Organizing Every Day

When I ended my formal career a few years ago, I realized that the way I organized my days would change significantly. The big chunk that was the 40+ hour work week plus commute time (sometimes adding 10+ hours to the work week) was not going to be the big rock that I needed to organize around. There is a lot more freedom in my post-career days.

I choose to have a few rhythms. From the very beginning, I’ve included a daily blog post, some journal writing, and some reading. The goals have changed over time and sometimes become minimized when there is an overwhelming amount of other activity (like traveling). I’ve added a daily Zentangle in the past year or so. The only weekly rhythm that I’ve retained is grocery shopping; I do it on a weekday morning rather than a weekend morning like I did when I was in the thick of my career.

Some things I’ve kept from my career days.

• I still have a calendar – mostly for things that are away from home. And I share it with my family just like I used to share my work calendar with my staff. The calendar is not as full….and everything on it is something I want to do! Those activities are easy to plan around….they are the only things that have to occur at a particular date and time!
• There are also projects that I organize for myself. Right now I am in the thick of scanning our old slides from the 1970s and 1980s. It is quite a project and will probably take me months. But I’m the one that determines how fast it proceeds. I usually set a goal for my projects (like hours per day) and then just finish them at that pace. I’ll do another blog post with more on my scanning project in a week or so.
• I’ve continued my early mornings. Just because I don’t have to get up and get to work does not mean that I am not up before 6 AM these days….and without the aid of the alarm clock that made sure I was up at exactly the same time every work day morning! The early morning is my favorite time to get off to a fast start on whatever is in store for the day.