Random thoughts: making familiar pathways
On a night hike
(Well, it was sunny when I started)
No worries, I know exactly where I am
I will address night hiking in a different post…
What I wanted to say right now is- I hiked two of the secret trails in this park and then came back on a familiar trail
And what it made me think of is
(I love a good hiking metaphor, right?!
That is what I think helps me the most when I am trying to embrace new work
I often come up with hiking metaphors when I am being coached
Anyways)
Something I have been struggling with is doing these new things
Because the new things take up so much time and energy
Im not familiar with them
Then I avoid working on them because I feel like I am not making ay progress
Every time I sit down to work on it I have to re-teach myself everything and familiarize myself with what it is I am actually supposed to be doing
In starting new things, new projects, new learning tasks, or whatever, it’s like building new muscle in the brain, building new pathways in the brain, right?
What wires together, fires together
Its much easier being on a wide path like this (this path that you cannot see because I am hiking in the dark)
But because it is such a wide familiar path to me I am comfortable hiking it in the dark
Right?!
The idea came about, the metaphor, that these new activities I am trying to learn, to make into a habit, they are like overgrown or maybe like even brand new paths that have not necessarily been in existence yet. And it takes a lot of energy and effort to explore the way and clear the way and figure out
(That’s what I was coming for — the sunset— right there)
Figure out how it is I want to navigate through this and what would be the easiest and most enjoyable way through
(Yes! This is why I hike in the dark!! —the sunset)
There is a lot of manual labor involved, there’s weeds and burs that will stick to you and distract you
But once the path is made its easier and its familiar and then you can go on it
Today when I hiking, I hiked the secret paths, which were a little bit overgrown
And then I paired it with hiking a path that was familiar to me
So I think that is something I am going to try when I get sit down to do a work task that’s new, that’s new and unfamiliar, I can pair it with something that is familiar to make it an easier habit to create and stick to
If you are interested in being coached around topics like this, check out the links below.
Take care!
If you found this interesting you might want to follow along to the random thought series where I discuss all sorts of random things, connect ideas, share exercises and tools that could be helpful in a really informal way. Just when I am processing and what’s on my mind
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