Defined Tasks

Returned from a brief vacation, three nights at a ski resort quickly defined as a sacral injury while snow tubing.  I had my laptop and cell phone with me, along with a list of what I hoped to accomplish for the week, created a few hours before leaving home.  I did some, including a few important things.

Once home, partly on the mend, other activities await.  Part of the purpose of this vacation was to defer doing those items.  Now back at home, my Daily Task List has returned to its excessive length, though with priorities defined by importance and designated as three Musts.  Many things don't have clear endpoints, do them and they are done.  Those that do got my attention as I return to My Space.  

My home had some minor water damage noted a few weeks ago.  Call the home repair expert.  Done.  Shabbos approaching.  Defrost what I need for dinner.  Cooking mostly done before I left.  Just defrost and heat before candle lighting.  Frozen items thawing in fridge.  My indoor plant watering protocol got modified.  Water them, keeping them outside if the temperature will not freeze them.  Done.  Unpack.  Almost done.  Read an NEJM Case of the Week and claim CME Credit.  Done.  Review things I will need to do for an MRI scheduled next week.  The Radiology Office sent me a list.  Read and understood.  Normally I make a video every Monday.  Postponed by travel, now completed and watched.  Return to my stretching and treadmill sessions.  Modified by injury by done.  Review commentaries for Torah portion that will be recited on Shabbos.  All four read.  Take BP and record it.  Done.  Select an e-book or audiobook from the library.  Done and briefly started.  Submit my course selections for Osher Institute.  Done and tuition paid.  Make sure my Medicare Plan F premium autopay went through.  It did.  Make sure a snafu with a restaurant credit care purchase got resolved.  It did. Register for an upcoming synagogue event.  Done.

It seems like a very productive time my first day home.  It's deceptive.  My Daily Task List runs two columns in four categories.  I cannot do everything on the list.  Sometimes choosing what not to do matters more.  For my first day home, I performed things that require no analytical thought other than mastering the Journal article and making my weekly video.  They are otherwise well defined tasks.  Make a call.  Send in a registration list.  Walk on a treadmill. Take my blood pressure.  Water plants.

Lurking on the list, with some hope of at least starting before bed time remain the challenging items.  Creative writing, reading the ebook that I just selected, restoring my violin case from a recent infestation, doing some of the mulit-step home upgrades.  End points for those have less clarity.  They should take priority, but some days, like today, dispatching the nudgy items that won't crop up on tomorrow's list seem's the best path forward.  It makes for a good day.