The Game that Got me Over the January Slump
How A Game Of Snake And Ladders Helped Me Get Over the January Slump
If you are reading this post, I’m sure you are feeling just like I did last week.
Are you feeling totally lethargic, overwhelmed and simply unable to get a move on the day to day to routine? Welcome to the club!
The last two weeks of 2017 and the first week of 2018 were a whirlwind of partying, gift giving, baking, entertaining and filled with so many fun activities with friends and family that I should have seen this slump coming.
It has happened before, so why shouldn’t it happen again? In my case, I thought that because I’d dealt with it in the past and had everything planned out it wouldn’t happen to me.
But I was wrong.
So wrong!
This year with its unusually cold start to the year, the heavy snowfall and dark cloudy days have all just added to my misery. And it was literally a game of Snakes and Ladders that saved me.
My kids were gifted with the board game Snakes and Ladders and my daughter has been very hesitant to play the game saying, “It takes forever to get to the 100 square”. Actually, it does not take very long. But in her mind it does, and that is all that matters in the end. It is the way she sees it. And that is what is stopping her from enjoying the game.
It was then that I figured out, it is my view of the tasks that had to be done, which were causing the January blues for me.
My daughter really wanted to play Snakes and Ladders and the way she got over her problem was by playing the half board game instead of the full board, which made it feel less overwhelming for her.
There was my answer. If the sheer enormity of the task was what was holding me back, I had to break it down into bite sized pieces and make it really small and go one step at a time.
What I learned from the game that got me over the January slump
When I did this, I found something else interesting. I had a quick win and that high I got from the quick win, pushed me to try the next task. Then the overwhelm, and lethargy I was feeling started dropping away and I was gradually getting into my routine.
Lastly I also found that if I had planned to spend 3 hours on the curriculum I should only plan to finish exercises that could easily be completed in 2 hours or less. Thereby planning to complete tasks that would only take 2/3rds the allocated time.
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This made the kids feel less rushed, it helped them to gradually get back into the swing of things and we were able to accomplish everything we planned. Thus making it an all around success.
We are now in week two and the strategy has worked so far. Next week I plan on increasing the number of exercises or topics to be covered each day by about 10% or so and continue on from there.
So to recap – how I managed to get over the January slump was by
- Breaking everything into smaller ‘bite sized’ pieces.
- Creating quick wins for each task.
- Allocating 1/3rd more time than usually required to complete the task.
If you are ready for a new challenge this January and would like to try something new that would help you get out of the slump, then come and check out my online piano school (http://bit.ly/HSPiano) where I teach parents who have never learned any music how to teach their kids to play the piano.
All my courses focus on giving kids
- A chance to have a quick win (like learn to play a song in less than 30 mins)
- Exciting new Music Appreciation projects to work on for 15 mins a day (bite sized pieces).
So come and check it out!
I give out tons of free material and you can use them in your homeschool starting today.
Just sign up at http://bit.ly/HSTreat and you can get started immediately.
Karen is a mom of two, whose mission in life is to empower parents to teach their kids to play the piano. Karen, thrives on providing all the tools required to help parents who have never had any musical training in their lives, to introduce their kids to the universal language of music
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