Category: Improving self-awareness

Personal Development – Improving self-awareness

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The Joyful Side of Routine: How Game Day Keeps Me Balanced

Hello, Lovely Readers,

When discussing routines and habits, I often zero in on the tasks we’d instead not do. You know, those not-so-glamorous chores that are essential but hardly bring us joy. Even though completing them offers satisfaction (mostly because I can finally strike them off my weekly to-do list), I have aspects of my routine crafted for enjoyment. For me, that includes a bi-weekly virtual game day session with some cherished friends.

Growing up, gaming was my jam. Whether it was solo or with pals, I relished the strategic thinking and competitive thrill games offered. However, that intrinsic motivation to play took a hit after my stroke. While I still enjoy games, it’s different now. The solo adventures don’t beckon as they used to, but the social element keeps the fire alive. So, I have these pre-set gaming rendezvous with my old buddies, and it’s a part of my week that I look forward to ardently.

Now, here’s an interesting angle. My wife, my eternal confidante and adviser, shared that engaging in some games could help mend certain brain functions disrupted by my stroke. I feel like I’ve gained some of that therapeutic goodness. But it’s not just about rehab. Knowing I have a gaming session nudges me to be more proactive about my daily chores. It acts as a dangling carrot, a self-awarded prize for slogging through the more mundane parts of my day.

This is something you can adapt to your own life. You know that book you love but have yet to find the time to read? Or that new restaurant you’ve been meaning to try? Let that be your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Turn your favorite activity into a reward for accomplishing your less thrilling tasks. That way, you don’t just get things done; you also have a tasty incentive.

I’ve employed this tactic before. When I took up running more regularly during my time in Portland, Friday became my doughnut day. Each run I finished during the week equated to a doughnut. Three runs? That translated to three doughnuts waiting for me at home. And because weight loss wasn’t a specific target for me, indulging in my sugary trophy didn’t clash with any other goals.

In the grand scheme of life, blending joy into our routine is crucial for maintaining a balanced life. Especially for me, given my medical history, these game days serve as more than just a leisure activity. They’re an affirmation of my abilities, a balm for my brain, and a reward for the necessary, albeit dull, tasks that fill the gaps in between.

So, next time you find yourself bogged down by the monotony of everyday tasks, remember to sprinkle in a little joy. Life, after all, should be a game we all want to play.

Cheers,

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The Struggle of Practicing My Own Advice: Coping with Loss and Self-Care

Hello to my cherished readers,

Today, I grapple with the tricky endeavor of heeding my counsel from just a day ago. As some may know, my long-time furry companion, Gambi, passed away yesterday at 16. Acknowledging the weight of this loss, I allowed myself to step back from my routine. Sure, I managed to pull off a single exercise set and even went for a run, but sitting down to write eluded me. Yet even as I mourn Gambi, who meant the world to me, I must acknowledge the importance of sticking to my other commitments. While I did fall short in some areas yesterday, I feel a sense of pride for pushing myself to do what I did manage to accomplish.

Yesterday was tough, no doubt about it. However, a surprising solace came in the form of exercise. It wasn’t a magic cure; emotionally, I was still shattered. Still, something about the physical activity provided me a slight reprieve. Reflecting on that experience has made it easier to muster the energy to exercise today. Slowly but surely, I intend to get back in the saddle. I’m not naïve enough to think that I’ll swiftly move on from the absence of Gambi in my life. Still, through sheer will and effort, I anticipate that, eventually, I’ll come close to being the person I was before.

Arguably, the most challenging part of this transition has been grappling with how ingrained Gambi was in my nightly ritual. For years, my bedtime routine commenced with calling Gambi into the bedroom. As I nestled into bed, I’d tell her I was ready for our usual evening snuggles. She’d promptly saunter over, perch on my right shoulder, and start purring, a comforting sound that had become as essential to me as a lullaby. The gaping void left by her absence makes me wonder how I’ll adapt my routine to compensate for this loss. Although uncertain about what will fill that emotional space, I am optimistic that something will eventually.

For now, the most I can do is heed the advice I’ve been doling out all along. It’s challenging, but if I expect to encourage others, it’s vital that I also live by those principles myself. Self-care and maintaining routine might feel like climbing a steep hill. Still, they’re crucial steps toward navigating through this emotional labyrinth.

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Unleash the Power of Mental Triggers for Better Memory

Hey, wonderful readers!

Let me pull back the curtain on an ingenious technique I’ve been using to improve my memory. Initially, I began honing this strategy to keep up with my exercise routine but soon realized its potential for aiding memory in many situations. You may already be familiar with setting triggers for remembering routine activities. This strategy works similarly and employs mental cues to help you remember anything you want.

Here’s the low-down: It starts with identifying a specific goal you want to remember. Next, you choose a particular moment or setting to recall this goal. The last piece of the puzzle is creating a vivid mental image of what you’ll see or experience at that moment. This mental snapshot serves as your trigger—when the real-life scenario mirrors your imagination, it prompts you to remember what you intended.

Let me give you a slice-of-life example. Often, while out and about with my wife, she’ll mention something she wants to be reminded of when we return home. In such instances, the heavy lifting has mostly been done by her; she has already chosen what should be remembered and when it should be recalled. All I have to do is visualize us arriving home and walking through the door. This imagery then acts as a mental anchor, linking the envisioned scenario to what my wife wants to remember.

Now, I won’t sugarcoat it—this strategy isn’t foolproof. The accuracy of your mental trigger is crucial for the technique to work. If the actual situation diverges significantly from what you’ve imagined due to an unforeseen circumstance, the mental trigger might not go off. For instance, I’ve tried using this approach to remember items we must pick up from the grocery store. Suppose the store has decided to rearrange its layout or introduce a new display. In that case, the disparity between my mental image and reality can throw a wrench into the works, causing me to forget what I intended to purchase.

But let me tell you, even with these occasional hiccups, this memory trick has proven to be far more effective than any other method I’ve attempted. So, give it a whirl and see how it enhances your memory game. Think of it as fine-tuning your mental GPS to help you navigate the labyrinth of daily tasks and commitments. If done right, this little hack could become a life-saver—or at least a memory-saver—for you too!

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The Art of Routine Building Through Mundane Chores Like Cooking

Hello, dear readers,

Today’s post is dedicated to the unexpected but delightful art of routine building through what we often consider mundane chores. Take cooking, for instance—a chore for some, a passion for others. I’ve always had a soft spot for cuisine, an affinity that traces back to my childhood learning to make pancakes with my grandmother. I didn’t realize back then that cooking would later become a tool for optimizing complex, multi-step procedures in life.

The Complexity Behind Simplicity in Cooking

In culinary arts, one of the most essential skills is mastering the alignment of various tasks to be completed simultaneously. Even a simple dish like scrambled eggs or a sandwich requires a calculated sequence of steps, each executed at the perfect time. The difference between a skilled chef and a beginner often boils down to the knack for optimizing this workflow. It’s about knowing what to do, when, and how to do it.

Embracing Reflection: The Japanese Concept of Hansei

One powerful concept I’ve come to rely on for improving my cooking skills is the Japanese practice of Hansei, which involves deep self-reflection after completing a task. The core idea is to analyze performance, understand mistakes, and strategize for future improvement. If you’re repeating a specific recipe, it’s a golden opportunity to employ Hansei. Taste the food, ponder what you like and dislike, and consider why those elements turned out the way they did. The objective is to refine the recipe each time, adapting it to align with your taste preferences.

The Case of Mapo Tofu: A Personal Experience

To provide a real-world example, let me share my experience of making Mapo Tofu, which my wife taught me. When we first tried the dish, we found it too salty despite not adding any table salt. That led to a Hansei moment—time for some culinary detective work. After scrutinizing the ingredients, I switched to reduced-sodium chicken stock instead of the Chinese-style tori gara I had initially used. The change was adequate but not quite enough. I then dived into the sauce ingredients, reducing the quantity of one while substituting it with another, less salty ingredient. And voila! The saltiness issue was resolved, all thanks to the iterative process of self-reflection and adjustment.

Conclusion

Something as ordinary as cooking can be a playground for honing essential life skills like routine-building and problem-solving. It’s a space to practice, to reflect, and most importantly, to improve. So the next time you dread life’s ‘mundane’ chores, perhaps try to approach them as an opportunity to cultivate better routines. You may discover a newfound appreciation for the everyday tasks that make up your world.

Happy cooking and happy reflecting!

Until next time.

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The Power of Consistency: One Week of Daily Blogging and the Journey Ahead

Hello to all my wonderful readers,

Having successfully written on this blog every day for a week, I’m feeling increasingly optimistic that this latest endeavor will become a long-term habit. The methodology I employed to get this far isn’t new or complicated; it’s the same advice I’ve been sharing with you in my previous posts. To summarize, I established a clear objective, which in this case was to write a brief blog post each day. I designated a specific time to pursue this writing goal, opting for the early mornings before my day officially begins with breakfast. Lastly, I anchored this new practice to an existing daily routine—finishing my first set of pushups is my trigger to start writing.

Writing a book has always lingered at the periphery of my consciousness, but until now, it remained a vague idea that I’d yet to embrace fully. I would wait for that elusive ‘perfect’ concept to strike me like a bolt of lightning. I don’t know if such a perfect idea is even a reality. Still, my ongoing recovery journey since experiencing a stroke seems like a fitting subject to delve into for the time being. While I might venture into fiction at some later stage, the habit I’m nurturing now will undoubtedly help any future writing projects.

On this subject, one author I particularly admire is Brandon Sanderson. He is often generous with his wisdom for those looking to become writers, and one piece of advice from him strikes a chord with me. His counsel is straightforward but effective: write and do it consistently. The emphasis isn’t necessarily on the volume of words but on the practice’s regularity. Even if it’s a modest 200 words daily, the results will accumulate over time, and before you know it, you could be sitting on an entire book series or more. This principle mirrors the philosophy I’ve tried to incorporate into achieving all my life goals: Start small, maintain consistency, and the results will follow.

I look forward to seeing where this new habit takes me. Not only is it providing a platform for me to share my ongoing life experiences, but it’s also laying the foundation for potential future literary endeavors. So, whether you’re an aspiring writer or have other goals you want to pursue, remember this: Start, even if it’s with something small, but keep at it regularly. After all, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

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Goal-Setting 101: How to Use Rules and Triggers for Habit Building

t helps to determine rules and triggers to develop and maintain your habits. As with my running goal last year, I knew that sometimes events would conspire against me being able to meet my 35k per week goal. As such, I needed to determine some rules to play by. I had to ensure that my rules supported my plan rather than excuses I could fall back on. The first step I took in crafting my rules was to investigate what my goal was.

 

My goal was to run 35k per week, but I wanted to regain mobility endurance and support my health. Recognizing these as my real goals helped me create appropriate rules. For example, one of my rules is that I will not run if there is snow/ice on the ground. This rule would conflict if my true goal were the 35k per week. However, since my true goal is mobility, doing something that has a substantial risk of decreasing my mobility via a broken ankle from slipping/falling is counterproductive.

I tested all of my potential rules against my goals in this manner. Setting up rules like this is crucial because otherwise, I would be relying on Ad Hoc decisions, which are too easily influenced by current emotions.

As much as I wanted to achieve my actual goals and that I became focused on reaching 35k each week, there were plenty of days when I dreaded running, and it took great effort to force myself to go out. If I had not established a strict running schedule on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, I probably would have made excuses and failed to achieve my goal by missing too many days.

The other half of this equation is setting up triggers. Triggers are events or times that prompt a response or when to apply a rule. Every run day, my trigger for getting ready for running is after I use the bathroom. Every morning, after breakfast and coffee, I’ll eventually have to use the toilet; I use this as my trigger for running. After I use the bathroom, I change into my running clothes instead of returning to my computer. My no running on snow ice rule is triggered by looking out the front door when I get my second cup of coffee. If there’s snow/ice visible on my ground now, I cancel my run.

So when trying to develop your habits, First figure out your actual goals and test your habit ideas against your real goals. Second, build your ruleset so you’re not relying on feelings or motivation, and be strict with your rules. Don’t give yourself any excuses for ignoring your rules. You might need to create a new rule if you can’t do the desired behavior. Just ensure you test this new rule against your goals. Finally, make your triggers. Use alarms on your phone if you can’t find commonly occurring events.