Schedules and lists keep trying to take over my life

I keep trying to put myself on a schedule even though it never works. It doesn’t help me be productive. It stifles my creativity and it puts the brakes on my productivity. Instead of being dialed into my intuition and following what I need to be doing, I end up doing what I should be doing. Boyd Varty in The Lion Trackers Guide to Life says, “no animal has ever participated in a should.”

For sure there is value in both and balance is required. But I think there’s much more value to being dialed into your intuition. Maybe being on a schedule is good to gain some momentum and build some muscle memory. If a schedule will make you do the work, then by all means, schedule away. Make lists. 

But as soon as your dialed into your gut. Dialed into listening to your calling. Ditch the plans and just live. 

It’s something I work on daily, but inevitably I slip back into the idea that I need to be on a schedule with lists of things to do and check off. It sneaks up on me, and before I know it I’m what I’m doing has lost all meaning, I’m unhappy, and I’m not getting anything done that I actually want to do.

A couple of weeks ago I started journaling before bed again. Journaling, particularly before bed, had been a regular practice for me. But when we moved and my routine got lost, it fell off. When I started up recently one of the first things I did was start to compile a list of all the things I needed to do. After three nights I had more than 10 items on my list and it was growing. Maybe I got to 1 per day, but that was it. It wasn’t that I was being lazy or procrastinating, I just had other things that needed to be done, and so the “list” kept growing, and ever night before bed I’d enter into a state of mini-panic as I realized I hadn’t made any progress.

Finally I decided fuck the list. I thought back to the realization I’ve had so many times before that I work best without lists or schedules, and I crossed out the whole list and decided each day I would do whatever my mind brought me. That was about a week ago now and I’ve had some of the most productive days since.

Lists and schedules are for work. Checking corporate boxes. Showing up to meetings on time. In your own life, try just going off your gut. Try just being in tune with your intuition and doing what that little voice in your head tells you.

I’m convinced that’s the key to success.