As promised, non-Arsenal talk.
I noticed that during lockdown I have found myself.. slipping a bit. By that I mean that I am getting into bad habits, spending too much time on twitter, and letting the fish tank of my mind form a deep green slime. To combat this, I have started keeping a running tally on graph paper of all the good habits I’ve been trying to form. And you know it’s really good at telling me that I’m not very good at maintaining my good habits!
The habits are
- Make bed
- Make a smoothie (get those veggies in!)
- Study Japanese
- refresh the sourdough
- reading
- laundry
- dishes
- eat an apple
- sweep
- pushups/situps
- vacuum
- four cups of water per day (it’s more like 8)
- writing
- walk the dog
When I first started the list, those first two days I did all of the habits. Day three I didn’t read or sweep. Day 4 I didn’t make the bed, do a load of laundry (I do small loads so chill out, ok), sweep or do pushups. And as the days went by I slowly completed fewer of the tasks I want to do every day. Yesterday was pretty bad. I only completed 7 of the 14 things I want to do every day.
I often fantasize that if I had everything scheduled out – like on my outlook calendar – I would do everything. As if I were an automaton, just needing the correct nudge to get me back on task, ticking the right boxes, being a good, productive human.
It’s weird to me now looking back on January of this year, how much of my life was simply getting up, writing, take the dog for a walk, bathe, go to work and things just somehow magically got done. Work got done on time (mostly), projects started and completed, laundry got washed, folded and put away, the dog got walked. And now.. projects keep dropping off my list of to-dos. I can’t concentrate in Zoom meetings. I can’t focus on the tasks I need to get done. And I have this stupid list of stuff that I want to do, and I look at it all the time, and I can’t get it done! I literally look at an unfilled box and go “I’ll do that later”.
On my walks, I sometimes dream up these short stories. The other day I was wondering what I would do with myself if, say, all the humans suddenly disappeared. In my fantasy world, I would go to the library, learn about sailing (or how to build an electrical generator, etc.) and then jump on one of the thousand or so sailboats here and start sailing.
But then I look at this list. And I see what happens to me when I don’t have a bunch of other people around, checking in on me and working with me on things and I think that what I would probably actually do is just go crazy. Like, it would take, oh I dunno? A week without human contact? And I’d be dead somewhere.
The “Last man on Earth” fantasy is pretty common and has been done in a lot of ways. But they always find other humans (for good or bad) and in reality it’s exceptionally rare for humans to live in isolation for long periods of time. There have been a few who tried but they typically go insane. We are, after all, social animals.
It looks like we are going emerge from this COVID period soon. Maybe 6 more months. And I’m not sure what life will look like when “things get back to normal”. I suppose I’ll go get a haircut: my self-shaved head is pretty funny. In the meantime, I’m going to look at the list today, buckle down and knock out all 14 of these tasks. I have no idea if this is good for me or not. It feels right. It feels like it should be good to form good habits but I have no idea. Maybe it’s all a waste of time.
But even if it is, I’m going to take the dog for a walk, look at some birds, come home, and make the bed.
Thanks for all the good points you on a regular basis churn out, Arsenal related or not.
I´ve actually copied you in some ways, trying to learn spanish. In order to do something wortwhile.
Though dear lord, Im so poor. By far the worst student that sweet La profesora ever encountered.
She looks at me the same way you look on obedient dog. Though not a puppy but an old dog with grey hair that occasionally farts and just don´t get it.
Yepp, that kind of a look (darn I´m poor :-()
hahahah. I bet your Spanish is better than you think!
why thank you, could certainly do with some support 🙂
Spanish isn’t too difficult. I’d steer away from Welsh, if you’re looking to talk to your dog, for any reason.
Unless you already come from the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
of course.
It’s like the algorithm has a glitch!
Is it though the lack of human contact that is causing the “malfunction”?
Perhaps it should not be seen as a malfunction but more of a realignment from a positive feedback loop? The change in routine and extra time makes us more conscious of what we are doing in the present. This causes us to question subconsciously things which we would normally do automatically…which causes procrastination, further changes in routine and further focus on the present.
Does it become a positive feedback loop (renewal) or a negative spiral (decay)? I guess that depends on whether you clean the slime out of the fish tank!
I have to force myself to shave every 4 or 5 days. I tried to grow out a pandemic beard but I can’t hack it: gets too scratchy and itchy and my kids say it makes look old as it comes out salt and pepper. How do you guys with beards do it?
Speaking of beards, this is cool except you would have to pay me to eat whatever a McRib is, even if it was free:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/01/business/mcdonalds-mcrib-shave-trnd/index.html
get some beard oil. even if all you have is a meager day’s growth. There are some great ones out there. I particularly enjoy the smell of pine oil, so I’ve taken to this one:
https://www.mountaineerbrand.com/collections/beard-moustache-care/products/beard-oil-timber-scent
but there are a variety of scents. And lest you think I come only to brand-boost, plenty of crunchy/diy folks are into making their own beard oils, which apparently isn’t too difficult.
Thanks! I may indeed give your suggestion a try. Just shaved it all off yesterday but today’s a new day…
I’ve never shaved…
Virgin beard here 🙂
i would define habits as things you routinely do without much thought. developing one good habits is hard enough. tim, you’ve chosen to take on quite a few all at once and i simply don’t know if it’s possible. if you can make it happen, i’d love to know your secret…not to be nosy but i just like to learn.
some people, like wife of joshuad (thanks 1nil), can just do what needs to be done on demand; she’s an absolute winner. not me! i absolutely depend on habits for anything i’ve ever done well. EVER! if not for good habits, i’ve underachieved or straight up failed.
in sharing, my habitual acts are all done, not necessarily the same time, but the same phase of my day; meaning before bed, after lunch, when i come home, etc. if not, an act requires too much thought and i’m more likely to not get something done. the bulk of the good stuff happens right when i wake up and before life has an opportunity to interfere.
i studied in the mornings but some folks study late at night. my brain is mush at the end of the day while some folks have foggy brains in the morning. i prefer an a.m. workout while some prefer to get a lunchtime lift. after work, i’m in the yard for about an hour, if weather permits. we’re all different but all creatures of habit. i’m always interested to hear what has worked for others; like i said before, i need my habits or i’d be a bum. i’ve failed a ton in life and need to develop a few new habits so i’d love to hear other’s experiences.
Agreed Josh, for me a morning routine is very important. If I don’t start the day well then it can easily get away from me, I just drift and put things off until tomorrow. That’s my main focus of trying to develop good habits for myself – building a structure that helps me to keep up momentum.
I am also struggling with my list. My list includes things like “do the damn job I am paid to do”. But it’s been a rough year and sometimes we need to step back and see that, and give ourselves a break.
An aspirational list is good, but it’s also a double-edged sword. It’s a positive thing, and a form of self-care, and at the same time it’s something that any negative side of you can beat yourself up about and get depressed about when you don’t instantly succeed.
For example it’s unrealistic to incorporate 14 new habits all at the same time, so I’d question why you are challenging yourself like that. Is it the most helpful way of getting you to where you want to be? Or is it because part of you likes to punish yourself?
Maybe trim the list, or find a way to differentiate between self care stuff (exercise, dog walking, bed-making) and the more aspirational stuff like writing, learning languages and baking.
I wouldn’t class the latter as habits, more as just things you want to do with your time, achievements you can work towards. Doing something purposeful with your time is important, but it doesn’t necessarily matter what it is and you don’t always have to do it every day. I’m trying to work on my drawing but I only get to do it at weekends: https://www.instagram.com/enggak_apa_apa/
I dunno, all I’m saying is don’t be too hard on yourself, the fact that you want to do all these things shows that you are already focused on being the best you can be, and that’s most of the battle.
During the pandemic, I am learning technical trading from an old family friend/ex-colleague of my father’s. He is an 80-year old semi-retired cardiologist who is annoying brilliant at everything he touches. Film-maker, chess player, a technical trader, you name it. Thankfully, he isn’t a very good musician, and yet he can play simple chords I’ve taught him on his keyboard with relative ease.
I just made a 12% profit on chart-reading he’s taught me: moving averages, Bollinger bands, candlesticks, resistance, and support lines, basic option call and put strategies. A whole new world for me. Fascinating, if rather dry. But hey, if I can’t be playing gigs and finding steady studio work, and can make a few bucks Technical Trading, as a side hustle, why not?
“Breaking Bad”, “Making The Bed”………. I have a feeling Tim’s post NLD post might be titled “ $hitting The Bed”.
I know it sorta goes against your plans to not talk arsenal Tim, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new transfer rules especially with regards to young players. I feel like its what certain people have been crying out for but will actually reduce the quality of English youth. Worse we wont see the fallout in this regard for some years.
It’s dumb and will
-raise the price of eenglish players
-big clubs are already buying feeder clubs in europe to get around this rule
-when this rule goes into effect clubs will no longer be able to take young players from europe/latin america
-that means guys like Martinelli/Guendo/etc will no longer be able to get work permits
-it will reduce the overall quality of the league
-it will raise prices for finished products in the 22-26 y/o range
basically it’s like all anti-immigration policies: dumb.
Funny enough… I dislike habits. I have to have change to keep my mind engaged in things