I ski. When I can, that is. I was fortunate enough to spend a few years in a situation where I could make a lot of time for skiing (which for me was getting 25-30 ski days in during a season).
Like most sports, skiing well requires a blend of intent and adjustment. At the top of a run, you'll pick a line: an approximate route down the trail or section of trail. Depending on visibility, you may have a really good idea of hazards and obstacles to come, or not much of an idea at all.
Then you release yourself to gravity, friction, and your own animal instincts, and away you go.
There is a bit of a metaphor here for living intentionally. Charting the course is vital, but reacting to the unknown is just as vital. If you set aside 2 hours to write, sit down at the keyboard, and then the building decides to conduct fire alarm testing, how do you react?
Ugh! There goes my day.
This is such an annoying waste of time, but I can move my writing time to tonight.
Weird! I'll grab my little notebook and pen. Maybe the change of scenery will inspire me in some way.
If you're too tightly wound up in your plan, you might react in the first manner, which could lead to feelings of frustration and helplessness.
If you're a little less reactive about it (and have some flexibility in your schedule), you might roll your eyes a bit (really--just when I sat down to write?) and adjust.
But what I've been working on is cultivating the third response, which I think of as seeing (seizing?) an unexpected opportunity. You're not abandoning your intention, you're just taking a different route to fulfill it.
Plans are essential. Adjustments are inevitable. You get to choose the way you approach both.
Today's fully-adjustable plan:
Morning light exercise
Meditation
Dedicated writing time
Dedicated reading time
Phone in the drawer :)
Afternoon moderate exercise
LMS evaluation
Keep it simple dinner
Relax w/ my partner in crime
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