Something I've been noticing lately is that, despite having a clear personal roadmap for the year—goals set at the quarterly, monthly, and weekly levels, along with easy-to-follow daily tasks—I still tend to feel a slight anxiety at the end of the day when I'm done with my to-do list.
Looking at my list of accomplished tasks, I find myself hunting for the odd task I might have missed. Once that proves unsuccessful, I search in my weekly plan. "Maybe there's a task I can add," I think to myself.
It's as if I've become my own overly demanding boss—one who wants to squeeze the most out of me by making me stay sitting at my desk right until the end of the day, rather than celebrating me and letting me go if I finish my duties early.
I catch myself doing this and nervously close my laptop. It feels silly to admit, but I'm still learning how to feel secure in the enoughness of my doing.
Living in a hyperconnected world that's constantly telling us to be better, bigger, stronger—always more, more, more—means there's a lot of deconstruction needed to be done around the topics of worth and value.
I congratulate myself for a job well done and give myself an early day. I sit outside, taking in the sound of the rainy afternoon. I paint until the time comes to have dinner with my wife.
It's all about the small wins.
Tomorrow will be another day, another opportunity to practice balance and trust that what I do is enough. Each small step builds the foundation for a life well-lived.
