Checking one more thing off the list. . . Check!

I realized today that even if I go my full day and complete everything on my calendar, it is not enough.  It is that damn "to-do list" that gets me every time.  I think I am doing well and that I have everything covered, when BAM! I am hit with a reminder of some deadline that has past, some work that should have been completed, a letter of recommendation that needed to be written, a festival application that should have been turned in, a staff parking pass that should have been acquired, or placard of my office hours that should have been posted on my office door.  (Yes, it is already week three and I have yet to update them from last semester! I know! Don't judge!)

So, I need to learn this lesson.  Check one more thing off the list.  Just one.  Before I go to bed.  I need to make a habit of completing one more thing than I am used to in a day.  Getting through my day is simply not enough to keep me sane in the long run. 

For instance I have crazy Mondays this semester.  I start teaching at 8:00am.  Today I taught a total of 6hrs of dance technique before running another 5 1/2 hour rehearsal for the Musical.  (I'm actually really impressed that I made it through). So, I left the house at 7:30am and got home at 10:45pm.  A long day by any standards.

And, perhaps enough for any individual.  But. . .

Thinking this way lands me regularly in a hole of being frustrated and overwhelmed.  I feel perpetually behind as a result because I am barely staying afloat. Luckily I tend to rally and get thing done on time, but I don't want to live this way.  Always, perched precariously on the edge of disaster (which we all know would result when you don't post your office hours is time). 

In all seriousness, I am going to experiment this week, with doing one more thing (small thing) so I can feel more on top of my game and less like a puppet grasping at strings I can't control.  Tonight I checked my email.  I didn't have time to finish that task earlier in the day, and it is something I dislike doing to the extent that I will easily let it go 2 or 3 days if I am not careful.  (Free Advice: Leaving your email for 3 days is highly unrecommended as a teacher); and I think it brings me more anxiety and uneasiness that checking the darn thing.  So today, I checked it.  It wasn't that bad (and I had the energy buzzing from rehearsal to do it). 

Tomorrow I don't know what to-do item will be checked off, but there are plenty of them.  And, I figure in 7 days I will have checked off 7 of them.  That's a pretty darn good for me.  I'll take it.