Monthly Archives: February 2023

Første skridt mod nye vaner

Jeg har i bogstavligste forstand taget første skridt mod nye vaner. Faktisk har jeg taget adskillige skridt. Efter jeg har læst Atomic Habits, som er skrevet af James Clear, så har jeg fået en større forståelse for, hvordan jeg kan indføre nye vaner og kommer af med uønskede vaner. Jeg skal starte i det små og gøre det simpelt.

Min første nye vane, som jeg vil indføre, er at gå en tur eller på anden måde motionere i 30 min hver dag, når vi skriver 2024. Jeg startede faktisk med at sige, at jeg ville gå 30 min hver dag, men jeg kender mig selv godt nok til, at jeg ikke gider gå en tur, hvis det siler ned. Det skal ikke hver en sur pligt. Nu kommer så det svære, for hvordan får jeg opbygget den vane uden at det bliver en sur pligt, så jeg opgiver?

Ifølge James Clear skal jeg starte i det små og starte med 2 min, for det sværeste er ofte at starte. For mig vil det sige, at jeg skal snøre skoene og gå lidt op ad vejen og tilbage igen. Her kommer jeg lidt op at slås med mig selv, for det synes jeg ikke er nok. Er jeg først gået afsted, så skal det også være en gåtur af en vis længde. Tidligere er der så sket det, at jeg ofte gerne vil gå en time, men det synes jeg ikke altid, at jeg har tid til, og så bliver gåturen helt droppet. Derfor har jeg lavet en aftale med mig selv om, at mine gåture i februar og marts er på max 30 min, og de må godt være kortere. Dermed er gåturen også klaret, når jeg går ned og handler ind, for det tager 25 min.

Jeg har også konstateret, at jeg er for hård ved mig selv, og at min perfektionisme er medvirkende til, at jeg tidligere har opgivet. Det kom til udtryk, da jeg lagde mig med hormonmigræne i 5 dage tidligere på måneden. Jeg blev irriteret og følte, at jeg blev sat tilbage til start. Derudover så jeg det som, at jeg havde fejlet mit mål om at gå hver dag, for jeg kom jo ikke ud og gå en tur. Jeg har derfor indført 2 nye regler. Den første er permanent og betyder, at migrænedage ikke tæller i regnskabet. Den anden regel er midlertidig og betyder, at jeg må springe over 1 dag om ugen, uden at jeg mentalt straffer mig selv, og ser det som et kæmpe nederlag og alt er tabt på gulvet.

Som det fremgår af ovenstående, så lærer jeg noget om mig selv i processen, og det er nu meget rart. Næste måned starter jeg op på 2 nye vaner. Jeg har valgt, at jeg bruger de første 2-3 uger på at finde ud af, hvordan jeg har det med den pågældende vane, før jeg skruer regelsættet sammen. Mine 2 næste vaner er at stå op senest kl 7 om morgenen og spille minimum 15 min om dagen på et instrument. For begge vaner forventer jeg, at de skal gælde 5 dage om ugen til at starte med, men nu må vi se, hvilke erfaringer jeg gør mig de næste par uger.

Jeg glæder mig til at gøre status igen om en måneds tid.

Forest picture

Heights - supplement

It's going to be a fun year. It's going to be a strange year. It's going to be a year where I will try some things I never thought I would try. And no, I will not be doing anything extreme. I'm not going bungy-jumping or parachuting. Instead, I'm going to challenge myself to try new things.

I've begun to read non-fiction books. It started last year when I was looking for a process for storing digital information. I get info in my mailbox and find information on homepages that I would like to save for future use, but I don't know where to keep it so I can find it again. I stumbled upon Tiago Forte and his book 'Building a Second Brain' which describes how to save info. I also didn't know how to manage and prioritize my many small private and work-related tasks, so I started to get curious about productivity. I find many things exciting and had to hit the breaks and prioritize my health. To improve my health, I need new habits to replace unwanted practices I have adopted over the last few years. Therefore, I picked up 'Atomic habits' by James Clear, even though I'm not a person who reads self-help books. I usually think that they are superficial and oversimplify everything. The authors give the illusion that all you need to do is to follow one recipe, and everything works out, but that's not true. I'm looking forward to finding out what I think of the book.

I also have thought about whether or not I'm getting all the vitamins and minerals my body needs, but I don't want to use standard multivitamin pills. There are many different kinds, and figuring out which is best is challenging. Therefore, I've chosen to do something different by ordering Smart Supplement from Heights. They contain ingredients that are healthy for the brain. I'm very skeptical, and I'm also aware that nothing happens overnight. Furthermore, I know that if my body improves gradually, I won't necessarily notice it unless I stop taking the supplement. Well, I've bought the product, and I'll evaluate my health in 3-6 months.

See? That's two new things that I've started this year. I'm looking forward to what will be next.

Heights Smart Supplement

Mail problems 📪

I panicked when all the mail in my inbox disappeared. More than 200 emails disappeared, and some of them were important. It happened when I was going through my unread mail, so I grabbed my phone and put it in flight mode so my mail wouldn't get deleted from it. The same thing happened two years ago, and I paid to restore my mail. The company that hosts my mail was quick and professional, and the price was fair. I never found out why it happened, but at the time, I suspected that my mail program was the culprit.

This time, I checked my webmail, and the mail was nowhere to be found. I looked in the trash and junk mail folders, but they weren't there either. Then I started to create a ticket at my mail provider, but before I was done writing, the mail magically appeared. I was relieved but didn't like it because I didn't know why.

The last time this happened, I decided to have a routine where I exported all critical mail so I didn't lose them again. I never found a practical solution, so I returned to my old way and let the mail stay in my inbox. This time, I had exported a lot of my mail to Evernote, so I was annoyed that I hadn't exported all my mail more regularly. Or that I at least had moved them to a folder because it is only read mail in my inbox that had disappeared.

It happens again a couple of days later, and the mail doesn't return this time. The mail has also disappeared from my phone, so the trick with flight mode will not work. I wrote to my mail provider, changed the password to my mailbox, and started looking for a new mail program because I didn't want this to happen again. Only 15-20 mail have disappeared this time, but some were very important.

The next day, my mail provider informed me they were investigating my issue. I'm puzzled because I said I would pay to restore my mail. The day after, I got a new message from my mail provider that they found an issue with my mailbox and that my mail should be returned. I was relieved that they had found the reason for the disappearing mail. I was afraid that the culprit was my mail program. I found a new mail program but wasn't satisfied with the mail view or how it exported mail to Evernote.

I'm back with my favorite mail program - Spark - and now know why my mail has disappeared. I need to be better at reviewing and exporting my mail to have a backup. But I'm back in business.

Evening sky

Status on saxophone classes🎷

I've been wondering whether or not I should continue my saxophone lessons. The fact that I can't relax on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday consumes too much energy from me. Mondays are very hectic because I have to rush home from work so that I can eat, take a bath, and run around the house to grab everything that I need to bring to the big band practice session. After practice, I rush home to eat a little before bed. At best, I get five hours of sleep, but I usually only get around four hours, which is far from enough.

When I show up at work on Tuesdays, I'm exhausted, and the days are usually long because Mondays are short. That means I'm home around 18:00 or 19:00, and that day has passed. I work from home on Wednesdays and often sleep in because I'm tired. I stop working around 15:00, and then I go for a walk. When I get home, I shower and eat something before leaving for my saxophone lessons. On my way home, I stop at the grocery store, which means I'm home around 19:30, and another day has passed. On Thursdays, I try to hold myself together, work, and relax because I don't have the energy for anything else.

On top of all that, it is not cheap to attend my saxophone lessons. One expense is the fee for attending the lessons, but driving back and forth is not cheap either. I'm also tired of the fixed routine of doing the same thing every Wednesday, but that is normal for me. A couple of years ago, I only attended every other band rehearsal, so I wouldn't get tired of doing the same thing all the time.

As a replacement for my saxophone lessons, I've looked for online courses. Or maybe I should have a break. I'm unsure what I want and have the next six months to decide. Only time will tell what I will choose.

Picture of field, road and forest