Your Day is Always Accounted For

When you see an image like this, does it stress you out? 

I’ve been remapping my productivity system recently. Part of that has been scheduling blocks of time for personal projects, morning rituals, and hangouts. As I created recurring events on my calendar, a wall of commitments rose where there once was open space. 

It stressed me out. 

I started wondering: do I really want to become the kind of person who has every minute on a calendar? Do I really want every second to be accounted for? Where is the spontaneity? 

But then I realized: my day is always accounted for, whether or not a calendar notates it. I do things with these blocks of time, whether to not I put colorful blocks in my calendar. Sometimes I do productive things. Sometimes I give in to distractions. Sometimes I waste time, sometimes I spend it on things I love. 

And if I know anything about schedules, it’s that they’re always changing. New opportunities will arise, and I’ll still have the choice to chase them if I want. What I’m coming to realize is that a calendar is a tool. It’s something at my disposal, something I can choose to let guide me when my motivation runs thin. But it’s not a contract. I can change it at will. 

I heard Michael Hyatt say in an interview once that even if you only accomplish 50% of your ideal day, isn’t that still better than normal? Isn’t that still pretty good? This gives me hope that even missing the target is better than not shooting the arrow at all. 

I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from a great writer. 

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days.” 

–Annie Dillard