inklingfair Last year was about intent (bujo, habit trackers, setting goals for the house). This year is about agency. There were times when I felt helpless and defeated when the goals I set went down the drain of neglect or I got too stressed and burned out by pushing myself to complete what I began. One lifesaving maneuver I learned last year was the pivot — not to throw up my hands in utter despair but to find the area I can control and make that the fulcrum of my next move. Things can change, but I can change, too.
I know it sounds so basic and common-sense, but cutting loose from deadweight is so much harder when you’ve poured so much time and trouble into it (see fallacy of sunk costs). Easier said than done. That said, here are a few tools I’m hoping will help me exercise more agency and flexibility:
1. Human Centered Design: empathy. designing around changing human needs.
2. Lean Thinking/Agile: iteration. speed. continuous improvement.
3. Transmedia Storytelling: world-building for discovery.
I’ve a lot to learn. I’ll always have a lot to learn, and that’s a good thing.
Real-life things, in passing:
Josh and I filled out Amy’s preschool application form yesterday, and it asked us to describe her, her habits, her personality. I read somewhere how toddlers start to develop a self-concept, slowly grasping what is “not-me”. And I realized I had only begun to grasp how much “not-me” she is recently. How gregarious she is, how nosy, how effusive with her adoration, how she loves being the center of attention. How she says NO just to be contrary sometimes. It’s unbalancing and wonderful.
Post-terrible-exhausting-Christmas-break-with-a-small-child, we have started to rediscover dating. Last week we ate burgers and biked in the evening. We watched a musical film in the community theater. This week we’ve started to go through movies we’ve missed in 2017. We’ve booked a vacation in March on the island we had our honeymoon. I hope we go dancing. Kaizen.
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
