My only red X was because I forgot to tidy my apartment for 5 minutes after waking up. The numbers that look red are actually orange, a color indicating I was “off” by a little.
I spent a little too much time on Business, Unpleasantries, and Reading. But now it’s 9:15pm and I don’t know what to do. I already did everything. Today was one of the most productive days of my life, and had some of the most relaxing moments I’ve had off-vacation in years.
“Unpleasantries” is an emotional category. It means, “things I never feel like doing in the moment”, such as making a dentist appointment or calling Verizon. These are candidates for procrastination, and if I don’t make a special category for them, they will never get done.
It’s all about limits. I can get neurotic with unlimited time — not just in general in my life, but in any moment. I love that everything I do has an impending cutoff. It doesn’t make me work harder, but smarter. “I shouldn’t be checking Tumblr” is a MUCH easier thing to admit during a 90-minute business sprint than a 7 hour shift.
Oh, and I credit some of this to Rob Mizell’s suggestion of pre-visualizing the day. In ten minutes I solved a lot of daunting problems, which were really just balls of anxiety that held no power whatsoever. The instant I brought them into my awareness they evaporated.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow. This is a computer program that I build on the weekend and takes a whole week to run. A good Monday is no guarantee of a good Tuesday, etc.
Good night.
