Back when I had my advertising agency, Studio M, I used to create WILDLY itemized and laborious lists for myself and staff. Granted those lists were likely completely irrelevant by 10:30 am or “when the first complication to the day occurred.” 

I was absolute that the agency was going to be a success. I worked 18-20 hour days....every day for a couple of decades. (when someone would say to me they put in 60 hours last week at their job, I'd quip "oh, only working half-days huh?")

Back in the “old days” before all the digitalization of publishing, design and printing, one had to send off text to a typesetter. You’d get back the text the font specified in the proper line width at the right size accurately leaded and kerned (that in the spacing between sentences, and the spacing between letters in the typeset respectively). 

At least that was “the plan.” The type would be come back on photographic paper which the artist would cut-up and paste onto a mechanical board (after running the type block through a waxer to coat the paper with an adherent that would cause it to stick to the board and to more. Then create overlays with ruby lithe areas designated for the plate-maker to add the tint or the photograph into. Then the translucent tissue overlay with written instructions on it and color roughed out atop the actual typesetting, photostat or what have you that actually was what was used to create the film for the printing plate to be created.

And of course, one was always pushing deadlines and cramming additional projects in– so for instance, my plan was to stay up late (many times literally overnight) to create the mechanicals for that 8-page brochure…AGAIN: Guess what? 

You get a call at 5:30 from the typehouse that the power was out for some reason or their imagining machine had broken down and a service-tech couldn’t come fix it before tomorrow. With heartfelt apologies and angst, they would be unable to get the typesetting to you at the originally specified time.

BUT THAT CAN’T BE HAPPENING!! You have to have the mechanicals completed and to the printer at 10 am for them to be able to fulfill your order for 10,000 of the full-color piece in the agreed-upon timeframe. IT JUST CAN’T BE! But it without too much rarity frankly was frequently the case. SO…that To-Do list for the evening and tomorrow was “shot to Hell” before the end of the day even.

The advertising/marketing world is like that. Deadline driven without much room for error– if you miss the deadline to get an ad into the newspaper or the mechanicals to the printer…guess what? NO ONE at the newspaper or printer cares one iota that you didn’t get your ad, insert, project camera-ready on time and get it delivered to them— NO ONE. 

Of course it matters ridiculously to the client that the j0b was done— correctly and ON TIME. They may have an event or a sale that depended entirely upon getting that information in the hands and minds of their audience. Sincerely, their business surviving may well depend upon this initiative. Subsequently if matters a great deal to the agency. Your continued relationship may rest firmly in the fact that you fulfilled the agency’s promise to that client. 

As crazy as it seems, the problem-solving and making the “impossible” happen was of the thrilling joys of having that business. The passion, quick-thinking and resourcefulness to come-up with incredible solutions to the situation was an attribute shared by all of us at the agency – and frankly WE WERE DAMN GOOD AT IT!  

Blessedly were all young(ish) and with bellies full of coffee we burned the midnight oil like we were superhuman and tireless. Yes, inevitably we DID HAVE SET-BACKS and failures but not often. I have always believed it is how one responds to problems and failures that defines the “who” you really are. 

So like the kitty in the poster “Hang in there” hanging on for dear-life…I proclaimed that: In adversity  lies opportunity! So poignant because IT IS TRUE.

Anyhow, my point to all this is that at one-time (for 25+ years), I set unachievable goals and expectations and virtually NEVER ended the day with a completed To-Do List. I measured my successfulness errantly and my personal joy was tied to that gauge and wained like the tide.

That was it seems eons ago— before I got old, waaaay back when I had oodles of energy, much naturally and the remainder fueled by caffeine. Back when it seemed fun to burn your candle at both ends. 

One day walking up the stairs with 20+ cups of coffee in my body, my heart palpitated and that should have served as a warning. It didn't. Running myself and subsequently my marriage (and countless other things) into the ground finally did-- sad but true.

_______________

I have grown wiser since. I now realize that “Sleep is good”. It is refreshing and revitalizing…I used to view it as a waste of time but a necessary evil. For 25 years I existed off typically 4 hours of sleep a day interspersed with 48 hour periods when I pulled all-nighters to meet deadlines. (Yes, I once actually fell asleep at a lunch with a client and dozed off dipping my head into my salad…holy crap).

Today my To-Do List is consistent and achievable…it is very short but oh so fulfilling, Yes, old dog meet new tricks.

It is simply:

• Be present in the NOW, be fully engaged and appreciative.

• Be grateful for everything I have –radiate that gratitude along with joy without fail.

• Wear a smile and recognize the encouragement that it is to others.

• Make a memory. (Big or small matters not and making that memory is being in the NOW.)

I gleefully complete my “To Do’s” daily…with incredible satisfaction. I do find myself at times feeling like I’ve been “lazy” all day and didn’t get anything "important" done— and then I slap myself (metaphorically) and pat myself on the back recognizing that I got many many life sustaining critical things done.

Paraphrasing a Mark Twain story— I think— young Samuel was amazed at how stupid his father and his ideas were but when he’d gotten older he found himself even more amazed at how much the old man had learned. Yes, it turns out that his father was wise all along and what had changed was Samuel’s point of view. Thank goodness for wisdom born of years of living.

I’ve heard it said often that at the end of our lives no one wishes they had more time to complete this project or that— what they wish for was more time to spend with loved ones.

I pray for you that you get accomplished today what you set out to do… but moreover, I pray today that you completed that which was TRULY essential… and loving and fulfilling.

NOW...Go hug someone for no reason at all except to tell them “it was a critical item on my “to do” list for the day.