Don’t Accomplish Anything Tomorrow

Or at least don’t try to accomplish anything…

Here’s the challenge I’m posing: In the spirit of connecting with yourself, give up planning & productivity for one day. Live free from your “To Do” list.  Can you embrace spontaneity & listening to your desires for an entire day?

I’m not sure if I can, but I’m going to give it a shot.

Why?

I want all of us to experience a day of doing exactly what it is we want to do in the moment.   To practice operating free from a To-Do list or Google calendar…  To really listen to our desires by allowing them to emerge free from our stifling busyness…

What will happen?  I have no idea! Perhaps our openness to the moment will allow creative inspiration to spark.  Or maybe our bodies will tell us to be still.  Or we could decide we need to swing, or drink a glass of wine on a deck, or call a long lost friend.

The possibilities are endless.

What?

Does the thought of waking up in the morning with absolutely nothing to do or anywhere to be thrill you?  Does it scare you?  What would you do if you were given absolute freedom from responsibility and routine?

Make it happen & find out.  Freeing a day from all plans may take planning– Fine.  Send the kids to grandmas for the weekend.  Cancel your standing brunch date.  Reschedule your haircut.  Do whatever you have to do to clear one day in it’s entirety. A free day just for you.

Once you’ve carved out an empty day in your calendar, treasure the commitment you’ve made to yourself to keep that day wide open.  Don’t let anyone’s plans intrude on your big day.

How?

Here’s where it gets fun!  The “how” is pretty simple.  Wake up.  Ask yourself what you’d like to do.  Do it!  Do not feel guilty about not “accomplishing” anything.  And maybe you did accomplish something! Then, ask yourself what you’d like to do next.  Do it!  Do not feel guilty about not “accomplishing” anything.  And maybe you did accomplish something!  Repeat as time allows. Go to bed.

Do you already have a list of things you’d like to do on your free day running through your head?  I do.  My hyperactive planning tendency is shouting, “Ooooh!  Go to a naked spa! Write a poem!  Eat sushi & seaweed salad!  Pet puppies! Try on wedding dresses!  Stockpile bunch of delicious candles!  Ride a ferry! Get another tattoo!  Run on the beach!”  And on and on and on.

But the rule stands- No planning. Maybe I’ll still feel like indulging in something from that list when I wake up on my free day, but maybe I won’t.  The point is to connect with your desires in the moment.  To practice making decisions based on your own fancy.

My Take

At the moment this challenge feels really powerful to me, as I am seemingly drowning under to do’s. Endless to do’s for my business, to do’s to eat more organically, to do’s for my love life, to do’s about cleaning my beloved Subaru & buying wedding presents & putting down the deposit on my high school reunion.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love making the lists.  I love checking off the boxes when I accomplish my tasks.  It’s how I keep moving forward each day towards my big dreams. Keeping lists helps me corral all the floating thoughts in my head, commit them to paper (thus reality) & make them happen.

But I don’t want to live my life ruled by a “To Do” list.  I don’t feel connected with my authentic self when I’m wading through too many “shoulds” and not enough “wants”.

Taking one day off from my routine is not going to kill me.  I’m not going to starve if I don’t go grocery shopping.  I’ll still have something to wear tomorrow if I skip laundry.  The world won’t collapse if I take a day off from social media land.

And the same is true for you.

My day is going to be Friday, May 8th!  I’ll let you know how it goes.