As the day begins to wind down with the sun giving off its last light, I finish up what I’m doing and leave it on the desk for another day.
The period of deep work and of brilliant ‘flow’ has passed its life cycle for the time being. My only focus now is on shutting down, turning off, and closing up shop.
“Just one more thing.” I sometimes tell myself before catching the thought.
One more.
Sometimes the hardest part of work is stopping. With a minute or so left on the clock, we think we see a light known as ‘freedom’ at the end of a long, dark tunnel know as ‘work’.
Just one more thing.
We seem to be getting closer all the while not realizing that the tunnel itself is getting longer through last-minute, impulsive desires to add things to our list before we go.
We forget that the light called ‘freedom’ shouldn’t be measured by the quantity of work we get through over the period of a day, but by the quality and focus we put into the work for the time that we do.
After I catch myself, I look down at the list of things I thought I would’ve gotten done today that I didn’t, and find a way to reconcile with the tasks that were not accomplished. I take a deep breath with the realization that it all can wait.
When the time comes for work, we should work. When the time comes to recuperate, we should recuperate.
Let us take a deep breath, savor the events of today, reflect, and know when it’s time to turn off.