Monday, August 25, 2008
The Countdown
I have a calendar at work. It sets on a shelf and all twelve months fit nicely on a letter-sized piece of card stock. I mark off the days in blue pen. I have calculated that at end of July, the year was 58.33% over, and August, 66.67% done. A good day is coming back from a rare three day weekend in which I can not only cross out four days, but strike through a row as well. It is satisfying. But I have to wonder, why? What am I counting down? There is no "last day of school" to look forward to, no X amount of days until Senior Year. There are no more immediates in my life. I'm in it for the long haul, counting down to retirement, or death. And based on my calendar, I am thousands of blue checks away, and a very small percentage of being done. Damn the electric fence.
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4 comments:
I concur. I have blank to-do list templates that I make copies of whenever I start running low. And then I calculate, ok so I made 15 copies, this will keep me busy until..... about Christmas. Sigh. Our copy machine is tear-stained, but I'm always careful to wipe off the glass.
funny comment josh. i do hear you though. many times i think about this topic in a similar way. the only thing that helps me is to break up the monotony with goals or even just events in the future of varying durations. it really helps when you have something you can visually see the blue marks getting closer to. i'm not going to call them goals, i'll call them future events i am looking forward to getting to, if you will. here are some of the events: financial targets, debt payment targets, workout targets, trips back to kansas to have home brewed beer with my two best buddies(and to smell the ks air, it really is great, and the constant wind helps jam it into your lungs), holidays/days off of work, trips back to kansas, professional certifications, starts/finishes of different types of work assignments, conventions/trainings, trips back to kansas, cold fall and winter kansas air hitting your face making you feel alive(kinda sappy but you've heard me say i like the cold), and............. lunch... anyway, those are some of the things that help me deal with the mundane.. a big npr peace to you!
btw-ive got a perfect example for you to mark on your calendar.... getting to see the coolest dude ever at thanksgiving....mckenna...oh seriously dude... that would be me.
Maybe I should do both suggestions, make to do lists and set some goals. I already highlight the holidays in green, so let's get crazy and mark "target dates" in blue or something to that effect. Then I can make a to do list with those tasks and have something else to mark off to show the passage of time.
I am also looking forward to hanging out with the coolest dude on the west coast...I'll write that down.
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