Work week nearing its shabbos closure. Sunday began, as most do, with optimism. Things on a long list mostly with a purpose. Some appointments. OLLI, a lecture with a special guest, the first installment of a weekly class. If I need to be someplace, I am, unless some valid reason for skipping it arises. Appointments with myself have a more mixed outcome. I wrote two responses to things I read. My stretching exercises, given a designated time with some flexibility, mostly got done. Every Monday I take some anthropomorphic measurements and record them. I make a YouTube Video every Monday afternoon. All done.
Then I have tasks that do not have an allotted time, but a designated day. Torah portion reviewed on Thursday, with permission to extend to Friday. NEJM articles read every Sunday for a life as a doctor perspective, then every Thursday and Friday for clinical articles to challenge my post-retirement knowledge. I'm reliable. Every morning and evening I take prescribed medicines. Nearly fully compliant. I read an article in The Atlantic and two in The Forward during the early afternoon each weekday. Rarely omit this. And I try to comment on one or two a week, either directly to the author if an email is accessible or to The Atlantic's posting site which it provides for each article.
For personal care, I arise at a fixed time, return to bed at a fixed time, lights out at a fixed time unless my wife needs our bedroom lit to read. Dental care first thing in the morning. Then I wash dishes while making coffee and retrieve the newspaper. After supper, I reliably plan the following day and fill out my two ongoing logs: list three accomplishments and list a Daily Annoyance. Defined activities go to completion.
Those without a clear end point, or at least series of steps, often flounder. I know I want to engage in expressing myself, usually a blend of paper and keyboard. I do some, but rarely go smoothly from idea to composition to editing to submission. The steps are too amorphous as tasks to accomplish in a specified hour. Home upgrades take a similar path to never quite done. I know the steps to having a less cluttered room or replacing an appliance. I could even compose a checklist. Many depend on other people, from my wife who I try not to disrupt to installers whose estimates and proposals leave me with indecision. I know I need to do my laundry periodically, as I have been doing this for myself since entering college. Gather and sort I usually do in advance, but some clothing gets left in various places to retrieve, particularly items washed warm. I know I should practice my violin each day but don't. And I'd like to have more guests join me for dinner but make excuses for limiting invitations. Perhaps I don't define the writing activities or social aspirations as explicitly as I do the more habitual items. Or perhaps I could do better at linking them to activities that are already time defined, or even habitual.
With two months remaining in my semi-annual projects cycle, it's a mixed report. Some failures, like my exercise program got curtailed due to an injury beyond my control. I do not have a good rationalization for performing poorly on some of my home upgrades, consistent advocacy for Israel, or entertaining more. Nothing beyond remedy.
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