Maybe it’s a bit early to be making New Year’s resolutions. Though this used to be a popular practice, many now don’t even believe in setting stretch goals just because the calendar changes. I confess that I have waxed and waned in my observance of making annual resolutions. This year, though, I have something lined up that I think will actually improve my life in meaningful ways.
I’m trying to go more analogue after the Christmas holiday. My Christmas list consists of items to help me do that. Now, before I reveal what is on the list, I have to admit that I’m fudging the idea of analogue a bit. In this context, analogue may contain a bit of digital, as long as it keeps me disconnected from the great network. I’ve been developing the idea that the internet is a place to go for a specific reason.
When I worked in retail, I was introduced to the concept of destination shopping. The idea consisted of the belief that customers were in your store for a particular reason. If you worked at a “destination,” the theory went, customers were there to buy rather than to look around. If you bought into it, you had reason enough to disregard customers quick responses of “just looking” when you asked if you could help them. It could mean being an obtrusive sales associate, but that was sometimes encouraged.
I want to treat the internet as a destination. Too often, I’m logged on to browse around and look for whatever may catch my fancy. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it lacks intent. When you have no intent, and no focus, you quite often end up wasting time which would have been better spent in other activities.
If I can work with tools that help me to avoid mindless internet browsing, I think I can improve my attention span and spend time more intentionally.
Here is the list of tools (some of which made it to afformentioned Christmas list):
- Bullet Journal - I didn’t start a new one last year, and it’s always hard to begin off-cycle. I missed it, even if my cat is my enemy here because he loves to attack the placeholder strings.
- FiiO DM13 portable CD player - This is what I meant when I said I was bending the definition of analogue. Sure, technically the CD player is digital, but it will keep me from going to an internet-connected device when I want to listen to music.
- The Orthodox Study Bible from Ancient Faith Ministries - This was just gifted to me by a close friend for the Nativity. I plan to make good use of the apocryphal books and also footnotes in areas that I thought I had great familiarity with (like the Gospels).
- Kindle Paperwhite - My favorite reading device. Loaded up with books from the Amazon store as well as classics from Standard eBooks, this is an extremely useful tool.
My bed will no doubt be littered with items at the end of the night, as opposed to just my iPad, but I need to detach myself somewhat from the full-featured tablet.
