attitude to have!
Still loving your blog and this new series. I feel for your day — my husband hit a deer with our minivan (which is less than a year old) and my five year old son got invited and then uninvited to a birthday party, so it was not the best either.
Uninvited!!!! >:(