Here’s a story on myself. I’m only artificially organized, not naturally organized. To meet my goal of being relaxed and unhurried most of the time, I have to think through things carefully and methodically beforehand. This feels boring to the spontaneous part of my brain. Spontaneous Brain is the state that feels most natural to me.

Recently for work I needed to visit someone in the hospital. Spontaneous Brain said, “I got this!!!!! No problem, we can leave the house at 8:30 tomorrow morning.”

I was feeling pretty good because I had already put my visit bag in the car, and had just done the laundry. “See that?!” my Spontaneous Brain said. “We’ve got clean clothes! We already did the boring stuff to get ready!”

Therefore we didn’t need to fuss with the tedium of plodding through Planning Brain’s overkill checklist process for the next day, because, you know, my clothes were clean and the bag was in the car.

At about 8:25 the next morning, I remembered, due to the pandemic, that I needed my hospital ID to get in. In order to clip the hospital ID to my clothing, I needed a jacket. And the jacket (linen, because anything else in summer is too hot) needed to be ironed first.

Then I realized, as I glanced at my calendar, that I had some other things going on. I would also need to pack a lunch. So I ended up leaving after 9:00. Spontaneous Brain wants to feel free and relaxed, but instead I started the day rushing around feeling stressed. I was not able to greet the day that morning.

Checklists mean I can be unhurried. Checklists also mean that I know what can be postponed if I decide to do something fun and spontaneous, like meet a friend, or visit the state park on a beautiful afternoon.

Most of the time I use my checklists. Once in a while I get tired of using them, and Spontaneous Brain wins over Planning Brain. Then I end up feeling rushed and stressed, because Spontaneous Brain has a terrible memory. My memory has been outsourced to my systems and checklists.

Here’s the checklist that helps me to feel unhurried the next day, when I choose to use it.

My Daily Shut-Down Routine:

- [ ] check email, voicemails, and texts, and add new tasks and appointments into my system

- [ ] check my daily notes, and add new tasks and appointments into my system

- [ ] log the day's mileage, meeting notes, expenses to be reimbursed, if any

- [ ] think about the next day: check my weekly plan for non-urgent projects I want to work on, and check my calendar for appointments I want to remember

- [ ] check my tickler file - any important documents or info I need the next day?

- [ ] write up a daily plan for tomorrow, with main tasks and all appts

- [ ] set out all clothes, meeting materials, and pack a lunch for the next day, as needed

It is boo-o-o-o-oring, for sure!

But twenty minutes or so of what feels like unnecessary checklist overkill at the end of the workday gives me the gift of an unhurried day the next day: hours of relaxation. And when I am unhurried, I also have extra time when interesting possibilities emerge, and Spontaneous Brain has all the bandwidth she needs to make the most of it.

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