I am freshly returned from Spring Break at the beach.
No, not your wet t-shirt kind of spring break.
True story, even the three college spring breaks that I made it to Florida were not that type of spring break.
For the last few years, my wife, our younger son, and my wife’s sister and brother-in-law have spent our spring break on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
We used to spend a week there each summer. But found that, if we choose spring break, we can get a house on the oceanfront for roughly the same price.
Since I’m the only one of our group that actually spends time on the beach, I made the compromise. I can put on a hoodie to watch the waves.
I won’t list all the reasons, but it was a much-needed week.
Like always, for me it’s not only a time of refreshing and renewal, but a time to plan.
That’s important this year because 2024 is bringing about some changes. Come back tomorrow when I’ll talk more about the word change.
I spent some time making lists of things I want to do, things I have to do, things that need to change. For one thing, my employment status will change later this summer. If you know, you know.
If you don’t know, I’ll write about it soon enough.
That change requires planning. And lists. And goals.
I spent the week doing that and setting up a system of tracking and attaining those goals.
I had a head start on that. About a month ago I created a Google Doc titled My Big Ass To Do List.
I use it to track things on a daily basis. Tasks, projects, reminders, all of that stuff.
At the beach, I expanded it to a list and a set of reminder cards that tracks everything I can think of. When I think of something new, I write a new card.
I’m reviewing that daily as a form of prayer and meditation.
Do you think I’ll reach every goal/task on that list?
I’m sorry, have we met?
No, there will be failure. There will be change.
This is just a chance/system/method to keep me focused.
I need weeks at the beach to renew that focus.
In spite of My Big Ass To Do List, it’s not really about that.
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I am freshly returned from Spring Break at the beach.
