Remember, calendars are how we measure time, they're not time itself.
As a writer I have often set deadlines for myself, as well as dealt with deadlines set by editors and publishers. For example, I write for two different magazines on a regular basis. And in my forty years of writing, I have made so many goals for myself: to have an agent by thus and such age, or have a book published by the year Whatever. Goals are good. They keep us motivated. If we don't become more involved with the goal or date than we are with our work (or life) they keep us involved and focused.
On the other hand, I've received a lot of guidance lately that sounds something like this: "Leslie, you need to take the long view--and stay present in this moment." That is, keep my eye on the long range unfolding of my time, my personal goals as a writer and a human being, while savoring where I am in this instant. I struggled with how to take that long view and stay present for quite a while, just as many people have struggled with, feared or looked forward to the big moment of dramatic change scheduled to take place in 2012.
When I heard the theory that 2012 had already happened in 2010, the challenge of taking both the long view and staying present snapped into focus for me. Big changes are and have been already happening here on earth--big weather in Australia, in Chicago and the Mid-West and elsewhere. Yet here we are, still living our lives. With one eye on the long range unfolding of events within time--shifts in weather and cultural changes, or a book in the pipeline, for instance--and the other on the task for the present: cuddling a baby; giving a toddler her lunch; writing or reading a blog.