I have my new strategy for creative freedom--in fact for the kind of weightless freedom from pressure I felt in my first two weeks post-surgery. It's a standard bit of yoga advice: don't strive. Or as my mother used to say when I was a kid: "don't strain your goozle." That can be hard to remember when one is trying to get everything in the world done in a day. Which is usually the case for me.
The only problem with "don't strive" is that it's a negative. Better to focus on doing rather than not doing. So I toyed with the idea of Nike's "just do it" slogan. That says basically the same thing, but sounds a bit grim and dutiful.
I've settled finally on the word "stroll" to describe the no-pressure approach to getting things done.
From now on, I'm strolling through my days. No getting all twist-legged about how much work is ahead to do. One thing at a time, done peacefully. I think this is going to work. In fact, I'm sure it is. It's already working.
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I love your strolling strategy... or perhaps not so much a strategy as approach.
This past week or two I have felt like a train chugging too fast for the tracks, a sure sign I need to focus on the moment-to-moment pleasures of tasks rather than the checklist in my head.
I have been known to throw the "to do" list in the trash when it starts to rule my days - may be time for that again...
I've started keeping a to-do notebook that I look at every day and pull out anything that must be done that day; I do what's due and then maybe a couple of optional items. This notebook keeps me from putting every single thing I need to do in my life on every day's list.
Thanks very much for the last 3 posts. Especially the one re: Martha Graham; very enlightening and a true treasure.
Kurt Vonnegut once said, in one of his novels (sorry, I forget which), and this is definitely a paraphrase, that "People (Americans?) live their lives like their is a big eye in the sky, always watching." At the time (mid 70's) I got the sense that Vonnegut was making a comment on the subconscious paranoia from which many of us suffer, a paranoia that tells us we must always be "working hard on something" or "be productive." Perhaps he was also saying "Hey, lighten up."
"Strolling" might be just the word. Or maybe, "Ambling with purpose." Kind of a non-sequitur, but perhaps on target.
I too keep a to-do list, because I must. One easy trap is making the list too long. When this happens, one becomes overwhelmed, confused, and ultimately nothing gets done.
So I have parsed it into a "Life" to-do list, which is, of course huge. It is broken down into Personal (further broken down into Organize, Education, Reading and Writing, Health, Financial, Career, et. al.), Home (e.g., Yard, Repairs, et. al.) and so on. These ultimately generate weekly and daily to-dos that are ADDED to the mundane routine to-dos (e.g., clean the damn kitchen, vacuum the damn living room, change litter, groceries, call so-and-so). I keep this stuff in a notebook, with tabs and the whole bit and use it as a point of reference.
Now, before you get too impressed, let me say that I MUST do this. I am quite challenged by ADD, which was diagnosed only a couple of years ago. And I too OFTEN get off track, and get nothing done. Technically, I am way behind. However, I ultimately summon the words LIGHTEN UP, which is almost starting to become my mantra, and get myself back on track.
Well . . . this has been a rather long-winded comment. Hope it's coherent!
Have a good stroll (or amble)!
Your list system is truly amazing, JMWing, and I'll bet it works. My lists get out of hand because I have just a touch of OCD. In my case, they're a symptom; and in yours a solution. Maybe we're both doing fine.
It is funny (and wonderful) that one person's symptom is another's solution... I was reading jmwing's system thinking how devastating it would be for me, also a tad bit OCD...:) I would get lost in my own lists!
I used to have daybooks for work, personal, and family stuff, with the corresponding to do lists in each. Gak!! It got really ridiculous - I would get all discombulated trying to figure out if/when certain events got listed in MORE THAN ONE daybook, and thus carried all of them around with me constantly.
Right now I am using the stickie note feature on my laptop to keep loosely-ordered lists. It was interesting to discover that once, when I accidentally deleted the whole thing, nothing bad happened. And I was suddenly quite free!
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