Pat Bean's blog

“Why can’t somebody give us a list of things that everybody thinks and nobody says, and another list of things that everybody says and nobody thinks? – Oliver Wendell Holmes

While writing is usually aways at the top of my daily priority list, piddling with my art jumps around on the list. — Painting by Pat Bean

It Works for Me

This is the first year in my many, many years of making New Year’s Resolutions that come February, or sometimes just the second day of January, in which I haven’t broken one or all of those promises I made to myself.

And sometimes it’s a bird outing that gets the No. I priority. — Sketch by Pat Bean

This year I made only one resolution, and I haven’t broken it yet. That’s probably because I finally wised up and decided to make a resolution that I truly thought. I could keep. That’s it’s also one that has improved my productivity is even better.

The resolution is simply a promise to myself that I would start every day off with a fresh to-do list, and then prioritize my goals for the day. I do this now while drinking my morning coffee. While I don’t always finish everything on the list, the most important things usually do get accomplished.

It seems like such an easy resolution, but it works for me. And it worked for Annie Dillard, who wrote that “A schedule is a net for catching days.”

First Lady Michelle Obama advises us women to do a “better job of putting ourselves higher on our own lists.” I’ve taken that advice to heart as well, giving in to the whim occasionally that my daily to-do list No. 1 priority is to be lazy or just read for a day. Writing it down has meant that I lose the guilt such a day has always brought, then find that I accomplish more than usual the next day.

I guess I’m finally learning to listen to what my body, as well as my mind, wants.

Only 325 more days to go to complete my New Year’s Resolution.

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Bean Pat: Bees and Flowers http://tinyurl.com/hebwqhw This is one of my favorite photography blogs.