Making Committments

A friend from synagogue asked me to help out with a project. While I have doubts about the project itself, his request to do the kitchen component matches with my interests, skills, and desire for a challenge.  However, Sunday mornings, the assigned time, has been my protected time for much of my adult life.  Every Sunday morning, I retreat to my screen to see what's current.  I take out my planning papers, Semi-Annual Projects, and multicolored pens which allows me to outline my aspirations for the coming week.  At one time I went out for breakfast with some frequency.  Or I went fishing.  Or I went to a coffee house for a half-hour or so of quiet time with a writing pad to my right and the porcelain cup to my left.  Committing to a Sunday morning incurs opportunity costs.  None of what I might have done instead is irreversibly sacrificed.  My week will get outlined.  In my working years, and perhaps a bit beyond that, the planning pouch with its pens and papers got toted to the coffee shop.  I can go fishing anytime.  The synagogue event serves coffee and has other people present.  What I would miss may be less the project itself than the control over when I pursue them.  

And the date given is nearly three months in advance.  I don't even schedule my vacations three months in advance.  Or choose my OLLI courses that way.  While my initiatives are Semi-Annual, and they all have the completion deadline component of a SMART goal, virtually none have an assigned date and time.  Appointments go on my weekly outline and whiteboard as I compile a list each Sunday morning.  They do not become part of Semi-Annual Projects which function better with flexibility.  Appointments months in advance have a way of hanging over me that long.  I dislike that.  It should be far enough in the future for me to prepare, though not so far as to have me staring at my calendar.  I know when Seder and Yom Kippur are, but I don't bring either into my need for action until they approach.  For time in the kitchen, a week or two will suffice, if I am willing to yield that Sunday morning at all.