Miller Time Friday: We Need a Schedule, People!

Okay, not so much "we" as "me".

Before I went on vacation, I was realizing that i was not living up to my potential, working-from-home-wise. I had a bit of ennui about life - it was amazing how I could wile away a day and get some things accomplished, but not all that I wanted to get accomplished in any particular day.

The funny thing was that only a few short months ago I headed a massive organization with a huge budget.  I started each day in a meeting and then had back to back meetings until 6:00 p.m.  I would go home, eat with my family, and then work again for several hours.  I was BUSY.

But sometimes now I feel just as busy?

How come?

Well, I am doing stuff around the house I never got to before or didn't get to enough.

I am writing.

I am gardening.

I am watching the world around me.

I am puttering.

I am happy.

I am practising Dolce far niente, which is Italian for "the sweetness of doing nothing" - remember that term from Eat, Pray, Love?  I forgot about that till I I reread about the term in this wonderful post from the blog Be More with Less.  I stumbled upon this blog and find it very interesting and helpful!

But the thing is, I need to work again this fall, at least part-time.  50 is WAY too young to be retired and until I become a successful authoress like Henrietta Stackpole, I need some additional income :-).

So I decided a needed a plan.  A schedule.  Meetings.  Okay - the meetings are with myself, but they are very civilized:

Me: Wendy, it appears you have done a lovely job making risotta.  And good job with the writing this morning.

Me: Why thank you, not everyone loved it, like I thought they would.  Too many vegetables, I guess.

Me: And Good job reading that book on effective writing techniques.

Me: It was a bit of a tough go, but I really think I broke its back when we got into dangling participles...

Me: Well done!  Surely someone is drinking wine somewhere in the world...

and thus, the days can pass, like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of my life...

But not now.  Now I have a SCHEDULE.

I get up at 6:30 (or earlier).

I am limiting my internet time.

I have dedicated time for reading and writing.

I have dedicated time for exercising.

I have dedicated time for meditating (OM)

I have dedicated time for cleaning/running errands.

I think that this will help when I do go back to doing some kind of work.  Or I tell myself it will.

Maybe I had to completely eschew a schedule as part of my decompression from my former life?  Now I crave a schedule.  It is fun to be accomplishing things again in an orderly fashion.  Maybe I am a creature of habit, a product of all of those years when I had somewhere to be at a certain time.

But I still leave a little time for fun.  And watching the world go by.  And I am still certain it is happy hour somewhere...I have embraced Dolce far niente and I am not going back to the old ways.  There are too many flowers to smell, books to read, cups of coffee with friends to be drunk.

Anyone else back on a schedule?  Anyone else with good advice on these transitions?

And thinking of planning, summer is the perfect time to host an outdoor cocktail party.  To aid your planning of such an event, am sharing a link to Martha Stewart's Cocktail Party Planner.

It's all there folks, including patterns for making your own drink parasols!  Really, could we ask for anything more?  This has inspired me to host my own cocktail party.  I just need to pencil that in....

Have a great day and stay safe out there!