Realistic Planning · Dec 22, 06:53 AM by Dave Polaschek
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve got a list of things to do this holiday season.
I was thinking this morning about how this is actually a bigger departure for me than it might seem. I almost always have a list of things to do. There’s the list in Life Balance, supplemented by at least one Post-It note at all times. But many of the items in these lists are either recurring (which LB excels at) things like “Water the plants today” (which take just a minute or two) or longer-term like “finish moving into the bedroom” (which took me almost two years).
The list I have for the holidays this year is different in that I think I’ve got everything broken into “couple hour” chunks. Yesterday’s example was “Christmas cards and wrap presents.” Not an insurmountable task, but a couple hours elapsed, especially when you factor in the run to the post office, the standing in line, and a quick stop at Target to get more tape (and a bunch of other things, since I was there anyhow). It ended up being an achievable goal for the day, and still left me time to relax and feel that I was enjoying some time off.
Today is similar. I’ve got to juggle some money between my personal and business accounts, pay some bills, and figure out my taxes at least well enough that I can do one final payroll for the year and avoid having to pay any penalties come April 15th. I’m also tacking on a trip out to St. Boni to get the recliner replaced on the passenger seat of my truck. It broke on Monday, and this is a perfect time to get that taken care of. And if all goes well, and there’s an appointment available, I’ll stop by and get my hair trimmed so I’m not sporting that Reverend Jim look during the various holiday gatherings this year. And finally, there’s Kari’s thing this evening.
To be honest, I’ve probably bitten off too much for today. The trip to the bank will take a few extra minutes, because I’ll want to talk to the cute tellers and wish them all a Merry Christmas. The trip to the dealership is miles more than it needs to be, but I’ll get to visit with a few folks way out there. It’s entirely possible I won’t make it in for the haircut (which is why I still haven’t scheduled an appointment), and I might be tired enough that I’ll skip Kari’s celebration and just curl up at home with a good movie. But the two most important things, getting the bills paid and the finances in order, and fixing the broken seat on my truck (which will be a low-level annoyance until I get it done) will be out of the way, and I know I can achieve that.
And I expect that I’ll feel as good about myself this evening, as I did yesterday. Sure, maybe my expectations are low, but at least I’ll meet them, and that’s a pretty good feeling.
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