Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Baby steps

I’ve got a lot of free time these days. A lot. Now that Nozze is up and running, and we haven’t yet started Angelica, my days are pretty much free until the end of the month. And nothing prevents me from getting work done like free time!

I don’t know what it is, but I sure am productive when I am forced to structure my work time around rehearsals and appointments and such. Then, when my days free up and I think “I’ve got plenty of time to work on my projects!” I don’t get a thing done! Please tell me I’m not the only one...

Today I was determined not to get to 6pm and realize I’d accomplished nothing with my day except a trip to the gym and several laps around my internet entertainment course. In the past, I’ve started the day with a general statement like “Today I’m going to work on my recital program.” And, sure enough, I don’t crack a score or research a single song.

(Maybe it’s the naming of broad goals that freaks me out. A few weeks ago, when I told B that I wanted to lose five pounds in the next three weeks, I promptly stopped going to the gym. Not helpful, Bird! Once I forgot about the weight goal, once I was only thinking about getting exercise cuz I feel better when I do, I was back at the gym, enjoying my workouts. What does it mean?!)

So this morning tried a different approach and set small goals for my day:
*work for (at least) 30 minutes on Hillula, getting reacquainted with the score
*work for (at least) an hour on programming rep for the Astronomy recital
*work for (at least) 30 minutes on arias

Here is it, 6:00, and I’ve accomplished 2 out of 3! (I’ll get to those arias before dinner, though, I’m sure of it.) And it wasn’t drudgery, either; I spent more than the allotted time on each task. I love my work, and I’m always puzzled why I don’t jump out of bed ready to hit the books. Whatever the reason, I seem to have discovered something today about how to address my free time, and I’m excited to observe the results!

1 comment:

k said...

re: astronomy themes tweet. I like the dreams theme. Not referring to the dreams one has while sleeping but the dreams one has while looking at the night sky. The vast expanse of sky, the limitless boundaries for the imagination to explore, the incomprehensible beauty, the possibility of finding something new. Maybe I'm being naively romantic but I think that's what astronomers dream about every time they look up - as maybe the rest of us do too. Astronomers may talk about "Star e4.632056" and all sorts of technical stuff but I'd bet underneath that they're all hopeless dreamers.

I mentioned Nacht und Traume the other day because when it ends with:

"They listen with delight,
cry out when day awakens;
Come back, Holy Night!
Sweet dreams,come back!"

I thought that might sum up the feelings of astronomers everywhere. Listening to the night sky, disappointed when the sun rises, and wishing the stars would remain above so they could continue looking up and dreaming.

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