Last year I really wanted to focus on morning Spanish and doing things to keep my brain active. Not that it's not active, I just wanted to do some things about using apps on my phone to be more dedicated to certain things and develop better habits.
When I just did the apps individually they became a chore and discounted by my family. "Oh, you have to go and do your Duolingo" was the comment that I will always get it.
When I grouped them as my "lessons" then it became something important and when I chose a specific place to sit when I did my lessons that became an appointment thing and the word got around to my wife and children that when I was sitting in that spot I needed to be left alone until I got up from that spot.
So it's been interesting developing this habit. I'm starting to deviate from a specific time between 5 and 6 PM a little bit now that it's become a habit. Sometimes I do a little bit earlier in the day, sometimes I'll do it later in the evening just because of life. But I tend to do my lessons between five and six in the afternoon.
Right now my lessons consist of:
I read today's chapter of Proverbs.
I do a Bible devotion in the Bible app.
I do lessons in dual lingo learning Spanish. Sometimes one lesson, often times three lessons. At this point I got over a thousand days in a row without missing a day, so I've become pretty consistent.
Memrise Spanish lessons. Another good app.
Shine check-in. I joined Shine and it's been an okay but not my highest priority.
Meditate for 10 minutes using the Calm app. I'm a lifetime member of Calm even though I feel some guilt about meditation I still do it daily because it seems to help me.
Then I play a couple of games. Hungry Shark and Wordscapes have been the ones that I've done for over a year. I recently added Hungry Dragon to the mix.
Those are my lessons. I tried to work in the brain exercise app called Luminosity, but for some reason that just hasn't stuck. I guess because a workout is five different games, and because the games go on and are pretty challenging even at the low level that I'm at I just don't gravitate to it at this point. I'm hoping that over the coming holiday weeks through the new year I cannot hone that habit a little bit and get into it. Because I like Luminosity, and I like the games, but it does make my brain sweat and make me have to think pretty hard when I'm doing it.
Those are my lessons right now. I'm thinking after the first of the year I may adjust them a little bit. I kinda like to learn some Hebrew and I would kinda like to change the games to something different, but I am enjoying them.
The biggest thing is I don't want is to lose the habit of doing my lessons every day. It helps me think better and do better. I like it!
