Doing Things Undone

My first work-related task of 2014 was to hang the new calendar up in my writing space. It's that stark but peaceful Zen edition I bought at B&N with my Christmas gift card, and it looks neat and calm on the wall. I think I'm going to like keeping track of my work weeks in black and white, and hopefully it reminds me to knock on the sky and listen to the sound (quoting it here.)

My second and third tasks were to finish some work leftover from 2013. For various reasons it was tough but at the same time brought some relief; unfinished things weigh on me terribly. I think every week I'm going to tackle things like this, all these little and big things I've set aside or put on the back burner or otherwise left hanging, and do whatever it takes to get them done. The good feeling of getting it done chased away my post-holiday blues, and now I feel more prepared to get back on a regular work schedule on Monday.

It's amazing how many lives we can have going at the same time, isn't it? The family life, the personal life, the professional life, the writing life, the social life, the online life -- toss in hobbies and friends and volunteer work and before you know it you're trying to live ten lives all at once. We all multi-task like postal sorters on amphetamines, and yet more and more it seems we can't get things done. Focus on any one of your lives for any length of time in order to finish something, and the others start to suffer, create problems for you and/or dwindle. You almost have to be a master juggler to integrate it all, keep everything moving and not drop anything. How can we get things done if we're too busy to realize how much we have waiting, unfinished?

That's also what I want to work on this year, and while I need to meditate a bit more on the solution I think downsizing and simplifying wherever/whenever I can will help.

So what's up with you all? Tell me in comments.