I wrote last week about television being a distraction, but I feel I should admit that I can be distracted such exciting things as paint drying. The internet is a major danger zone.
I start each day with an ambitious To Do List
1 – Write next great Irish/Turkish/expat novel
2 – Blog tremendously witty posts
3 – Post inciteful comments on Twitter and a range of blogs
4 – Arrange and clean house to reflect that domestic goddess resides within
5 – Have deep and meaningful conversations on Skype with friends and family
6 – etc., etc.,
But first, I say, let me just check my email. From email I go to Facebook.From Facebook to news websites. From news to Magicmum. From Magicmum…, actually I usually end up stuck there.
And all of a sudden (rather, not so sudden) my To Do list becomes
1 – Make the dinner QUICKLY
Making the dinner, like all housework, is immediately consumed, dirtied or destroyed. There is a small chance that a very tasty meal will live on in the memory but that’s not much good for eating. So you have to make the dinner again, at regular intervals. The day’s achievement narrows to a repetitive, mundane task with no lasting value.
So the next day I start with an ambitious To Do List…
Catherine, I hope you don’t mind me commented here a few months later, but in admiring your lovely new blog layout and catching up on what you’ve been doing, I had to click on the large “distraction” looming on the right of the screen, since that word sums me up! I have a long long list of “To Do’s” that gets longer each day, but somehow FB can be more compelling. However, things are getting accomplished (like moving to Istanbul, finding a shop space…now the BIG work begins!) I think we do not give ourselves enough kudos for all we do. And I just know you’ve got wonders in work!
Catherine, I hope you don’t mind me commented here a few months later, but in admiring your lovely new blog layout and catching up on what you’ve been doing, I had to click on the large “distraction” looming on the right of the screen, since that word sums me up! I have a long long list of “To Do’s” that gets longer each day, but somehow FB can be more compelling. However, things are getting accomplished (like moving to Istanbul, finding a shop space…now the BIG work begins!) I think we do not give ourselves enough kudos for all we do. And I just know you’ve got wonders in work!
Thanks for your praise Catherine. I find the planning is what does for me, too much of it and not enough doing.
Great to hear that your Istanbul adventure is taking shape, can’t wait to see the finished product!
Thanks for your praise Catherine. I find the planning is what does for me, too much of it and not enough doing.
Great to hear that your Istanbul adventure is taking shape, can’t wait to see the finished product!
ha ha (oh catherine i hope it’s ok to be amused)… just the first three things on your to-do got me. we really set ourselves up for failure! i have to-do lists that fill books. i’m always astonished when i peek through them and see i did a few of the things, and others are clearly of no interest any more. so maybe that’s all they are to begin with, loose guidelines of what you might do, things you’ll do when it all adds up or it’s the right moment, and things you don’t have to do and won’t!