April Distractions #52
In this week's Distractions, I share articles and Substacks on reflecting on the challenges of Duolingo, being inconsistent and shooting your shot.
Happy 52nd Distractions post! A whole year’s worth of Distractions feels like something to celebrate (even if my fortnightly schedule for these means it’s taken since 2024 to get here).
I started these short updates as a way to speak to people who were looking for something specific in what they wanted to be distracted by, and I hope they continue to add variety into your life.
For the person deep into their Duolingo streak
As I approach nearly 200 days in my Duolingo streak for learning Japanese, this piece from Tim Dowling made me laugh, smile and commiserate.
It reminded me of my trip last year when we stayed in a traditional Japanese inn, and as we were eating dinner from another room we heard a guest listen raptly to the Japanese instructions on how to eat the meal, before saying in perfect Japanese, ‘I can’t speak Japanese’.
Tim’s version of this is: ‘“In which case I’d say, ‘Posso parlare un po’ d’Italiano, ma non capisco niente’ – I can speak a little Italian, but I understand nothing.”’
For the person being inconsistent right now
I loved this piece from Madeleine Dore reflecting on being consistently inconsistent, and what helps her to navigate through to the end of a project, task or journey. She also shares how the inconsistency can actually be part of the process.
What makes the eventual doing possible is not my discipline, but rather the ability to do something small, when I can, and keep going.
Over the years, this emphasis on starting small has helped me shift towards observing the moment, rather than trying to optimise the day.
Sometimes such moments offer profound insight, or help me reframe a persistent challenge. Other times, they’ve fuelled ideas for longer essays and even chapters for a new book.
But mostly, this practice of observation has allowed me to do away with rigid expectations around what writing looks like […]
We’re quick to label these ordinary moments of living as time-wasting or procrastination, when really they’re catalysts. Sure, there are times such acts can spill over into avoidance and only we can judge which is which, but maybe we don’t need to judge too soon and too harshly. Maybe we can simply observe instead.
There are many days I cannot write, but I can observe, I can wait, I can watch, I can think. I can take a moment, jot it down, often just as a jumbled dot point in the notes app of my phone. I can capture something, and then allow connections to form from there.
For people who need the courage to shoot their shot
This was a fantastic (and now Substack viral) piece from Anna Mackenzie titled ‘No one cares so take bigger swings’, reflecting on her practice called ‘Shoot Your Shot Wednesday’.
it looks something like this:
The Sunday before I pick my person from a very long list of publishers, journalists, authors, founders, creators, thought leaders, dream clients etc.
On Wednesday morning at 9am I draft the most riveting, intriguing, well-researched, personalised email I can possibly write, not a word from AI in sight
I blast my most upbeat song du jour (currently 12 to 12 by sombr)
I whisper
“fuck it”“here goes nothing” and press sendI move on with my day
I love this for several reasons:
It puts doing the courageous thing in a time-bound container, so you don’t dwell and demure over it forever;
It builds courage and trains your resilience muscle;
It allows you to shoot for the stars without getting overly obsessed about the outcome (because another Wednesday is right around the corner).
I’ll be thinking about ways I might be to incorporate this into my own life for sure.
The small things that made this fortnight
Visiting a group of colleagues and insisting on a group photo, which felt trivial at the time but actually brings me a huge amount of joy looking at it. Working remotely means treasuring the time I do have with colleagues even more.
An Easter weekend which involves sitting on a cosy chair and reading as much as I can.
Saying yes to things, knowing I’ll feel tired later, but recognising that saying yes and making the effort is always worth it.
What’s making your week?
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back on Sunday in one week’s time.