It’s always a challenge transitioning from vacation back to normal life. Especially so when there is a five-hour time difference to adjust to. I did a reasonably good job this week. I took a nine-hour flight from Honolulu to JFK that got in at 9am on Monday. I was able to sleep on the plane, which is good, because I had a full day of teaching scheduled. Nothing to help jump right in like a full schedule!
I’ve been working with a coach for several years, and in preparation for this Leveling Up project recently took her intensive course, which helps break big goals down into manageable pieces. It’s nothing revolutionary, but I have found it really helpful. I’m scheduling out my days, which solves my “I have an hour free, what should I do with it?” problem. With so much to do, it can get overwhelming, and I often struggle from decision fatigue. So I make the decisions about my weekly goals at the beginning of the week and daily schedule first thing in the morning. 10-11, review a VuGraph session. 11-12, do a robot duplicate. 12-1, eat lunch and take a walk. It’s really working for me. I have a template of the spreadsheet I’m using. Feel free to try it out, and let me know how it works for you.
That being said, life and work got in the way a bit this week. I’m revamping my website, which is taking a lot more of my time and energy than I had anticipated. It probably wasn’t a great idea to take on that big a project while I was trying to dedicate so much time to bridge study. I’ve also started recording episodes of my podcast, which is also taking more time than expected. Between these two time sucks, there were a few times that a bridge study session on my spreadsheet got lost in the shuffle. I did my best to make up for some of that lost time on the weekend. But I’m still not finding as much time to devote to this project as I would like. That was inevitable—I set pretty lofty goals for myself. And a lot of the project is determining what is reasonable and realistic. I’m hoping that once the website work settles down I will have more time to devote to my study.
I made my first big concert sacrifice this week. Greg and I have committed to practicing on Thursday nights, and I forgot that I had tickets to Carnegie Hall on Thursday this week. It was a great program—a Mozart symphony and a Beethoven piano concerto, some of my favorites—but I’m prioritizing bridge this year, so I gave the tickets away. Greg and I worked on our notes for an hour and then played for three hours against Nick Nickell and Ralph Katz. It was a lot of fun, and great for our bridge. I am making a conscious effort to check my ego at the door and solicit advice from everyone at the table about decisions I make that I think are close. “What do you think about my 5♣ bid?” Nick and Ralph were incredibly generous with their opinions. It’s a great way to improve my game.
We’re playing with Phil Clayton and Eric Genheimer this week. If we find two more pairs we’ll play a team match. I’m going to be streaming these practice session on Twitch most weeks; I encourage you to watch and ask questions/give comments.
Here’s what I did this week:
VuGraph
I studied two more segments of the 2024 USBC, kibitzing Steve Weinstein. Always instructive. I really want to find time for more of this.
Robots
I played on IntoBridge a little bit, and played two robot duplicate tournaments. Not as much as I would have liked. Carving out an hour to play everyday needs to be a priority, so that’s something I’m going to strive for next week. We’ll see how it goes.
Play
I played one duplicate game with a student, and the practice game with Greg, Nick, and Ralph. I’m keeping track of mistakes and lapses on my spreadsheet. I’m not sure what good it’s doing, but having the data can’t hurt.
Reading
I continued reading Method Bridge. I also started reading The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey. I’m really interested in the mental aspects of performing well, so I’m going to try to read one of those books on my reading list each month as well as a bridge book. I have those on my Kindle, which makes them great for reading on the subway.
Beyond Bridge
I’ve been really good about meditating twice a day and getting out for a daily walk. I stopped by the gym I found in my neighborhood and didn’t like the look of it—it was just a storefront with no sign out front. I’m going to explore other options. Maybe a personal trainer or a yoga studio.
I’ve been drinking very little alcohol and laying off the gummies. I took one to help me sleep on the flight from Hawaii, but I’m making it a habit not to have any during the week while I’m at home. I’m sleeping and eating well and trying to drink lots of water. This part of the regimen feels like it’s going well.
I encourage you to share your progress in the comments. We’re all in this together!!
Have a great week.
I read an interesting article on the "Learning Pit" concept, which is basically centered around teaching students by letting them dig their way out of the learning pit by finding solutions themselves, rather than being handed solutions. I've generally learned this way, by feeling if something is too comfortable that I'm studying then I'm not learning much from it. So I think all of us have to stretch our capabilities by forcing our focus on the harder aspects. Every subject has two phases of learning: learning the basic principles and then the problem-solving. This isn't any new idea of mine, but something I remind myself constantly so I don't drift into complacency. Good luck on levelling up.
A short quote: “ … to focus on past successes rather than failures. I’m convinced that fear of failure, and concentrating on what happens if things go wrong, is a focus-killer. “