“Finish Each Day And Be Done With It”

I like to plan; I have to-do lists and goals and journals and all sorts of tools to try to make sense of my busy days.  I have long term goals and short-term strategies.  For all my planning and listing though I can never be sure what news or challenge each week is going to bring.  I can have my calendar all mapped out and find myself completely redirected after a single phone call or email that takes my day and sometimes my week in a different direction.  So, knowing how often my plans go amuck, I continue to plan and list out my tasks and try to remember all that I must follow up on.  Why is that?  I think for the most part experience has taught me that while I cannot predict fully what awaits in any given day, my plan is something to fall back on.  My list can last longer than one day and help me to refocus when the storm passes.  I can still reflect on goals as I deal with the incidentals.  I love the quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson that says – finish each day and be done with it.  While I know there is utility in planning around the incidental diversions, I also know that regret and worry that I did not get it all done or get it all right, serves no purpose at all.  I guess what I am thinking about is how we need to set a direction that we can go back to each time we get side tracked to a different path due to circumstances.  Even when the crisis makes it necessary to alter the destination, knowing where we were planning to be can inform us about where we can adjust and change those plans to reflect the new circumstance.  Emerson talks about absurdities and blunders…which I have made a few.  They are in the past and I still know that my plans will get me where I need to go tomorrow or the next day.