Dear Me - you can do better

Dear Me,

The Christmas decorations started to the storage room yesterday.  When the ho, ho, ho-ing Santa got to the door, there was so much stuff in that closet that a thorough revamp was the only solution.  It should not be put it off any longer.  The junk must go: printer and telephones replaced years ago, boxes of outdated files, items that are there because - Lord only knows why, not to mention the useful items that were lost amid the trash.

As I looked through the dust and debris, the thought occurred that life can get cluttered just like closets.  So, Dear Me, let's tackle this  annual planning and resolution thing with that in mind, we can sort, discard and arrange goals so that when we look into that mental space each morning we will see at a glance what needs to be done and when.

We've tried this organization thing before, right?  So, why should it work now when you have failed so miserable in the past?  By the way, have you looked at your office lately?  It looks like it was hit by a cyclone.  You might try putting a little organization into that mess.  I know, working on taxes is always the culprit, but get real, that happened ten months ago.  Let's find some time today to get that in better shape.

Back to the overall problem, could we establish some priorities?  What's important?  Family/social life, health and fitness, working on and maintaining the house, sculpture and possibly pottery to name a few.  Okay, and what about that writing thing?  You're the one who took that one on; no one pushed you into it.  I told you, you had no talent in that area, but you said you could overcome that with a little hard work.  All right if it means that much to you then, let's get things in order so that you can at least give yourself a chance.

Let's start by getting rid of some clutter.  You don't have to play spider solitaire or computer chess every day until you win.  If your psyche can't live without it, then get it on and get it over with early.  I will allow one game with a max time limit of fifteen minutes.  Win or lose, no more.  No, you may not start another game even in the fifteen minute time limit.

How about some other clutter; e-mail, television, mindless internet surfing, getting so involved reading that novel that you have to finish even if it is four o-clock in the morning.  Look at it, you can decide what's trash and what's not.  Actually you're doing well on the e-mail thing, even though you probably lost a friend or two by not answering their thoughtful personal notes.  As a rule though all of the above can be filler after primary goals are met.

Let's establish some goals.

1) Family/social - Sherry will take care of this one.  She does that quite nicely.  Stay on schedule and plan ahead so that other goals can be adjusted.

2) Health and fitness - You only need to worry about this one when your normal activities aren't sufficiently active.  So when you know you are spending most of your time planted in the office or shop, plan a walk or a visit to the treadmill and multi-task the mental part of artistic and writing projects.  Be careful about how you use that TV in front of the treadmill.  It's unlikely that whatever is on is worthwhile.

3) The house building project - You're in good shape there, since it's now a comfortable and pleasant place to live.  Yet, completion, however vague that concept might be, should at least hover sometime in the distant future.  Let's say we will tackle and complete one project per week when we're at home.  Decide on the project (trim, shelves, or whatever) at the start of the week then allow twelve hours minimum in at least four hour segments to get it done.  I won't even go into that mess that the shop gets into; you're going to have to deal with that one.

4) Artistic pursuits - This is like the writing, which we will get to in the next paragraph.  If you don't keep your hand in it, skills become rusty and then time is wasted getting back up to speed.  That's where pottery is now.  We've been concentrating on sculpture for a couple of years now, so let's not let those projects go.  Let's give it the same twelve hours in four hour increments as the house.  This should permit completion of one new sculpture each six months and still leave time to dabble in pottery or work on that god-awful  over-ambitious creation that has stared at us for two years each time we visit the all-purpose room.

5)Writing - This is the hard one, the one that precipitated this letter in the first place.  Why you think it's so blooming important I don't know;  but let's revisit the problems.  You sit down to write and then you think of something else that needs immediate attention.  Fight the urge.  It's your procrastination gene at work.  Get your will power gene to fight it and continue writing.

Next problem - no inspiration - that's a non-starter.  Remember what old man Edison said, "Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration."  Get to work and continue writing.

You get the picture on problems; let's move on to writing goals.  We've been told a million times that we must, must, must, must write every day.  Well ALL RIGHT!  I've given you enough time, so far programming only twenty-four of your weekly hours.  There are one hundred forty four hours left.  No, I'm not suggesting that you give up sleeping or eating or any other necessary endeavors.  I'm just reiterating earlier points of my discussion.  Use your time wisely.

Two hours a day minimum should be easy enough.  However, when I say minimum I mean minimum and that doesn't include time used for getting that extra cup of coffee or gazing out the window.  Start the first thing when you get up in the morning, coffee on the desk next to you if that makes you feel better; then forget thoughts of anything else and write for one hour without a break.  If it's going good press on; if not come back later to finish your time.  Fine, you say what if I'm not productive and have nothing to show for my time?  Two hundred fifty words - understand.  Don't call it a day without two hundred fifty words.  Hey, that's not so much, so try to include some quality in those words.

Here's where I go a little bit soft.  Your word count can be anything you want; reviews, contests, journal entries, you name it.  But wait, I'm not quite finished.  Within the next month I want you to select one of those lengthy writing projects (novel or book length non-fiction) to finish by the end of the year.  Aha! Too hard you say?  How long have they been lying dormant waiting for you to get on with it?  They are not going to write themselves.  I will remind you again that you made that writing choice and commitment.  All choices have consequences, so as they say, it's time to face the music and dance.

Don't take this letter lightly.  If necessary, feel free to review it from time to time.  It will be hanging over your head in your portfolio for exactly one year.

All that being said, however, it continues to be about smelling the right roses.  I caught you sneaking a peak at someone else's Dear Me letter.  Life is not a contest,  Their goals are for them, yours are for you.  Remember to do good deeds when opportunity signals, but then again, don't volunteer or take on any new tasks.  Your platter is loaded.

Your taskmaster and friend,

Me Two

PS.  Don't forget to shovel the snow and take out the trash.


Word Count - 1345