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“Let’s get physical, physical..let me hear your body talk.”….Olivia Newton-John, metaphysicist and 80’s pop star.

One of my lockers where I cage my books and laptop. Reading closely and savoring each word still has its place, but adding a little velocity to your learning game through speed reading or pre-reading is a way to shake things up. Do you have any books on your shelf that you think you should read but haven't. A quick read might give you the lay of the land to read it or get the best part out. Feel free to eat the best part of the tuna!

One of my lockers where I cage my books and laptop. Physical activity can be a form of review, which is really key to moving forward in your life.  The physical act of going through spaces wakens up ideas and possibilities.  Pick one space to “review.”  Throw out the irrelevant bring forth the joy.

A couple of posts ago I quoted Snoop Dog, and now I am quoting Olivia Newton-John.  Yeah.  That’s how I roll.  Just the other day I was reviewing my samurai notebooks, where I put ideas and borrowed inspirations and information.   As I often do, I use a timer to keep me moving through different tasks.  (Timeboxing, read about it later.)   I wondered whether I should time the physical act of getting an old notebook out of a storage space.   I decided to include it.

When you are making moves towards your goals, you are also making physical moves.  Yes, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet and sonnets and all that, but does anyone talk about how many times he had to sharpen his quill?   There are all of these unsung moves that needed to happen.   Do you want to play guitar?  Hey, you know the guitar is not going to get out of the bag by itself.

Ay, here’s the rub.  Sometimes making the physical move gets you a little further along your “goal.”  You’ve gone through the small act of getting the guitar out of the bag, you’ve tuned it, and strapped it around your neck.  Are you just going to put it back down?  Probably not.  This little physical motion is already giving you momentum.

Khatz over at AJATT taught himself Japanese in fifteen months.   A lot of how he explains he did that is physical.  Not only was he listening and watching Japanese all the time, his walls and bookshelves were covered in Japanese.  The key part is fun.  Yes, I get frustrated that I fumble over  “stretch” activities I am learning on the guitar.   But once I have that guitar strapped around my shoulders, I make time to actually “play” with the guitar.

Make it so that you literally trip on the material you want to become. Inside you will find two lightweight notebooks (one current and one for review), a Japanese book on guitar, and random junk. :)

Make it so that you literally trip on the material you want to become. Inside you will find two lightweight notebooks (one current and one for review), a Japanese book on guitar, and random junk. 🙂

Part of the game becomes finding ways to “physical-ize” your goals.  Here are some of my recent moves:

  • leaving a music theory book underneath my laptop so I there is more of a chance that I will look at it
  • making sure I always have a Japanese book in my “man-bag”
  • leaving a travel-sized guitar in the closet at work….buying a $20 tuner . . . after all the work is done for the day I try to spend 15-20 minutes…reviewing and/or farting around
  • making sure that the battery on my computer at the Writer’s Room stays charged at 80-90%.  This means I need to show up everyday and work
  • make Netflix work by constantly having Japanese DVD’s in my laptop
  • keep various “study” and “fun” windows open on the browser so they are just there

Make 2013 the year when you get physical with your goals.  Let me hear your body talk. Body talk.  🙂