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01/02/2021


2021/02/01#p1

7 comments: click to read or leave your own

Good morning.

Another week, another month. January has done its thing and the year marches on apace. Still, February is going to be a month of getting shit done! It's about time I really knuckle down and stop using just about everything as an excuse.

I was listening to an interview with Ryan Holiday yesterday – author of "The Daily Stoic" and "The Obstacle is the Way", among others – in which he was talking about lockdown and the notion of dead time and alive time. Dead time is when you just let things happen, sit on the sofa, watch TV and let it wash over you. Alive time is when you make things happen, learn a language, write a book, whatever. Alive time is a time of betterment.

I've had way too much dead time in the past ten months, things have definitely been better recently but there is a lot more I can and will do.

Who was it that said forget January, resolutions should start in February?

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Alan Ralph says: Reply to Alan Ralph

Morning Colin! :) I've reduced the amount of dead time in my day, preferring to have periods of down time instead where I rest, meditate, stretch, listen to music or read a book. As for resolutions, I proved to myself last year that they can start any month, including January – the important thing is to start off slowly and easily and build a rhythm.

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Colin Walker says: Reply to Colin Walker

I was reading the section in Atomic Habits last night about applying the "two minute rule" to anything you want to build into a habit: start by breaking it down into something that takes two minutes and then stop. Rinse and repeat. You are initially building the habit rather than the outcome – standardise before you optimise as he puts it. You can't improve what doesn't exist.

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peterimoore says: Reply to peterimoore

@colinwalker Right there with you, I can come up with more excuses than politicians to not get things done.

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colinwalker says: Reply to colinwalker

@peterimoore Ha! Is that even possible 🀣

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peterimoore says: Reply to peterimoore

@colinwalker Yes it is, just ask my wife. πŸ˜‚

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colinwalker says: Reply to colinwalker

@peterimoore Don't let her get together with mine, we'd be for it.

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peterimoore says: Reply to peterimoore

@colinwalker Isn't that pretty much like crossing the streams from Ghostbusters?

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petebrown says: Reply to petebrown

@colinwalker oh man–I was just listening to Consumed the other day for the first time in a good number of years. So good.

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colinwalker says: Reply to colinwalker

@petebrown As a real acid junkie I still miss the Sheet One days.

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2021/02/01#p3

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While I was in the garden one of the robins swooped down on to the bird feeder. It eyed me suspiciously but had a feed before nipping back over the fence.

Knowing it was about I grabbed the bucket of meal worms and stood by the feeder. Sure enough it hopped back on to the fence and watched me put down more food before backing away.

A couple of minutes later both robins were on the fence, flitting back and forth, watching me to see if I was a threat. One flew briefly to the ground, grabbed a mealworm before disappearing again but they're starting to get used to me.

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Alan Ralph says: Reply to Alan Ralph

The robins in our garden are like that too, they have little fear of humans and will keep an eye on us to see if our activity reveals any worms or insects. :)

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Colin Walker says: Reply to Colin Walker

They're still pretty nervous but I want to get them to the point where they're perfectly happy for me to be there and maybe even feed them. They can recognise faces so I want them to get to know me.

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