It's good to have goals.

[hummingwolf]

It is, of course, better to have enough energy to reach your goals, but we do what we can. I've spent too much time lately thinking about all the things I need to get done and haven't been able to do, so I decided this weekend that instead I would set goals to do a variety of different kinds of things each weekday so I'd at least be thinking of a variety of things instead of focusing overmuch on my failure to do useful things. In fact, I decided to set myself a goal of just one useful thing per day, though I'm quite willing to do more if it seems reasonable at the time. I'm also willing to do less if it seems advisable at the time. When I have days as bad as this past Saturday was, there is no way I'm going to push myself to do anything that's not absolutely necessary.

So, today I accomplished the following:

Listened to music: first a single with a Neneh Cherry version of "Trouble Man" followed by Marvin Gaye's version, then the full-length CD of Neneh's Man, which I'm listening to bits of again. Man is still the most expensive compact disk I've ever bought, which doesn't really mean much except that it's been years'n'years since I last purchased an imported CD. Is Hector Zazou's Strong Currents going for a decent price anywhere, I wonder? I really really want that one.

Read some fiction: an Earthsea short story, "On the High Marsh."

Read some nonfiction: some commentary on a chapter of the prophet Hosea, a bit of a book about the history of ideas about volcanoes, and assorted articles online. Read some LJ too, mostly nonfictional (I think).

Useful things: Did two loads of laundry, put away two-and-a-half loads of laundry before my arms told me to go do something else, defragged a hard drive, renewed a library book, changed sheets, went to the bank, did minimal grocery shopping, and made a bureaucrap-related phone call. Woo, I'm an overachiever! Also washed nearly all the dishes other people had left in the kitchen sink, which I'm not sure qualifies as useful. I hope it set a good example if nothing else.

Walked: 2.5 miles. Decided I shall refer to the number 2.5 as "tuna half" from now on, unless there happens to be some good reason why I don't want to sound silly. Wished I felt better, because sunny, breezy days with temperatures in the 60s are very nearly perfect for walking. Body wasn't thrilled at being pushed to do tuna half, though, so I'm glad for what I got.

There were other things I wanted to do, but I realized that there really wasn't time for them given how desperately I needed the two power naps I took today.

Don't worry, I won't fill your flists with trivia like this every day.

Comments

[skygoodwill.livejournal.com]

"Don't worry, I won't fill your flists with trivia like this every day."

Why not? : )

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Because lists of things like this aren't inherently interesting. Sometimes listing things is the way to go, if there are many interesting things to list. But for me, anyway, doing laundry, washing dishes, and going to the bank aren't activities that make for an interesting list. My daily activities are too boring for mere mention of them to keep the attention. Now, if I had a story to tell about what happened during the day, that would be another matter! I always like a good story.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Y'know, it's weird--if I see a list of songs, I'm interested, at least if I know any of the music. If I see a list of household activities, I'm bored, especially if I ever do those activities in my own life. Guess I just prefer music to chores. :-)

[skygoodwill.livejournal.com]

I hear ya. Would it be annoying to know that it didn't read as boring? There seemed to be a spark behind the words irregardless.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Not annoying at all. Thank you. :-)