* with apologies to Bon Jovi
The last month or so has gone by quickly, and it’s time for another reflection on the time invested in these new habits.
Spencerian Calligraphy
I’ve gotten a lot more fluency with arm movements, working on the drills and the shapes and shades for all capital letters. It felt like a huge victory when I got through to the letter Z. I’ve spent a lot of time in drills, and it is slowly starting to pay off.
Habit stacking: Focus on how I begin and finish is my focus for the next few days. Start with a tidier table. Clean the pens out after I’ve finished. Tidy the desk after.
Walk Every Day
Illness stuck, as did nasty weather. We’ve managed to walk every day otherwise, and recommencing after both the illness and the weather inflicted stops was not hard. We’re walking for an hour or more. I’m taking more pictures.
Habit stacking: It feels like I need to focus on ONE picture. It doesn’t matter how beautiful everything else is. I will take one picture and learn about the ‘manual’ controls on the phone camera from here on.
BUT: The purpose of this habit is exercise, not photography. Jog/run for 2 minutes in the middle of the walk is what I will attempt for the next few days.
Vocal Learning
This has been surprisingly easy to keep doing. I missed only one day.
I find my voice slowly changing timbre. I’m slowing down in my everyday conversations (unless I’m excited or agitated).
What I’m not doing well is the preparatory work – like everything else. The breathing. The exercises. The posture. The mindset. Lest it turns into a task to complete. I also didn’t get to do the recording in the mornings as I intended, because I’m not waking up earlier.
Intentional preparation for the next few days.
Writing here every day
It was easy to get 100 words in, but not so easy to focus on one idea. I tried to do that for the last couple of weeks. Quality isn’t the aim, volume is. I will continue with this – except that I will write in the mornings, before I start my work day. Journal writing in the night helps to deal with the emotions and scars of, and gratitude for, the day.
What I’ve learned
- I can do all these in less than an hour.
- The preparation and conclusion routines are as important, if not more, as the habits I’m trying to develop.
- Removing the limits on the phone automatically increased the amount of time I’ve spent on it, mostly on Chrome. Re-establish these immediately.
- I’ve started going down the rabbit hole of learning about Web 3.0 and crypto. Deliberately, collectively learning about these new technologies in the company of others who understand a bit more than I do, and who care enough to explain it to me is a wonderful experience. It requires me also to focus on searching out content that I seem to have an easier time of that is relevant to my learning friends.
- Doing things as naturally as brushing my teeth or drinking water – ie without overthinking about them – removes so much overheads on limited mental energy.