Learning By Doing

I’m trying to do more personal projects this year, both to scratch some itches and to learn new skills and improve old ones.

In the past, I’ve been put off by a lack of knowledge combined with perceived effort required. But thanks to time spent last year focussing on my mental health and well-being, I now realize that both of those excuses are bogus. At worst, I’m a little rusty in a few areas. And I’m making more time by removing all the avenues for procrastination and ‘busy-work’.

This morning, I cleared one roadblock by installing Python 3 onto my Mac using Homebrew, and started the process of re-acquainting myself with zsh and command-line activity in general. I’ve not used the command-line full time since my university days, about thirty years ago, so as I said earlier, I’m a little rusty.

I’m also making more effort to read books rather than flit around online. So, every hour or so I have a ten-minute break from the computer (thanks to Time Out) when I can get up and do some stretches, then sit away from the computer and read a book. Right now, I have a paperback copy of Getting Things Done by David Allen next to me at the desk.

Making little changes like these has worked wonders for my health, so I’m hoping that I can now do the same for my mind.