How I developed a reading habit: tracking with a simple bookmark and setting low daily targets (Make it easy)

 

Alhamdulillah, just finished reading the book "This is Love" by Dr. Ali Albarghouthi 😍📖👍🏼. 

One of the key strategies in building a habit to read every day - the one I used to complete reading this 500-page book from cover-to-cover in 2 months - is by daily tracking.

I would use the most basic method of bookmarking: the twist is to use an unglamorous blank A4 sheet of paper, fold it up, and write my daily progress on that paper. 

Tracking grants us a visibility of progress over the course of any project/task, immediately informing us of our consistency & how much we have been slacking off, and works a a self-regulating self-reminder to help us get back on track. 

Plus, as the weeks pass by, it's very satisfying to look back at our daily progress, helping provide a minor motivational "boost" to keep moving forward every day! 

What I learnt also, was the point of function over form. This A4 method isn't the most elegant or aesthetically sexy approach, but it's an effective, practical one. 

Sure, I love fancy bookmarks as much as the other guy, but it doesn't serve any other functional purpose beyond  a glorified checkpoint. In the past, I would place pretty bookmarks barely 1/3rd into the book, and when I get "busy", the book will be abandoned. And because there was no mental picture of my progress, instead a vague memory of when I last picked up the book "a few months ago", there was very little motivation to pick up the book to get back on track (knowing that I probably forgot much of the stuff already) 

Another strategy to make this work is to set low daily targets. My daily minimum target was 4 pages a day (about 8 minutes). It was low enough that even during vacations, or in my laziest, most unproductive days, I could muster up *just enough* willpower to achieve in a last ditch effort to meet the daily KPI. 

While 4 pages doesn't seem like much, if the book you're reading is any good (in this case, it's awesome 😍), then chances are, you would be so engaged by page 4, that you'd want to keep reading anyway: you'll finish 10 pages in no time!

Little Man's Homecoming

 

Alhamdulillah, after over one year away, Miri-born Muawiyah has finally returned home. 

It would be his first flight as a 3-year old, and admittedly we were very nervous going in. His previous flight didn't go so well, as he didn't like sitting on his own seat and insisted sharing his seat with us (a privilege he lost when his status was "upgraded" from infant to child as soon as he hit 2 years old 🤣) 

But after constantly building up the anticipation of riding an aeroplane, returning home to his toys and pep- talking him into owning is own seat, the flight turned out to be a very pleasant experience, Masha Allah. 

Even though he had to wake up at 4:00am to catch our early morning flight, he was so excited that he didn't sleep at all on the way to the airport up to the plane right itself, with uncontrollable expressions of excitement looking out through his window seat:

"Muawiyah can see the houses!"

"Look ibu! I can see a river!" 

"We are going so fast!" 

He even enjoyed the in-flight meal with surprisingly really good appetite and a short nap towards the end. 

At finally at the end of the flight, he expressed, 

"Muawiyah tak scared pun". Like a boss. 

The moment we arrived home, he was so excited at the sight of his old toys, that he was playing by himself for hours until he fell asleep in his own mess of toys. Main sampai pengsan 🤣 

Welcome back Muawiyah 😍

First week in office: 8-12th November 2021

 

This week was the first time ever setting foot in the office after over a year working from home. Admittedly, it felt incredibly awkward, and as I was ironing my shirt for the first time in a long, long time, I felt very nervous and anxious about it at first; especially being so accustomed with working from home.

But overall, it was a delightful experience. How great does it feels to be interacting with real people! 

Throughout these 1.5 years, I always thought that virtual interaction was pretty adequate, but man, it's a totally different level to be talking face to face (albeit with a facemask): the subtle impact of human interactions to look at someone in the eye, subconscious body language, or a smile (even if just only visible through the eyes), the opportunities to randomly walk around and chit-chat and take a breather amidst the chaotic work.

It was particularly nice to meet some of my team members and colleagues face to face for the first time, especially amidst these challenging times of Year end performance reviews.

Admittedly, it felt a bit weird attending semi-virtual meetings - with some participants in the same room, and others online - but you get used to it.

It's also nice to be reminded of so many office elements that enhance the work experience and productivity that we have been missing out all this while e.g. having a second monitor, printing facilities, and 'free' airconditioning (heh). 

Also, the good news is, now that our loaded fridge is less accessible, we will be less susceptible to our binge-snacking habits at home 🤣

I still miss that family proximity at home and the little conveniences of working from home (WFH), but this one week in the office was a nice change of pace and environment. It would be interesting to see how this alternate WFH and office arangement pans out in the long run. 

How was your experience?