New Filters
I've become dissatisfied with the way certain things happen in my home. For example, I spend most (if not all) of my days being reactive--attending to the (usually urgent) needs of small children. It cuts down on my ability to think strategically about my kids--to have goals for them and work toward them (even short-term goals). This is a problem if I am going to be a home-educator. So, instead of constantly waiting on them and then just "keeping them occupied" with some meaningless activity every once in a while so I can get some cleaning done, I am setting a goal for myself to do some sort of engaging or educational activity with them AT LEAST once a day. These are activities that will point toward the longer-term goals of preparing them for academic work and teaching them useful life skills. Foundational stuff. These activities I want to do will require ME to engage with my kids, which I find it difficult to put out the energy for sometimes. You know those days when you'd rather sit there with your coffee and watch your kids play--or even bicker--rather than step in and do something engaging with them? I hate that about myself.
Anyway, I'm not setting lofty goals for myself with this, and I'm intentionally setting my standards pretty low. One engaging activity a day--I already do that most days. But some days I don't. And hopefully I'll start doing it more than once a day, and then I'll start doing it several times a day. You know the conventional wisdom that says, "Anything that is measured improves?" I'm capitalizing on that. I'm writing these activities down in my LJ. They'll be VERY SHORT posts made at the end of each day (after the kids go to bed). They'll serve as markers and reminders of what I've done, and they'll motivate me because I'll want to have something to write down at the end of the day. BUT, these entries will be on a separate filter to avoid spamming those who aren't interested. If you ARE interested, reply and ask to be put on the filter, please. The more the merrier, and having an audience will further motivate me.
Now, on a related note: my short-term memory has been really bad lately. My attention has been prone to fragmenting ever since I got pregnant the first time, but lately it's just been causing big problems. I think it has something to do with my reluctance to engage, as discussed in the previous paragraphs. I just have this mental inertia. What I'm trying to say is, I've become mentally lazy. My husband talks about the effort needed to get into an alpha brain-wave state, or something. I just need to tackle that challenge and get my brain in gear, he says, and I'll be a better parent. I think he's right. And that dovetails nicely with the book I've been reading lately, Do Hard Things: A teenage rebellion against low expectations. It's written by two teenage authors who say that the AVERAGE young adult (teenager) is capable of doing really hard things--great things--world-changing things. Serious things. What they write is inspiring to me now as a 28-year-old. I know it sounds like a stupid cliche, but one of the things they wrote was, "Do a hard thing every day." So that's the second filter I'm setting up. I'm going to try to do a hard thing every day, and I'll tell you what it is. Again, my standards are low--I'm not talking about getting a law degree or running a marathon. It just has to be something that challenges me to get over my mental inertia. It will be a positive, pro-active GOOD thing. It might be something I'm tempted NOT to do, or that I think I could get away with not doing, but I'll do it anyway. Some days it might be the same thing that goes in the other category, the activities with my kids. And hopefully, given time, I'll do many more of them a day, and the hard things will get harder. Hit 'Leave a Comment' if you want to go on this journey with me.
Carpe diem.
Anyway, I'm not setting lofty goals for myself with this, and I'm intentionally setting my standards pretty low. One engaging activity a day--I already do that most days. But some days I don't. And hopefully I'll start doing it more than once a day, and then I'll start doing it several times a day. You know the conventional wisdom that says, "Anything that is measured improves?" I'm capitalizing on that. I'm writing these activities down in my LJ. They'll be VERY SHORT posts made at the end of each day (after the kids go to bed). They'll serve as markers and reminders of what I've done, and they'll motivate me because I'll want to have something to write down at the end of the day. BUT, these entries will be on a separate filter to avoid spamming those who aren't interested. If you ARE interested, reply and ask to be put on the filter, please. The more the merrier, and having an audience will further motivate me.
Now, on a related note: my short-term memory has been really bad lately. My attention has been prone to fragmenting ever since I got pregnant the first time, but lately it's just been causing big problems. I think it has something to do with my reluctance to engage, as discussed in the previous paragraphs. I just have this mental inertia. What I'm trying to say is, I've become mentally lazy. My husband talks about the effort needed to get into an alpha brain-wave state, or something. I just need to tackle that challenge and get my brain in gear, he says, and I'll be a better parent. I think he's right. And that dovetails nicely with the book I've been reading lately, Do Hard Things: A teenage rebellion against low expectations. It's written by two teenage authors who say that the AVERAGE young adult (teenager) is capable of doing really hard things--great things--world-changing things. Serious things. What they write is inspiring to me now as a 28-year-old. I know it sounds like a stupid cliche, but one of the things they wrote was, "Do a hard thing every day." So that's the second filter I'm setting up. I'm going to try to do a hard thing every day, and I'll tell you what it is. Again, my standards are low--I'm not talking about getting a law degree or running a marathon. It just has to be something that challenges me to get over my mental inertia. It will be a positive, pro-active GOOD thing. It might be something I'm tempted NOT to do, or that I think I could get away with not doing, but I'll do it anyway. Some days it might be the same thing that goes in the other category, the activities with my kids. And hopefully, given time, I'll do many more of them a day, and the hard things will get harder. Hit 'Leave a Comment' if you want to go on this journey with me.
Carpe diem.