Net and scaffold
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.
~ Annie Dillardslip:4a756.
#AnnieDillard #Quotes #TimeManagementAlso useful
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.
~ Annie Dillardslip:4a756.
Annie Dillard is right. Also useful for defending against chaos: Principles. Morals. Visualization. To be clear: My first word, “also,” is critical. I’m completely onboard with a schedule. But for me, since I’ve got schedule (and process and optimization and organization) dialed in, I’ve moved inward to more difficult topics of consideration. I find I’m asking myself—continuing Dillard’s metaphor—did I put the scaffolding in the right place?
And even more chin-scratchingly interesting: Am I done with this labor? And should I take the scaffolding down, so that I can set it up somewhere else?
ɕ
#AnnieDillard #TimeManagementI read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary priest, "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell? "No," said the priest, "not if you did not know." "Then why," asked the Eskimo earnestly, "did you tell me?"
-- Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard on Unselfconsciousness
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/03/07/annie-dillard-muskrat/
What a Weasel Knows That We Forget: Annie Dillard on How to Live
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/03/04/annie-dillard-weasel/
How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives: Annie Dillard on Choosing Presence Over Productivity
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/02/01/annie-dillard-the-writing-life-1/
I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary priest, "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell? "No," said the priest, "not if you did not know." "Then why," asked the Eskimo earnestly, "did you tell me?"
-- Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard on How to Live
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.themarginalian.org/2025/10/14/annie-dillard-weasel/
Dear Lovely Peeps,
'We are here to abet creation and to witness it, to notice each thing so each thing gets noticed.
Together we notice not only each mountain shadow and each stone on the beach but we notice each other's beautiful face & complex nature so that creation need not play to an empty house.' - Annie Dillard
Craig Constantine
Wisdom in Space
The Marginalian [Unofficial]
P. L. Klein
Her Doing