My Self-Isolation Goals
One of the hardest things for me to do when I visit my childhood home in Arizona is to be productive outside of just sleeping, reading, and cooking all day. But the reality is that in two weeks I am going to have to figure out how to be back at school mentally while being in my “cozy place” physically. So, I want to do as much as I can early on in my time during these two weeks to reframe how I use this environment. Thus, I have some goal activities and areas of study that I would like to implement in my daily life (sooner, rather than later) to keep my mind running at a decent speed before I go back to school.
German
Goal: I would like to spend an hour a day sharpening (and maintaining) my German skills. There are four main areas to consider when deciding how to spend this time: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. For reading, I have two novels auf Deutsch, already started, that I am planning on finishing during break. For writing, I have already started a short story that I hope to finish by April 4th. For listening, I need to rewatch “Parfum” because wow is that an amazing show. For speaking, I will probably call friends, or, if I’m desperate, just talk to myself. I imagine that the way that I will organize the hour is doing between 2 and 3 areas per day in either 30 or 20 minute increments.
Oboe
Goal: In this area of my life I would just like to maintain my practice and reed regimen that I built up during Winter quarter. I am pleased with how far I was able to progress in a quick 10-week period, and am going to do my best to continue on the same trajectory.
Reading
Goal: 10 books. See yesterday’s post for more details.
Studying
Goal: I am in the process of making a podcast episode on this topic, but I am going to sign up for Masterclass and try to learn various skills that I’ve never learned before (for example: chess). I am also in the middle of revising a research project proposal and methodology for which I have to crack open some books in order to figure out.
Podcast
Goal: To shake things up through trying out the crazy episode ideas that I have been collecting for the past three months.
Internet
Goal: I know from past breaks that much of my problem during breaks at home is the amount of time that I spend on the internet, whether it be watching videos or browsing academic articles. My hope is that I can limit my computer/internet browsing time to three hours a day, and my total screen time to five hours a day, decreasing as I go along. (I am also considering throwing in a screenless Saturday or two as well). With these time constraints, I hope to get myself closer to my screen time usage in my actual daily life at school (which is normally 3 hours a day, phone and laptop combined).
What are y’all’s goals for this self-isolation period? Have your senses of time been as messed up as mine have been?