Hello and welcome to the first Saturday of 2023 here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is January 7th.
We’re coming to you live from the road – a perfect opportunity to corral my husband into making a contribution to the blog.
The spine of our family, he’s the silent partner behind this blog. The last time he chimed in was his How to Boil the Perfectly Peelable Egg. Heck, it may have been the only time!
So, with him behind the wheel, and me at the keys, here we go.
Me: So, honey, what should today’s blog be about?
Him: New Year, new things. And the new thing for this year is discipline. We all want to improve ourselves in something; we want to be better. But what is that long-term secret sauce which will carry us over to achieve our dreamed-up goals?
Like a yeast in the bread which will deliver a beautiful loaf at the end, throughout the baking process, we as people, need to have some secret or special agent for long-term success. That agent is discipline. Whether it’s a teenager, second grader, or mid-forties adult, we achieve far more with discipline.
As New Year’s resolutions are still fresh in our minds and we are still eager to be proud and to say at the end of the year: “Yes, this is what I achieved!” as a better worker, person, husband, hobbies – let’s try using this secret sauce discipline as a carriage to move us forward throughout the whole year.
Me: Wow! That was really good! Anything else you want to add?
Him: Alright, let’s elaborate further. Nobody’s perfect, but fortunately, we have tools which will help us out, carrying forward our activities to meet our goals, to help us out with maintaining our discipline.
How about calendars on our phones? For example, in my office work, sitting behind my desk gets my body muscles sometimes very stiff. Once in a while, I need to stretch because of pain, or even I need to walk to really loosen up some muscles. My proactive approach three years ago was to create exercise reminders in my daily schedule – little 2 to 5-minute reminders for my stretching. With this, it helped me be proactive with some prolonged sitting.
Me: How did it go for you?
Him: Having these reminders permanently embedded in my daily work calendar helped me deal with my physical pains and actually improved my physical condition.
Me: That’s great!
Him: Another example would be foreign language learning through Duolingo software. In this case, I’m just doing this for 15-20 minutes per day. Not too much effort, just that most of the time. However, by doing this every day, I am building a volume of learning. And perhaps for all of us, whether you’re learning piano or studying for math, or want to improve in gardening – maybe the key is not to invest hours but just a few minutes with an everyday approach.
What I’m trying to say basically is when you do a little bit every day – you learn actually a lot. Use your phone, computer, or old-fashioned calendar. The thread of discipline is your silver lining toward success.
Wish you all the best. Happy New Year!
My daughter, an architect, works from home; as does my long-retired wife. Using discipline, both of them utilize yoga as a form of exercise -- as well as choosing to stand at their computers than sit at them for long periods of time. Just an idea, hubby. Oops, Hruby isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI let my language studies lapse this fall.
ReplyDeleteI’m going to take them up again.
Merci.