Coffee To Go, Please!

Sometimes the lessons we need to learn come from the most random of places. In a coffee house last week I overheard something that jump-started me more than any cappuccino could.

After getting his coffee, a man saw a woman he knew. She was with some other women and it seemed as though they had been there for awhile; the remnants of breakfast were strewn before them. As he was talking to her, he asked what she’d been up to lately. Her: “Oh, a huge project. I’ve overwhelmed. So much to do!” Him: “Then what are you doing here?!”

He said it with laughter and I don’t know if the underlying message struck her, but it certainly hit me. I nodded in silent agreement. How many times have I felt like that woman — overwhelmed with a project and finding everything to do but it? And because it is almost always my own projects that I put on the side lines, his words were a reminder to get back on track with that which drives me.

We can all make a little more time in the day for those things that are important to us. I think of David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, husband and father, who found the time last year, stealing an hour here and there in the early mornings and late evenings, to write an ambitious book on Obama. His focus is inspiring.

Today I had an extra hour between Sunday chores and outings. Instead of filling it with the crossword or killing that hour in a coffee house, I sat down and wrote. Don’t get me wrong — there is nothing better than a leisurely morning with a cappuccino and friends. But when it becomes “just killing time,” well, that’s a death I don’t want on my hands!

Put simply, until I’ve accomplished what I want, I’m taking my coffee to go!