Hindsight is 2020

Like many people, I often spend some time during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day looking toward the next year and thinking about possible goals or changes in different areas. This year especially, since last year kind of ran me into the ground, and I’d prefer to not repeat that. But this year, I had a bit of a revelation... I figured out long ago (although I rarely do it) that I’m better off making daily ‘what I did’ lists than ‘to do’ lists. It works better for me to see a growing list of accomplishments than a list of things hanging over me, especially if I don’t get to lots of them. This is great if you tend to have interruptions or changes of plans frequently, because you still get to write something down:-). It also encourages writing down more relational things like reading to your kid, or a phone call with a friend, that might not normally even make it on to your ‘to do’ list, at least if you are a ‘measurable results’ oriented person like I am... It’s still good to keep a list of things you’d like to do, or things you have to do, but more general and ongoing rather than daily. But I’ve never done that on a yearly basis, or really even written down what I DID do. I tend to just see all of the things I HAVEN’T done. And of course you can do both, you don’t have to choose. I was extremely busy last year, but much of it was not what I planned. (Obviously no one plans ‘seven weeks of hospice care for Mom’ into their schedule :-( ) But I think writing down what I actually do at least in addition to what I plan to do will make me more mentally accepting of doing what God sends me and letting go of MY plans, and also more willing to spend time on relational things (or routine things like housework or exercise that don’t end with a finished product and have to be done again... and again...) rather than just projects. I’m probably on the extreme end of ‘results oriented’, hopefully YOU are better at going with the flow already. But 2020 seems like a good year to start practicing ‘hindsight’ along with my planning. :-)    Beret

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