Do the thing in front of you, expect nothing

The review shows you something uncomfortable: most of your day's churn wasn't the work. It was the wanting wrapped around the work. The praise you hoped the task would earn. The reaction you rehearsed for when it didn't. You weren't just stocking the shelf or filing the report; you were running a side-bet on how it would land, and the bet is what wore you out.

Marcus names the alternative and it's almost suspiciously simple: "If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly... expecting nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature... thou wilt live happy" (Meditations 3.12, Long). Expecting nothing. Do the thing well because it's the thing in front of you, then let go of what it's supposed to get you. The contractor who sets the tile straight because crooked tile is wrong, not because someone's coming to praise it.

This is the clear-eyed habit at full daylight. Strip the side-bet off the task and the task gets lighter, the day gets quieter, and the evening review gets shorter, because half of what used to need reviewing was never the work at all.

The work, done right, expecting nothing. There's the whole afternoon's peace.