Yesterday I posted about The Escape Plan, a 40 day participative plan to help you bust out of your rut.
The task in yesterday's post was to learn something new. The time limit was thirty minutes.
I loved that twist. Limiting the task to thirty minutes meant it was doable. It was a taste of something fun in a time frame that kept it from taking over the day. The limited time also meant there was no possibility to fall prey to the pressures of "perfecting the skill."
That got me thinking about how much potential there is to incorporate new experiences and new activities into our lives in small doses. If, rather than feeling the need to commit to a fixing a five course meal for twenty people, we give ourselves permission to just enjoy a bite sized morsel, the range of possibilities is enormous.
Think of it as The 30 Minute University. Go to it at least once a week. More often if you can. Learn to do something bite-sized and new.
Start out by making a list of things you think would be fun to experiment with. Limit it to things you can do (imperfectly!) in 30 minutes. On The Escape Plan, Kim played with tap dancing and Jason learned a magic trick. Maybe you could learn how to do origami with a dollar bill, or get some kid's paint and spend the time exploring how the colors combine. Finger painting is always a favorite, of course, but I'm probably just projecting there. ;-)
You might even want to schedule a regular slot in your calendar so you are sure to get it in.
Happy learning!
Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
A handsome initiative and a cute experiment. It is said that hobbies are more a measure of a man than profession is. So when you start learning a new activity, you never know where it may lead to. It could be one of the means of finding the right occupation. Otherwise, one can have the satisfaction of having learnt something worthwhile.
For those interested, this is a detailed essay(a link I recently came across) on:-
How to do what you love
The 30minute univ could be a stepping stone towards that- the journey of a thousand mile begins with a single step as the chinese would say.Maybe the small univ can achieve where the bigger universities have failed- finding the right occupation which incidentally is the literal meaning of the word education.
Posted by: Hiren Shah | January 21, 2006 at 11:34 PM
Great post and great ideas. Thanks, also, for turning us on to the Escape Plan.
Posted by: Tim | January 22, 2006 at 05:33 PM
Hey Curt, I love this. Something I work on frequently. My latest is guitar and singing. Apparently there are not enough hours in the day for me to get good enough to "hit the tour" life but I am loving my creativity with it. Thanks too for the escape plan link...it's cool. Living la vida fearless, Jan
Posted by: Janet Auty-Carlisle | January 24, 2006 at 08:55 AM
Guy. We need to talk. It's about that facial hair. You need to do something about it. It's not working out for you.
Posted by: Ben Marvin | January 26, 2006 at 10:26 PM
What a brilliant idea. Short enough to be doable and for little or no procrastination. I will incorporate it in my work. Thank you.
Posted by: Steve Harold | February 03, 2006 at 11:30 AM