This book is huge but I like it. Reading it on an iphone breaks it up into bits. I skim until I get to the interesting parts. I use it as a treat to keep pushing. Yes, nerd alert.

I’m reading on the cloud these days and loving it.  I bought a Kindle from a friend and am enjoying the fact that I can read a book “on the cloud.”  I can read on various computers, my ipad, and my iphone.   Ironically, it is not available on the actual kindle.  I am reading The Making of Modern Japan, a massive book that I actually own a print version of.    The estate of the author, Marius Jansen, is probably enjoying a few extra cups of coffee thanks to me.  Reading on the cloud has become addictive but I am learning to use the addiction.

The Making of Modern Japan is not in Japanese and thus takes me a little bit away from my goal of Japanese fluency.  But reading on the cloud has become addictive enough that I have learned to use it.  When I noticed how much time and attention I was putting into the book, I decided to use the energy.  In order to turn the page, I do a rep of electronic surusu flashcards.   (What I really appreciate about these cards is that pretty soon after you do a few, it congratulates you on “repset finished” or something like that.  You feel a sense of accomplishment and can move on.)  You can substitute any short 2-3 minute “push” activity.  After you finish you can briefly return to your non-harming addictive activity.

So the next time you find yourself complaining that you just wasted a bunch of time looking at Facebook, think about how you can use the addictive pull towards healthy pushes.  After checking a screen full of statuses, slide over to your guitar, tune it, and do one little exercise.  Hey, don’t blame me if you end up practicing for half an hour.  🙂  You don’t have to practice for half an hour.  Just five minutes and you can go back to your virtual paradise.

Of course, I could hybridize my crack and find a really addictive book in Japanese and double the pleasure.  But this book has been beckoning me for years but because of how large it is and how I have perceived time, I have avoided it.  Now that I can read it in so many places, I am enjoying it.  (I gloss over the mind-numbing stuff about bakufu administrative structures).   So instead of being pissed off at myself for reading in English, I am surfing the pleasure wave and using it as an incentive to push a little more in Japanese.

Use your non-fattening, non-harming mini-addictions.   Become a pusher.