Finding Your "To-Be List" vs. Your "To-Do List"

“Don’t equate your self-worth with how well you do in life.  You aren’t what you do. If you are what you do, then when you don’t…you aren’t.” 

~Wayne Dyer

As you crawl into bed, thump your pillow to make the perfect little cave for your head to rest in, 

You will pull the covers up tight under your chin, and let go of that big sigh that indicates the day is finished, how do you look back on the waking hours you just experienced? How do you measure the quality of your day? Most of us will measure our day by what we did. We will reflect back and count the things on the to-do list we were able to check off. The more check marks, the better.

How well we did will also come into play as we reflect back on our doing. 

The more praise we received for it, either the self-provided kind or that offered by others, the higher we rank our day regarding quality. We may compare our daily accomplishments to those of the people who trudged through the hours with us. “Did I do more or better than Jim, John, or Mary?” No matter how much we goofed up if Mary goofed up more than we can sigh with relief and call it a good day as we close our eyes for the night.

What happens, however, if you never got done what you wanted to get done? 

Most of us still measure the quality of our daily experiences, the quality of our lives by what we do, and what we accomplish on our list. We seldom determine the value of our life experience by how present we are or are not. We don’t stop ourselves from thinking of the ‘next thing’ vs. focusing on this special minute. We allow the list to rule us. We become it's robots.

Rather thank the owners of it.

What would happen if we started doing that?

The list would be much shorter.

But perhaps a lot richer.

Cheers.