I have been totally - well almost - absorbed by WO|RK CLEAN, the book by Dan Charnas and a few other assorted other things. MSQT has grown longer and longer over the past week as I take/make notes from the book and contemplate how I might implement aspects of mise-en-place in my daily life. One thing I've begun to implement is the Daily Meeze*: an hour at the end of each day (in my case, 5-6 PM) to review my day, plan for the next, empty my IN BOX (both analog and digital) and prepare for the next day's activities. For example: on Sunday, I gathered my hand -stitching project plus my share of stitched DoubleWedding Ring quilt blocks - which went into my OUT box (aka as a bag or two) - to take to my quilting group's weekly Monday gathering.
One activity the author encourages readers to do is to see how many items one actually accomplishes on a daily "to do" list over a period of days. The number of done items then become your "meeze"point: that which you can realistically accomplish in a given day plus the Daily Meeze. Too often we overload our selves, thinking we're super capable of doing a zillion things when it actually boils down to 3-5. And when we don't achieve, we feel frustrated, bewildered and deflated...and always feeling behind. I can just imagine these feelings from my own years of working and for those who currently work and are rearing families, taking care of parents, etc...When one is in protirement, one can be easily lured into thinking "I have unlimited time and all the time and energy in the world." T'aint so McGhee, as my mom would often say. I think there may be a flip side to this and that is: "What am I going to do with all of this unstructured time ?" and then we go and overload ourselves with real and imagined projects and activities - sound familiar?
So, having shared this, I am at the point where I am beginning to set a different structure to my daily agenda/schedule. I plan to continue with the same focus points but in a very different manner...all of what I do - or not - contributes to my experiencing flow - my 2016 word. Exciting.
Since I last connected:
My sister had another out-patient surgery for kidney stones and to remove stints. Outcome: No stones!No stints! Hopefully, this is the last time she'll have the problem.
We remember Muhammad Ali. I met him in Aug 1963, when I was 20 and on my first "alone" trip to New York, alone, i.e., with three of my sorority sisters, attending our annual conference. Ali, then still Cassius Clay, had a suite in our conference hotel and invited us - all the sorors - to drop in his suite for refreshments over several days of the conference. He'd achieved world fame previously during the Summer Olympics. I'd not thought of that NYC encounter in many a year.
On Sunday, I went to a new salon for a pedi/mani - I now have yellow toenails; decided to go bold 'cause yellow makes me happy!
And I'll end with a shot of the Double Wedding Ring quilt - it's not quite done: there are several rows yet to be added and the backing plus the quilting...but this photo gives a good idea of how the quilt blocks look.
It's about time for my Daily Meeze.... Do you have a scheduled daily review/plan time?
Cheers~
*Meeze is the author's play on words mise-en-place.